Who doesn’t like a compliment? I’m sure you appreciate hearing from clients how much they value the services and expertise of your spa or massage practice. While kind words about your business may be music to your ears; they can be even more effective by becoming part of your marketing effort. Client testimonials provide the first-hand account of your products and massage or skin treatment services to help drive more business through your door.
Entrepreneur magazine offers three reasons why client testimonials are so powerful:
- They build trust: They tell prospective clients that they had a positive experience at your spa or massage practice
- They aren’t “salesy:” Since they aren’t written by you, they provide a candid and unbiased account of how well your offerings work
- The overcome skepticism: Good testimonials can persuade even the most skeptical of prospective clients that your products and services made a positive difference in their lives and so can help them as well.
Don’t be shy asking for testimonials
While many clients may be very generous in their praise, they probably aren’t thinking about how their kind words can help you build business. Don’t be shy about asking for them to become one of your visible “champions.” You may think you are bothering clients, but you’ll find that many satisfied clients are more than happy to provide a testimonial to help you boost business. In fact, in some cases clients who have their own business may find participating in your marketing is a good way to get their name in front of potential customers.
Here are some ways you can employ client testimonials in your marketing efforts:
Website Testimonials
Ask for Reviews Online
Social Media Comment
Newsletter or Blog Post Article
Videos
Include client quotes throughout your website where you highlight a particular massage therapy or a skin treatment. Underneath a description, have a client quote that focuses on some aspect of your service they liked or how the treatment or massage helped them with their particular problem. Testimonials about retail products give clients the assurance that products will get them results they want.
There are many online review sites or directories, such as Yelp, where clients can add their name and describe their experience with your spa or massage practice. Send a link in an email to your page on the directory and ask a client to write a review.
Invite clients to be part of your social network and ask them if they would write something about a particular skin treatment or massage.
Ask a client if they would consider being interviewed for an article in your newsletter or blog post. The article can be about how a massage technique helped a client deal with muscle and joint pain or stress. You could focus on a type of wrap and talk about it helped restore a client’s skin after a harsh winter. The article should describe the problem and your offering in some detail, with quotes form the client scattered throughout.
If you are showcasing a type of treatment or massage, ask a client if they would participate in a video. Even if they don’t want to be featured during a hands-on session, they could be interviewed before or after the video of the treatment or massage modality.
Think about what services or products you particularly want to emphasize in your marketing and approach clients for testimonials about them or just ask clients to provide quotes that generally tout your offerings.
How have you used client testimonials?