In any competitive industry, customer testimonials are essential for establishing credibility and trust. Testimonials provide powerful social proof, showing prospective customers how your product delivers real value.
Here's the other thing. You can never have too many.
Sure, a never-ending wall of customer testimonials on your website probably has diminishing returns. But across your entire sales pipeline, there are "micro-moments" that move the needle.
Every piece of content you can gather across your customer case studies are ammunition for your marketing and sales reps to increase conversions. Delivering case studies should be a perpetual process.
However, gathering and creating polished testimonials can be challenging. Outsourcing this process offers numerous advantages for client-centric companies.
Let's explore the key benefits of outsourcing customer testimonials.
Tap Into Specialized Interview Skills
Conducting a testimonial interview requires more than just asking a set of questions. It demands a deep understanding of the entire buyer journey and the context in which certain answers can assist your GTM efforts.
A marketing rep might not fully understand what is helpful for a BDR or what is valuable to an Account Executive handling an objection in the latter stage of the Sales cycle. A sales-minded individual may focus more on specific requirement areas that move opportunities in the evaluation phase but not the quotes that provoke thoughts in the awareness phase of the marketing process.
An outside partner specializing in how case studies can address both can ensure you always get the most out of each interview. In short, outsourced specialists know how to structure interviews, ask the right questions, and elicit meaningful responses that resonate with future buyers.
With their help, you can create testimonials and case studies that are informative and highly influential in multiple facets.
Show Your Prospect That You Value Their Time and Perspective
When you invest in a professional testimonial service, you show your customers that you truly value their feedback and are committed to maximizing it. Not to mention, when they see the investment you're making to get the most out of the interview, out of respect, there will be a higher level of commitment from them as well.
This increases the likelihood that they will come prepared with valuable insight and, ideally, tangible results.
Here's an example of an email you can send.
Hey Steve, How is everything over there on the east coast? Sounds like summer came early this year! Anyway, I have a favor to ask. Would you be willing to do a recorded customer case study for us? I just checked, and it's been three fantastic years as partners. It would be of immense value towards our growth to showcase the benefits you've received from our solution. The process is straightforward. We actually work with an outside agency to conduct the interviews for us to ensure we can make the most of your time (and make sure you look good, too). I just want to make sure you can attend, as we need to formally engage them to initiate the process. I look forward to hearing from you! Thanks, Andy
This email does a couple of things.
- It shows the commitment you're making to the process because you value their testimonial greatly
- It increases the formality of the process so that the customer stakeholder only commits if they feel they can provide a quality testimonial and truly attend the interview.
We talk about how you can get customers to conduct case studies here.
Avoid Distracting Your Internal Teams
Case studies can often create an awkward predicament for GTM teams, particularly smaller companies. They are not formally assigned to any individual, require a multitude of skills that one person typically doesn't collectively have, and don't occur often enough to build any efficient processes around them.
So, though case studies are your most valuable marketing asset, they often get pushed aside. When they finally are delivered, they aren't maximized across your organization.
Here's a breakdown of the skills you would need in-house to finalize a case study.
Skills required:
- Interview skills
- Video storyboarding
- Video editing
- Copywriting
- Photo editing and animation
- Understanding of sales AND marketing
- Web Development and SEO (for publishing onto the site)
This is not to say that you don't have these skills scattered across your organization. But an outside agency has constructed processes for these skills to come together in an efficient and repeatable manner.
Unless you're pumping out case studies every week, it simply doesn't make sense to optimize these processes. The flip side is that when you do them in-house, they take more time from other optimized activities and often don't deliver a better result.
Avoid the Discomfort of Self-Praise
Asking your customers to sing your praises can feel awkward for both you and them. It's not always comfortable to ask someone directly to list all the reasons why your product is great.
They may not always know what they can get approved for saying during the interview. Often, they may hold back and not share certain estimates because they don't want to displease you if they have to retract it later.
In reality, even if you can't use certain information for general marketing purposes, it may be valuable for Sales reps and enablement purposes.
Outsourcing this process allows you to bypass that discomfort entirely, as the customer knows they will be working with the agency later on with approvals. Not to mention, a neutral interviewer can facilitate a conversation that naturally brings out the positive aspects of your product without putting your customer on the spot.
Often, at Proofmap, we start the interview without recording to assess what the interviewee is comfortable with and not comfortable with saying. With the customer not on the call, we can have a transparent conversation with them and help alleviate any concerns or mold a desired response without the leering eyes of the final beneficiary.
Uncover Overlooked Insights and Context
When deeply involved with your product, it's easy to overlook certain details or assume that everyone else shares the same understanding. Outsourcing to an external interviewer brings fresh eyes to the story.
They may notice gaps or critical contextual details that you might have missed, ensuring that the testimonial is comprehensive and clear to future customers.
Something that tends to happen during these meetings is that you also learn more about the value of your product or service, and it doesn't always align with your predispositions. This is why, though the primary purpose of the testimonial is to produce superb case studies, they also serve as great enablement assets.
This external perspective can reveal valuable insights, adding depth and richness to the final testimonial and making it even more compelling for prospective clients.
Gain Honest Feedback for Growth
Nobody is perfect, and even customers who love you may have some fair critiques to point out. When you outsource customer testimonials, you open the door to candid feedback.
Customers may hesitate to provide constructive criticism when speaking directly to the company. But when interviewed by an objective third party, they often feel more comfortable sharing areas for improvement.
This type of feedback is incredibly valuable for refining your product and ensuring that you address any issues that could affect prospects. The insights gained from an external interviewer can help you create a powerful testimonial and identify ways to enhance your SaaS offering.
Though this should be a small portion of the interview, it's another area of value you can share with your customers to incentivize the interview in the first place.
In Conclusion
Outsourcing customer testimonials offers numerous advantages to customer-centric companies, from accessing professional expertise and maintaining focused conversations to uncovering overlooked insights and encouraging honest feedback.
By allowing outside partners to handle this process, you can create polished, impactful testimonials that resonate with your target audience consistently.
Ultimately, outsourcing allows your team to focus on core business activities while ensuring that your success stories are presented in the best possible light.