When it comes to getting most out of your financial testimonials, context is everything. Testimonials by themselves have an inherent power, but that power is accentuated when they're framed in a way that speaks directly to the needs of your buyer personas. With that in mind, here are some tips for using financial testimonials to help promote your firm.
Presentation is key. While one would think that a great testimonial speaks for itself, it nonetheless needs to be presented in a tasteful and aesthetically pleasing way. Videos should be centered on a page and framed by relatively little text. Text testimonials, meanwhile, shouldn't exceed 300 words and should have ample spacing. Lastly, photos should be high-quality and present customers in a favorable light (they should sign off on them, after all.)
Tell a story. Your loan offer helped a 50-year old father of three refinance his auto loan. That's great. But flesh out the narrative more so it resonates with a broader swath of your readership. For example, set up the testimonial by articulating a problem: "Steve of Mill Valley figured it could be a good time to see if he could refinance his auto loan. But he didn't want to go to one of the 'big' banks and he certainly didn't have the time to research all the providers online. He came into Mill Valley Community Bank and within minutes was sitting down with our loan office, Melissa, who walked him through the process." With this as the "set-up" you can then insert Steve's quote.
Insert a call to action. You don't want viewers to read a financial testimonial, say, "Well, that was nice," and then leave the page. Rather, you want them to be inspired to reach out and contact your bank. Therefore, end your testimonials with a short and tasteful call to action, like, "Click here to contact one of our experienced loan officers for a free consultation." Remember: "tasteful" is the operative word here. You're a bank, so refrain from exclamation points or overtly pushy language.
Promote them. Make it easy for visitors to see your testimonials. Create a separate page on your site, include a video in the sidebar of your blog, and have a photo album on Facebook of photos of satisfied customers, directing viewers to your testimonials page.
What do you think? How does your firm leverage financial testimonials to promote your brand? How does it collect customer feedback? What separates a "great" testimonial from a "good" one?
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