How Testimonials Can Boost Your Landing Page Sales

Your landing page is designed to convince your visitors to see things your way, and to take the action that you want them to take. In most cases it's to buy your product. In other cases it's just to get an opt-in.

Regardless of your objective, testimonials can dramatically improve the chances of you getting your prospects to see things your way. You see the act of getting someone to think the way you want them to think is called Persuasion.

Persuasion and manipulation differ in that manipulation is a selfish act on the part of the manipulator. It's aggressive, one-sided, and for the benefit of the manipulator, not the manipulated. Persuasion, on the other hand, is an attempt to create an agreement between the two parties such that the persuaded comes around to seeing things your way.

The goal is to find mutual benefit.

So in any study of landing pages -- and sales in general -- you eventually need to work on your persuasive tactics. And the moment you do that, the first thing you'll discover is that there are so very many of them. The second thing you'll find is how well they've worked on you in the past, to get you to take action. You'll recognize these tactics.

One of the most powerful is one that Robert Cialdini (Influence: The Power of Persuasion) calls Social Proof.

Social Proof typically results in this thought:

"If everyone is doing it, it must be the right thing to do."

This is also called the "herd" mentality, and you've absolutely used this same justification on yourself and others that you wanted to persuade to act with you.

Here's a quick demonstration: You are going out to dinner in a strange city to celebrate a big business deal you just closed. You're standing at a street corner and can see two fine looking Italian restaurants.

You can see inside the first one and see that it's crowded with people eating and enjoying their meals. You peer inside the other to see that it's relatively empty, pretty quiet, with lots of tables available for immediate seating.

Now, assuming you're not in a hurry, and that your primary consideration is a great meal, which restaurant will you go to? Chances are, you'll be standing in line at the popular restaurant while the waiters across the street have nothing to do.

That is social proof.

Another powerful persuasion technique is Expert Credibility. And that sounds like this:

"Bob is an expert in this field, so if he says it's good, it must be good."

You've experienced this as well.

You pay your doctor for his opinion about what medicines or treatments to take, don't you? And you do that because you trust her, her education, and her experience on the subject of your health. So when she recommends a certain weight loss supplement, a medicine, or a treatment that is provided by someone else, you'll certainly attribute credibility to her recommendation.

Why?

Dave Lakhani is known worldwide as a Master of the art of Persuasion. He spent years as a child trapped in a cult, and has dedicated his life to the study of influence and manipulation. He has quite a bit to say about persuasion in his books. In "Persuasion, the Art Of Getting What You Want", Dave says "In order to create a new belief you have to present material in a credible way. The best way to present material is from the point of view of an expert. We are preconditioned in our society to not argue with experts, to listen to what they have to say, and to accept their opinions because they have specialized knowledge that we do not."

Testimonials can help you persuade your reader in both of these ways -- social proof and expert's proof. That's why they are so important to include on your landing pages.

One thing I want to make very clear is that in order for testimonials to be truly effective, they must be authentic.

I do not advocate the 'creation' of fake testimonials, or the attribution of a testimonial to someone incorrectly or deceptively. It's very important, I believe, to have a policy that the testimonials you receive be the exact ones you publish. I personally only make minor exceptions in these limited, reasonable cases:

* Correcting Grammar -- I sometimes will fix grammar errors if they are serious and cloud the meaning of the testimonial. However typically I do leave minor errors in because they contribute to the appearance of authenticity and can actually add credibility.

* Correcting spelling -- Same as above. Keywords are typically corrected so that search engines can find them more easily. Other words are often left as-is, unless the meaning is lost.

* Edits with the Approval of the Author -- I've received testimonials in the past that have "beat around the bush" with their praise, so I'll sometimes call or write for clarification, or suggest an edit to make the meaning more clear. I will not make my own edits without approval.

So what should you do now?

Get started now by following these 4 steps.

1. Put yourself on a 30-day testimonial gathering campaign.

2. Add a testimonial request to your autoresponder.

3. Send out promo copies of your product to influential experts.

4. Ask for testimonials from current customers -- especially those that are well-known, and display them all on your Landing pages. Call them on the phone, or write their testimonials FOR them and get their permission to use it

Get to it.