On getting testimonials
Hi y'all,
My tool, RemoteRetro, has a few well-known companies who've signed up.
I was wondering how y'all handle asking for ideally a) testimonials, or even b) permission to show their logo on your homepage? Or have you just YOLO'd it?
I found trying to navigate the legal hoops to show a logo extremely difficult, as they hold copyright, actively protect their brand.
I'd love to hear how y'all have tackled this.
Anytime I correspond with a customer and they say something positive, I consider if that could be a testimonial. If it makes sense, I respond accordingly and at the end say something like "So glad to hear you're enjoying the platform. I was wondering if I could use/paraphrase what you said in your last response for a testimonial on our website?" And then in quotes below I put the actual text I'd like to use for the testimonial.
Doesn't always mean I use it, but it's nice to have a few ready to go. I get a lot of these when soliciting feedback, since people who are happy with the product are the most likely to respond (of course, they offer lots of constructive criticism too).
A good practice I'll get into doing. 👏
Most of the comments I've been getting have been quite short, i.e. "I like it".
Are you expanding on them before sending them for review?
I'd skip over something like "I like it". Usually when I ask for feedback I ask along the lines of "How is it going so far? I'd love to know what's working and what's not". And occasionally I'll get someone who has a lot of positive things to say.
I was just doing this actually! Both of the testimonials we just added came out of user interviews I was doing where the interviewee said something really positive about the product. So I summarized it and emailed it over to them and asked if we could use it. Both said of course.
If you don't have this luxury, I would suggest drafting a testimonial that they might give as an example, and say they can feel free to edit that one or give their own. If they don't have to start from scratch or have some reference they'll be more likely to give one in my experience.
In terms of the logos - I would definitely ask too.
Oooh, excellent idea... reducing the effort required to help you out. I'll start drafting the sort of testimonials I'd like, and use them as a base.
We reached out to the person (POC) who was dealing with us and requested a testimonial.
Once we got it, we cut it down for brevity and shared it with him for his final confirmation.
That's it.
As long as there is a written record of this confirmation with you; everything should be fine.
👆🏻
Just ask politely. It helps if you give folks a template to use so they don't have to come up with it entirely on their own, or, give examples they can base their own on.
You can also angle to only get the text/attribution (name of person, title, company) over the logo if that causes headaches for them.
That's a super good point. Even something from someone at a big name company looks good.
You could reach out blind, but that runs the risk of you getting a bland, 'great app' type of testimonial.
A better approach, I think, is to wait for an organic thumbs up, often in the form of a brief twitter post by a satisfied user. Then contact them direct and ask if you can use their tweet on your website, or if they'd like to offer a testimonial. Tweets often come from personal rather than company accounts, so might help you bypass the corporate legal route.
This way you're approaching someone who has already demonstrated a willingness to publicize the fact that they like your app. And if no one at all is tweeting, that probably means you're offering is not strong enough to generate good testimonials anyway.
[Nothing to offer on the subject of logos]
I think that is the secret sauce. Thankyou.
And that is the hard truth.
Sean D'Souza of Psychotactics has an awesome article on gathering testimonials that are both compelling and impactful and these questions can be asked in the form of a survey. I highly recommend reading this to assist you: https://www.psychotactics.com/six-questions-testimonials/
As far as using logos in testimonials, I can't speak on that, unfortunately!
Ooooh, excellent. Will read. Much appreciated.
To minimize the back and forth, ask for a 10 minute zoom call that you can record. Create a 30-60sec video and also pull a direct quote from the interview in your copy. Ask about logo usage on the call too.
99% YOLO, and 1% work with the right people.
Ask your attorney what he/she would recommend here and follow their advice.
Aww geeez now I need to get an attorney? 😂
you're going to need a corner office next, keep it up
I found that if I ask the founder then they'll be happy to give a testimonial, but if I ask a manager they will not. Who are the people you talk to?
For example, I was helping a manager at a large company with support via email, and the conversation gets to that they like the app. I ask about using their logo, and get connected to legal who give me the runaround a bit... we're a small team/tool, and they have strict rules around brand usage.
Good point on whom you talk to and getting different outcomes. 👏