Page 188 - 100 Great Copywriting Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

voice, an authentic voice, speaking. Then there’s the attribution, in
other words, the tag after the testimonial that tells us who provided
it. In an ideal world, it tells us who said it, and either where they
live if you’re selling a b2c product, or where they work if it’s a b2b
promotion. Testimonials also work well because you can treat them
differently in design terms, pulling them out from the body copy,
enclosing them in oversized speech marks, or even giving them a
page or section to themselves.
How about getting hold of them? Three easy routes spring to mind.
One, the best kind, unsolicited testimonials. These just arrive,
unbidden, in your office, or in your inbox. Imagine having delighted
your customers so thoroughly that they stop what they’re doing
just to let you know. Two, arrange your website so people can leave
feedback. Three, ask them. You can write to people or email them,
or hold focus groups, or send out questionnaires. It doesn’t really
matter how you do it, as long as you are doing it.

In practice

• Make it your priority to collect testimonials. You can never

have too many. And once you have them, use them wherever
and whenever you can—nothing reassures better than the
disinterested testimony of an existing customer.

• Resist the temptation to edit them, except for length. If they

don’t sound like professional copywriters, so much the better:
they aren’t supposed to.

100 GREAT COPYWRITING IDEAS • 179