Last week we explored why testimonials are your secret weapon to converting that chilly audience into eager buyers.

So cool – we need testimonials.

How the hell do we do that? 

Here’s the thing – people are lazy. If you came up to someone and asked them to write a paragraph of something they haven’t thought about for awhile, you’d likely get a crappy response.

More likely is that you won’t get a response at all. 

So the key to collecting testimonials is to make it SUPER easy for your past clients and customers, and to hit them when it’s still fresh in their minds. 

Now, I have a super effective email template in my Easels & Emails course that has been the key for me to collect a ton of great testimonials. Join the course and get that little bad boy for free, plus a ton of other incredible stuff all while learning how to harness the power of an email list (sales, sales, sales!). 

But if you haven’t quite made the leap into investing in yourself yet, here are a few helpful tips.

 

1. The word “testimonial” is scary

It sounds horribly official and judge-like, definitely not fun and happy. Sure, it is a testimonial, but calling it that when you ask them to help you out will likely start the interaction on the wrong foot, and chances are they will click out of the message quickly. Find another cute term for it – maybe ask them to say a couple sweet words instead.

 

2. Give them an incentive

Maybe offer them a gift of sorts if they submit a testimonial – a one-time use discount code or something else that will effectively say “thanks!”. 

Perhaps even offer to link back to their pages, if they are also running an art biz as well. This one also works wonders for building social proof as it gives those future customers the confidence to know that a real person wrote those sweet words about you.

 

3. Give them examples so they don’t pull a blank 

No one likes to go first during a spontaneous presentation – “what do I say? Will it be weird? Oh man, I wish someone else went first so I could get some ideas from them!”

Sound familiar?

If you don’t offer a bit of inspiration or a jumping point for them, be prepared to hear a lot of cricket chirps.

But instead if you pop some past reviews into pretty graphics and make them visible to new customers, the chance that you’ll get even more happy testimonials goes waaaaay up.

 

Want to take an even bigger flying leap towards your (inevitable) success as an artist?

Watch my FREE masterclass training, Scale Your Art Sales.

It’s the online class for beginner artists that are filled with a fiery creative passion, and want to grow an audience online that actually want to BUY their artwork