It was 2004.

We were promoting the Workshop in Los Angeles. As part of the marketing promotion, we put one little audio testimonial on the website. No, it doesn’t matter what the testimonial said.

What matters, is that over 1200 people clicked on that one link to listen to the testimonial.

Now why would they go clickety click? Hmmmm…wouldn’t you like to know why? 😉

It wasn’t the testimonial itself

So big deal. You have testimonials from your customers. And another business just like yours have testimonials from their customers.

What makes the other company’s testimonials work better than yours?

It’s called the forgotten art of the headline.

Headlines? In testimonials?

Yes indeedy! When a client gives a testimonial, they are saying something, something, something, kaboom, something, something.

Noticed the kaboom in the middle of that testimonial?

If you ask the right questions (either over email or the phone), at some point in the testimonial the client will say something that’s absolutely kaboom. A phrase, a sentence so powerful that you sit up and take notice.

Then of course, you hope all your prospects will do the same

Same what? Same as you, of course. Your hoping your prospects will read the testimonial, get to the kaboom, and take notice. Well, you know it and I know it. We will read through our own material with a microscope. At best, our prospects will just glance through the testimonials.

So darn it, put the kaboom where your prospect can see it!

Yes, take the headline out of Paragraph 3, Line 4 (or wherever the kaboom statement sits) and put it right at the top of your testimonial. And while you’re at it, can you increase the size, colour and boldness of the headline font, por favor?

But, but…I don’t have place to put a headline

Yes, I know. You can’t put a headline on every single testimonial. If you’re running your testimonial in your main text or off a side bar, there’s usually not enough space.

So allocate a space or page for testimonials

Create a special page where your prospect can go and read the testimonials. Put your headlines on that page. If you can, put the photos of your customers. And where the customers come from. And make sure there is a balance of sorts in the gender.

You’ll find the following factors in a testimonial:

1) Headline: Taken from the body copy itself.
2) Notice how the headline is bold, a different colour and a different font.
3) What do you do when you have a one line testimonial? The answer is on the page. Yes, scroll, scroll.
4) Notice the gender. One man, one woman, one man, one woman. Hmmm….Now why do you think that’s important?
5) See the photos? Why do they matter?
6) See where the clients live? Why does that matter?

We’ve digressed, haven’t we?

We set out to learn about headlines in testimonials. And we learned so much more. One more techie thing and we’re out of here.

I used to use graphics for my headlines. Not anymore. I now use CSS. If you don’t know how to use CSS, ask your friendly neighbourhood web designer, or look up CSS tutorials. CSS loads quickly and makes your headline looking smashing! Now, now, you know what to do next. Go and put some headlines on your testimonials. This article is called The Forgotten Art of Headlines, not because testimonial headline writing is a forgotten art, but if you don’t get down to putting in headlines for your testimonials, it will soon be…forgotten. 🙂