What to do if you don't have testimonials for your website yet

Nov 30

Testimonials are an essential piece in building trust and credibility with your target audience. They give prospective clients an idea of the results and experience they’ll have while working with you which helps alleviate any stress they may have about making that investment.

So you can see why they’re so valuable when building out a new offer or launching your business.

But what the heck do you do if you don’t have any testimonials just yet?

You can absolutely still book clients without testimonials by highlighting your knowledge, skills, and experience in other ways but if you’re looking to add the extra street cred testimonials gives you, here’s what to do instead:

FIND SOME STATISTICS OR OTHER DATA TO BACK UP WHAT YOU’RE OFFERING.

Testimonials aren’t the only way to add some credibility to what you’re saying on your website. Finding data that backs up your offer can have just as powerful an impact. It shows you know what you’re talking about and do your due diligence… if you didn’t you wouldn’t have spent the time to look into and add this supportive data to your website, right?

Even when you do have testimonials to add to your website, adding statistics and data can help give you that extra boost in building trust and credibility with your target audience. Don’t underestimate this strategy… It’s powerful AF!

FIND BETA TESTERS TO TEST OUT YOUR SERVICE OR PRODUCT IN EXCHANGE FOR A TESTIMONIAL.

If you really want to have testimonials to help sell a new offer, you can find some beta testers that will go through your offer and/or try out your product in exchange for a testimonial. This strategy offers you more benefits than just getting testimonials to use in your marketing too.

Get feedback: When you’re offering something brand new, there’s often some kinks that need to get worked out. Having beta testers allows you to work out those kinks and get feedback (along with that testimonial!) from people in your target audience… this means your offer/product will end up being stronger than ever when you launch!
Brand ambassadors: A lot of the time, beta testers love what they get from your offer so much that they turn into raving fans and will help promote your offer without even having to ask them. They’re invested in your success because they were a part of it from the beginning. Raving fans telling their networks about your offer will give you a more powerful boost than a simple testimonial (although still get that so you can add it to your site for the future too!)

Beta testers are basically a win-win-win!

USE YOUR OWN STORY OF THE TRANSFORMATION THAT YOU ARE SELLING.

Chances are whatever it is you’re offering your audience, you have some experience with. You’ve had your own transformation using the techniques or product that you’re selling so you can be your own best testimonial. You just have to craft it a little differently than a traditional testimonial.

Put your storytelling hat on and craft your messaging about your experiences, highlighting the results you got from that experience. You can use this across your website as well as the rest of your marketing to help relate with your target audience while showing them you know wtf you’re doing.

So yes, while testimonials are powerful and essential for your marketing, if you’re just starting out you don’t need to worry. A little creativity can help get you the same (if not better!) results.