The Power of Testimonials and Case Studies
A critical part of any online sales process is answering questions and objections before they are raised. Buying anything comes with some perceived risk. Blogging actually helps reduce this perception of risk because over time you can get to know the person behind the blog, their expertise and their approach. I imagine any of you who have been with me a little while feels like you know me a bit, and if I read your blog or follow you on Twitter I probably feel the same way.
Another way to build this trust is to get third party endorsements and testimonials. When Brian Clark tells you that I “walk the talk” then, especially if you know who Brian is, this will make you feel more confident in hiring me. I am not just saying what I can do, someone else is backing me up.
Normally I would recommend you also have case studies. These provide a success story, some before and after, what the client hoped to achieve and what the actual results were. While my “creds” powerpoint contains case studies, I have been remiss on posting any here. This needs to be fixed.
While in Chicago, Michael and I had a conversation about consulting. We were saying how often my clients often do not want to be talked about in any detail. There are reasons why, and some are happy to provide testimonials so long as we don’t talk about exactly what the projects involved. As you can see if you browse my services pages, I have some really good testimonials, but I really would like to provide some case studies too.
So with that in mind I am doing something I don’t normally do. I am giving a 50% discount for anyone who orders Flagship Content Creation and agrees to allow me to use it as a case study.
Anyone willing to have their blog promoted on my pages so I can prove to the world this stuff works? 
Posted on May 13th, 2008 by Chris Garrett in Marketing
I guess the buzz-word you’re looking for is “social proof”. =)
Cheers!
Miguel Alvarez
That’s a kind offer, Chris.
I know exactly how you feel when you do great work, only for the client to stipulate it can’t be shown in your portfolio (or as one of your case studies). It seems to be happening to me with more frequency.
@Miguel - I think of case studies as being just plain proof
@David - I can understand the reasons, fear of being reverse engineered, sometimes people want to make it seem like they didn’t have help, or on some occasions I have done work that has appeared under the clients name. Just one or two rockin’ case studies would be sufficient I think
Great idea, Chris. I know you’ll keep us posted on the execution.
kk
Hi Chris,
I don’t know if this is of help to you, but I make no secret of the fact that reading your site has contributed hugely to the success of New Music Strategies - and after your consultancy, this has gone up another level.
If there’s a way that can work as a case study, you’re more than welcome.
Cheers,
Dubber
Chris that was one of the most enjoyable discussions I had the entire conference. I mean, how many other blog consultants can you hang out with and talk shop?
This whole idea of not revealing a client at their request is an odd one. I always honor such requests (I get them too, just not as often and I wonder if it’s a cultural thing). Nobody assumes a company films its own advertising. An agency takes credit and everyone accepts that. Designers and artists have public web portfolios. I see this as along the same lines, but that’s just my viewpoint. I make no claims on being right or correct.
A 50% discount is an enticing offer, and I hope clients take you up on it and everyone benefits from the results.
And any time you want to talk shop, you know where to reach me!
Ok Chris.
You talked me into it. If you want to use me as a case study, I’ll be your guinea pig
Vicky
Interesting thought. Now I have to figure out how to make it work for a music teacher/performer. Thanks for all the great info.
Peace,
Aaron
One thing for sure if you are selling products, testimonials can help you bring in a lot of customers. It is the best way to draw customers as recommendations are always better.
Thanks for the info. People really need to see/hear what they need to see/hear in order to judge the source, service,or product worthy. Worthy of even subscibing or requesting a quote.
Online it’s like we are trying to manipulate the natural offline occurence of word of mouth advertising.
Gosh - I’d love to be a case study. I feel I have established a me with my blog. I want to take it to the next level. Yet I really don’t want to lose the me part. Along the way I did some good things, but I’m not clear what I did that really worked, or didn’t work or why. I think I got lucky, I was fortunate to meet some very sharing people and see great examples of qaulity blogs early on. If I could be accountable or on purpose about it for the sake of my work and have it be an example for blogging I think that would be darn cool. I am also intrigued with the notion of get me on the web but do it in a way that noone really knows that it’s me - or the private indentity thing. These days are we really anonymous?
Case studies can be extremely powerful yet they are often overlooked. If marketers would utilize them a bit more, their sales would definitely skyrocket.
I hear a lot about case studies and how good they are but when I went researching on the internet the recipe to create them I did not come up with much at all.
Can you do an article on how to create case studies and give us a recipe Chris? I am sure heaps of us would love that.
love to you
Serenity