Yes, your images speak for themselves, but testimonials will speak a thousand words

Testimonials & why do you need them

If you go to a new online store, what do you look for first?

If you are like most people you look for some kind of trustworthy signals.

Testimonials or a quality mark will do.

I just visited 10 different photographer websites and from those 10, only 1 offered testimonials on the website and they were all listed on one page.

So there is still work to do, hence this blog post.

Did you know that when evaluating big purchases people usually depend on what other people think?

So why don’t we help them a little bit and let our past clients sell our work instead of us doing it in a less convincing way?

Be sure that your potential client just visited website after website and on each website there is a photographer that loves to capture the spontaneous & candid moments, that grew up loving camera’s and taking pictures and that has a dog.

So how do you stand out? How do you stop them in their tracks?

One way is to have unique testimonials.

How to get those gorgeous testimonials

I always use a couple of things to get my clients to react to my work.

1. When I send the first email that will show them pictures I always include the last sentence: „Love how the images turned out, can’t wait to hear what you think!!”

Or something along those lines. This sentence does two things:
– It shows confidence in your own work
– It shows you really would like to hear what your clients think about it too

Don’t forget for some clients you are just a business transaction. They expect images and you deliver. The deal is closed, right? They don’t know that you are anxiously waiting for their reaction to your work.

This usually gets them to reply to your mail saying what you want to hear (or not but that is a good thing too, get out there and fix it!).

2. The second email I send a couple of days later. This email is dedicated to getting a testimonial or referral online somewhere. Since I already heard their first reaction I already know how they feel about the images.

I like to give my clients a couple of options on where to leave testimonials. I use a wufoo or Google form to collect a couple of answers and give them links to places online (wedding directories, google, etc) where they can also leave a review.

I added the above-mentioned emails to my ShootZilla workflow where I ask the first question with every image I deliver. So even when I don’t feel like asking, the email will be written for me and all I have to do is press send.

If you don’t use ShootZilla you can use Gmail canned responses or software called text expander that will prevent you from typing the same email over and over again. Now you just have to remember to send it every time!

Related: Create your own workflow from scratch with our free workflow chart download

Consistency rules in getting testimonials. Do it every time and before you know it, you have tons of raving reviews to show on your website.

What to do with testimonials

The Moderntog wrote an excellent blog on how to leverage those testimonials to get more bookings.

Like for instance, why you should not hide them all on one page (what if your clients don’t visit that page?) and where you should place them instead.

And why it is important to show names and preferably also an image of the person next to a testimonial, it adds to the credibility of that testimonial.

In addition to her blog I would like to add the following:

If you are also creating a page with all testimonials listed in full…

Be sure to add a headline for each testimonial that features the most important point from that testimonial.

Headlines are super important real estate on your website. Don’t use it to feature the names of your clients, you can list those beneath the testimonial.

Make sure to highlight different aspects of working with you in those headlines.

Now when surfing brides & grooms or other photography clients are visiting your testimonials page, they probably will not read everything, but they WILL scan the headlines!

If you want more inspiration, download the guide with examples of the emails I send. If you are already on our list you will be redirected straight to the pdf. In the guide, you will also find the form that I send my past couples where I ask specific questions that help me find our uniqueness as wedding photographers, and that helps me create appealing blog posts and content for my future brides & grooms.

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