How to create testimonials at scale
Revenue Operations is about breaking down silos between marketing, sales and customer success.
One of the best ways of explaining the challenge of these silos is customer testimonials.
Customers rate peer recommendation as the highest value input into their decision making - far higher than what the vendor says about their own company.
And yet where does generating customer testimonials sit in most companies?
Sales are screaming out for more customer stories to use.
Marketing say “well you need to introduce us to the happy customers”
Customer Success are focused on adoption “we need to get them live first”
And when we do find a customer that is happy to speak, we tie them up in months of interview, drafting and approvals that generates a standard case study that looks exactly like every other case study:
A better way to create testimonials
“In most companies generating testimonials is a lot like constipation - a lot of pushing but not a lot coming out…!”
Accountability
Revenue Operations is about breaking down silos, so we need to put someone in charge of this end to end process. VP of Customer Testimonials - call them what you want but this needs to be someone with the authority and capability to get testimonials live quickly and systematically.
This person should have metrics they are measured on:
New testimonials per month
Testimonials per signed customer
Testimonial opportunity attachment rate
You need to demonstrate that this role is actively supporting your revenue goals.
Buyer input
Define the customer testimonials your buyers want.
I joke above that every customer reference follows the same challenge>solution>results format but they do - and it doesn’t teach your buyer anything.
Speak to customers and ask them what they do want from a peer review - it will probably include:
A personal story and contact - who was the buyer and how did it personally affect them
How did they buy - who was involved in the decision, what process did they go through, what were their criteria
How did they implement - their project plan, their project team, roles and responsibilities, lessons learned, what happens next?
What would they do differently - partners, integrations, process
Through this research you will probably find that what customers want is more than a branded one pager telling them how wonderful you are.
They probably want checklists, process diagrams, architectures, budgets, buying groups - the real detail that will help them with their buying process.
Testimonial Criteria
Now you can speak to your buyers and sellers to determine the ideal profile of customers that they want testimonials for.
Are there certain industries, customer size, geographies, or product integrations for which it is a priority to generate testimonials. Do you just want new customer wins, or renewals, upsells and cross-sells?
Work with your CRM team to create a report to flag up these opportunities as they close.
Consider which personas can provide testimonials.
Instead of purely focusing on your main buyer or admin of the platform think about the lawyer, the IT team, the implementing partner, the CFO - all have a unique perspective on the buying experience with you that has little to do with the actual product.
Define your testimonial process
We can now map out how and when we will ask for these testimonials.
When: clearly your customer needs to have experienced some value from the new product to be able to provide a product testimonial - and so you might initially consider putting in a reminder for the go live of the project.
However, I would challenge you to think of testimonials as an ongoing process and not a defined activity.
A testimonial at the point of contract signature will have the best chance of uncovering many of the topics that your buyers want to hear - the buying experience, the sales team, the contracting process, the other possible options.
So consider asking almost immediately - but focusing on the buying experience as opposed to the product (for now).
How: Most companies ask for testimonials in a very formal company to company way.
“We would like a customer reference that we can put on our website….”
This immediately has your buyer thinking about whether they are an approved media speaker, whether they want to put their neck on the line yet, and typically results in either “No” or “Let me introduce you to our PR team”
This is not what you want.
So instead think of a “person to person” testimonial and take the pressure out of it.
Two ways:
A phone call to the buyer.
“Hi Hannah, thanks for partnering with us on this project.
In my role I speak with all of our new customers to understand a bit more about your buying experience, the types of content that you used during your decision making and your experience with our account team that got you to this point.
This is all very helpful information for other buyers earlier in the process (and I’m sure you were the recipient of some of this learning during your own process).”
This is a very relaxed way of asking for feedback, and only the most hardened or timepressed buyer is going to refuse.
Use technology to scale
If you are more focused on SMB and are likely to be generating a large number of testimonials then let technology take some of the strain.
A tool like Testimonials.to can host a branded page for your customers to write text reviews or upload video talking heads.
Set up a process within your opportunity closure process where a few days later an automated email goes out from you asking for similar feedback as we described above - the buying experience, the decision making, the account team.
Because the testimonials are not formal press-release material the individuals feel much happier to post a few words about their experience.
Very soon you’ll have hundreds of trustworthy real world stories for your buyers to view and for your sellers to share.
Evolve into multiple formats
Through your customer interviews and written testimonials you’ll start to learn insights that you can turn into different formats:
Video interviews
Podcast guests
Customer community articles
Event speakers
Keep thinking about what your buyers want - experiences, personal insights, lessons learned, activity plans - useful information that can help them with their own buying process.
“Mike, thanks so much for providing that review of your buying experience. We are holding a small breakfast for a few companies that are earlier in their process and I know this kind of information would be so valuable to them. Would you be open to speaking with them there and sharing your lessons learned?”
Measure, learn and iterate
You should now be generating testimonials at a rapid rate, so its time to revisit with your buyers earlier in the process and determine if the type of content you are creating is valuable to them?
Does it help them understand the problem?
Does it help them decide what possible solutions exist?
Does it help them align their buying team on a single path forward?
Does it connect them to individuals at your customers?
Measure which testimonials are being used most by your buyers and sellers and determine how to continually improve the quality and value of what you are creating.
So there you have it, a process for creating testimonials at scale.
Get started
Whenever you are ready, there are three ways that I can help you accelerate your revenue.
Buyer Experience Audit - I’ll impersonate a buyer researching your segment and company and let you know what I find. Ideal for planning your Revenue Operations strategy.
Business Model Design Workshops - I’ll work with you and your team to design or refine a business model for a new or existing product.
RevOps Impact Playbooks - I’ll help you implement one or more tactical processes across your revenue teams - content, referrals, testimonials, adoption and more.