How to Score Powerful Customer Testimonials That Boost Course Sales
Stop letting generic customer testimonials sabotage your course sales.
As someone with celiac disease, I often comb through Yelp and Google reviews of restaurants for any mentions of “gluten-free” or “celiac”. I’ll come across reviews that hail restaurants as “gluten-free paradises” or “gluten nightmares” to be avoided at all costs.
Eating in a nightmare restaurant is physically dangerous for me. But for people buying courses online, the risk of spending hundreds or thousands on a course that doesn’t deliver is just as scary.
And when restaurants don’t mention celiac-safe options AND no one talks about them in a review, you know what I do?
I don’t eat there.
Potential customers and students are similarly wary of parting with their money without proof from peers that it’s safe for them to do so.
70% of people trust customer opinions posted online. And another study shows that course sales pages with customer testimonials boost sales by at least 34%.
Customer testimonials aren’t just nice to have for your sales page — they’re necessary for success.
Complimentary vs. valuable customer testimonials
While having positive customer testimonials helps, they don’t all have the same impact on sales.
Let’s say you were looking at investing over $1,000 into a course and the testimonials were all variations of:
- “This course is great!”
- “I love this course creator, they really know their stuff.”
- “I learned so much!”
These testimonials are nice, but would they convince you to buy?
Probably not.
There’s one major difference between a customer testimonial that’s complimentary and one that boosts sales.
Customer testimonials that boost sales alleviate your customers’ fears.
How testimonials alleviate customer fears
As consumers, we can be pretty nervous about parting with our money. When it comes to high-ticket items, like purchasing a course, we’re even more unsure.
While customers cite fears about courses being too expensive, not the right time, etc. These fears boil down to worrying they won’t achieve their goal.
The truth is, you can’t guarantee any customer will achieve their desired result.
But you can share the stories of those who have.
When told right, those stories are powerful tools that can boost your customers’ confidence about their decision to purchase and help you close the deal.
Powerful Stories = Powerful Sales
Customer testimonials that can positively impact your sales do three things. They share the journey, show off specific results, and highlight the unique value of your course.
Sharing the journey
Stories change not only how our minds work, but the decisions we make. If you’re a course creator, you may think you’re selling knowledge, but in reality, you’re selling a transformation.
And what is a transformation if not a journey with a beginning, middle, and end?
Think about home renovation shows. They always go into the house before to show off the rotted wood, fire damage, and horrifically outdated kitchen.
Most of the episode is dedicated to the process of fixing it up.
But at the end of the episode, they take you through the updated house. They transition between before and after footage so you can see how they’ve transformed the space.
Your customers want to see those transformations too.
And much like getting to hear about the marble countertops or shiplap walls — they want the specifics.
Showing off specific results
Let’s go back to our complimentary testimonials real quick:
- “This course is great!”
- “I love this course creator, they really know their stuff.”
- “I learned so much!”
They’re sweet, but they lack specificity. And as they say, the devil’s in the details.
Those details paint a clearer picture of what customers can hope to achieve from your course.
And that’s exactly what you want. Specific details about what your customers have achieved based on what they’ve learned in your course.
Let’s see how those simple statements can transform into powerful and specific customer testimonials.
These are just a few examples of how generic, complimentary testimonials could be transformed into specific statements that showcase results.
Highlighting your course’s unique value
It’s a great time to be a course creator. Already, e-learning is anticipated to surpass $243 billion in 2022.
That’s a lot of cheddar.
And a lot of competition.
Your customer testimonials are another place for you to stand out and show off your course’s unique value.
Whether it’s an exclusive membership or helpful templates, there’s something you do differently from everyone else in your niche.
It’s likely why your customers chose you over your competitors. And their testimonials should highlight that unique value.
It might even be what convinces your future customers to follow in their footsteps.
Getting powerful customer testimonials
I know what you’re thinking.
This is great, but how do I get these powerful customer testimonials? I can’t control what my customers write!
That’s true. Unless you write a testimonial and have a customer sign off on it, you can’t control exactly what they’ll say about your course.
But as a course creator, you’re already guiding your students on a journey and getting a powerful customer testimonial requires that same guiding hand.
And the best way to do that is with prompts.
Whether you ask your customers to fill out a survey or to record a short video testimonial, you can use prompts that naturally lead to powerful testimonials. Here are some to get you started:
- What motivated you to join [Course Name]?
- Why did you choose [Course Name] over [top competing course names]?
- What did you most want to learn/change/achieve after going through [Course Name]? Why was that specific outcome important to you?
- What surprised you during [Course Name]?
- How has your relationship with [niche] changed while going through [Course Name]?
- What are you most proud of after going through [Course Name]?
These questions lead to thoughtful responses you can use (with your customer’s permission) as testimonials for your course.
You should send out a call for testimonials after your customer has gotten value. For example, if your course lasts three weeks, reach out a little after week three or four.
Since we’re lazy creatures by nature, getting customers to respond can be challenging. Incentives encourage customers to submit testimonials. These incentives could be drawings for a $20 gift card, exclusive content, or anything your customers find valuable.
Before your customers join your course, they’re hovering on the threshold of change. Your customer testimonials can make or break whether they take that first step.
Make sure you’re putting your best foot forward by including powerful customer testimonials in your course sales materials.
And if you want more help selling your course, book a free 15-minute consultation with me.
