Do you ever see the hundreds of glowing testimonials on the sales pages and websites of other coaches and think wow, I wish my coaching clients raved about me like that? Let’s be honest, there may be times when comparing your testimonials to another coach’s may make you doubt the quality of your coaching. We’re here to reassure you that is not the case. Do you know what the difference is? They have created a strategy for asking for testimonials.
What Is a Testimonial?
Testimonials are feedback that has been gathered and managed by you. Reviews are gathered and stored by a third-party. Even if you direct your coaching clients to that review website, you don’t actually control that review.
When you collect a testimonial, you (or someone acting on your behalf) will gather feedback, turn them into a testimonial, and post that testimonial wherever you please. That piece of feedback is yours and you can use it however you want. A third-party can’t take down your testimonials like they could take down reviews.
Why Are Testimonials Important for Sales Copy?
Testimonials provide social proof for your coaching business and individual courses. Prospects get a little insight into the experience of your past coaching clients and that creates trust because you have proof to back up your claims. It offers a little bit of reassurance before your coaching clients purchase your course.
As copywriters, we also love testimonials (and feedback from your coaching clients) because we get to see what your coaching clients value in their own words. We can then use that information to write copy that attracts other ideal coaching clients. We often find some great gems in testimonials that help us to get inside the heads of your ideal clients. After all, the best source of information about how your coaching course impacts a client’s life, is your past and current coaching clients
How to Get Course-Selling Testimonials
Where most people go wrong when collecting testimonials is they try to collect a review rather than collecting feedback. Think about all the times you’ve been asked to review products or services. You’ve had a great experience, so you click on the link and then your mind goes blank. A week ago, you were raving to your friend about it, but now, you can’t think of a single thing to say. This is what is happening if you get vague reviews like “LOVED working with them, such a great coach,” or “Great course, would recommend.”
Instead, send your clients a feedback form with questions designed to get the sort of information you need for great testimonials. That way, even if you get 1 sentence answers, they contain a little more detail about what coaching clients can expect from your course.
What Kind of Feedback Should I Collect from Coaching Clients?
Collecting feedback from your coaching clients doesn’t have to be difficult. We use a Google Form with 5 questions that we send to all of our copywriting clients. Ideally, you want to stick to 3-5 questions so that they answer the feedback right away. If you send a long feedback form, your coaching clients are likely to put it off until later, increasing the chances it will slip their minds.
The questions you ask should be related to the kind of information you want to hear from your dream coaching clients. If we’re talking course-selling testimonials we need information about:
- The client’s transformation (what results they achieved because of your coaching)
- The things they valued
- The things that make them hesitant to work with coaches or you
Knowing these things will help you to create coaching course sales copy that speaks directly to your ideal client. You will also have answers that you can formulate into a testimonial from that coaching client.
While you’re collecting feedback for testimonials, you can also take the opportunity to collect other feedback. For example, you could ask a general question to see if there is room for improvement or you could collect feedback about a specific area of your business or coaching.
What If I Want to Ask More than 5 Questions?
It’s natural to want to collect as much feedback as possible, but the longer the feedback form, the less likely it is your clients will fill it out. The good news is you are working with your clients over a long period of time, so that gives you more opportunities to collect feedback. For example, you could ask 3 questions at the start or middle and 3 questions at the end.
How to Collect the Feedback You Need Without Leading Client Responses
There is an art to writing questions specific enough to get the feedback you are looking for without influencing what your coaching clients say. For example, if you ask a question like “What did you struggle with most before working with me? (eg. Finding time for fitness, disliking workouts, or knowing how to exercise.)” The majority of responses will say one or a combination of those example answers. You will only get a few responses that offer an alternative answer. That’s fine, if you want to focus on those examples.
If you want to leave the question open so you get a range of responses, then you need the question to be clear enough to not need examples. For example, you could rephrase the question to something like, “Why did you choose to work with a fitness coach instead of working out alone or following a self-guided fitness plan?” You will still get a lot of the same responses, but they’ll be in your client’s own words, and you may get some unexpected answers too.
What If My Clients Don’t Respond to My Feedback Form?
Sometimes you send a feedback form and get no responses. That doesn’t always mean that your client doesn’t want to give feedback. It can mean:
- Your client got busy and forgot to fill out the form
- Your client doesn’t check their emails often
- They need more time to think about their responses
- They prefer to communicate via other methods
So, feel free to send a follow up email with a link to your feedback form. Give your coaching clients the benefit of the doubt and assume they just got too busy. Send an email reminder with a link to your feedback form and tell them to reach out if they have questions or if they prefer to give their feedback in a call.
If you don’t get a response after 1 follow up, then leave it alone.
How to Turn Feedback into a Course-Selling Testimonial
Now that you have the answers to your feedback form, pick the sentences that work best and put them together to create a testimonial. It is as simple as that. Don’t use their entire answers because that would be a HUGE wall of text. Just take the parts that are the most compelling.
This is not unethical. Everyone does testimonials this way and you are not taking the words of your clients out of context. Just make sure your clients know that the feedback they are giving may be used as testimonials.
How to Use Your Course-Selling Testimonials
Use them as much as possible. Your testimonials can be used in the following places:
- Your sales page
- Your website
- Case studies
- Your social media
- Ads
- Content
Share your course-selling testimonials anywhere you talk about your coaching course and services. They are a vital part of getting new coaching clients.
Need Help Getting Course-Selling Testimonials?
Use a Pick Our Brain Call to book an hour of our time. We can use that time to talk about your coaching clients, the type of feedback you want, and create a feedback form. If we still have time, we could even write an email template to send your feedback form.
A Pick Our Brain Call is £199 per hour, and you can book as long as you need. Learn more about the Pick Our Brain Call and book one here.