Client testimonials act as excellent social proof for your freelance business.
They are a powerful way to market your work, build trust and authority, and attract even more amazing clients. Thanks to these wonderful word-of-mouth recommendations, potential clients will know you are the real deal!
You can share client testimonials on your social media channels, publish them on your website, and add them to other client communications, such as freelance proposals.
But what are some tips for getting clients to provide effective testimonials in the first place?
Here are 5 of them to consider:
1. Monitor progress throughout the project
When you approach a long-term project, the problem you are solving and the transformation you aim to achieve for your client is fresh in your mind.
At the end of the project, unless you’ve been keeping meticulous track of progress, some of the key milestones may get overlooked as other tasks take priority. Therefore, recording progress throughout the project makes sense so you and your client can keep a tab on the key points as you go along.
These milestones can then be effectively used in a testimonial or case study to highlight the before story, the problem you were hired to solve and the results.
Take a leaf out of the weight loss and fitness coaches‘ book. Professionals in these fields often use a visual depiction of the before-and-after results they achieve for their clients.
If your freelance business allows for it, see if you can apply the same strategy to your projects. For example, if you are a make-up artist or stylist, you can show before and after, the same with the decorator and interior designer trades or anything else where you can see a visual transformation.
This will give your client testimonials an extra visual storytelling boost.
2. Ask for testimonials as soon as the project is finished
Ask for a client testimonial while the project (and the excellent results you delivered) are still fresh in the client’s mind.
If you leave it too long, the client may forget some of the pertinent points, or the request can get lost in a sea of other more priority (for the client) tasks. Build asking for client testimonials into your business processes. You can even automate the request, plus there are also online testimonial collection tools that you can use too.
Adding a deadline for the request is also helpful, or once more, it might ‘get lost in the mail’.
One option is to send it with your final invoice; however, if you give your client two things to do, it might get overlooked. So, another option is to send it with your email confirmation of receipt of payment of your final invoice.
With Invoice Ninja, a leading free invoicing software for small business invoicing, fast online payments, expense tracking, and billable tasks, you can customize your invoices with your font and brand colors and any messaging using professionally designed, attractive templates.
You can also email clients via Gmail, Microsoft accounts, or your own SMTP server and customize the subject lines and body text of the email payment and acknowledgment messages, creating a professional-looking branded experience for your clients.
Try Invoice Ninja out for free here.
3. Prepare a draft testimonial or issue client prompts
Not all clients are comfortable writing testimonials, so you might need to provide them with some guidance on how to best write one.
While they are flattering, general platitudes such as ‘great to work with’, ‘fab experience’, and ‘highly recommend’ don’t really convey the specifics of what you achieved together (or the results) that will pique the interest of other potential clients who read your testimonials.
Preparing a simple draft testimonial that clients can approve/fill in the blanks or providing guidance with client prompts on the points you want to highlight and the length of the testimonial can be really helpful. It will make working with you more memorable and friction-free.
Example question prompts might include: What was it like working with me? What problem were you looking to solve? What were the results? etc.
Client testimonials that include specifics or paint a picture of the transformation make the decision-making process easier for other potential clients as they’ll be better able to envisage your service and how you can help them.
4. Make asking for a testimonial a habit
As mentioned previously, incorporate asking for client testimonials into your business processes. Don’t shy away from asking either; if you’ve provided a good service, most clients are more than happy to help.
Moreover, there’s nothing to say you cannot ask for a testimonial while working with regular clients with whom you have a long-term relationship or for long-term projects before the project is complete.
In fact, it may well enhance the relationship and ensure high standards are adhered to throughout the project. In any event, it can certainly give your client relationship a boost, which is never a bad thing. However, you can ask for a testimonial too soon, before the client has any meaningful experience of your work, so be mindful not to jump the gun or put the client under any perceived pressure.
If a client provides great feedback during a project, ask them if you could use it with their permission as a testimonial. This can be a great sound bite to share on social media.
5. Give an option for testimonials in other formats
Some people prefer communicating face to face rather than in writing and may be more comfortable in video format, so where possible, offer your clients this option.
As with the written testimonial, it helps to give them a suggested time limit and guide them through the main points you would like them to cover. Once again, be specific. Also, ensure they are using the correct video format and size.
On top of that, bear in mind all the different platforms they could use; a LinkedIn recommendation might suit, a short email format, or other online platforms or tools that make sharing your testimonials easy for you and your client.
The key is to make it as easy and friction-free for your clients to provide a testimonial they’ll enjoy creating. Remember, this is a potential opportunity to show them in a good light, too. This makes good use of the convenient fact that when you say something nice about others, it more often than not reflects well on you.
All in all – a win-win!
