Question:
You suspect that customer testimonials will jazz up your creative and help boost response (you're right!). How do you go about it?

Answer:
Let's face it. Most folks need a lot of encouragement before they'll agree to lay down their hard earned cash for your product or service. Today's sheer volume of mail not to mention TV, radio, billboard, and internet advertising, to name but a few requires you "stand apart" from your competitors if you want to get noticed.

Customer testimonials will help you break through the clutter. But ONLY if done well. Here are a few suggestions that will get you started:

• Use actual testimonials and wording wherever possible. Real testimonials have a genuine ring to them that's difficult to fake. Could be the grammar is off ever so slightly, or it has a local flavor (eg. "I just love all the nature material y'all put in this magazine").

• Set up a testimonial collection process that regularly monitors for customer endorsements and requests written approval from customers to use their quote in a promotion. You may even want to provide a small incentive to build up your database of testimonials.

• Ask the customer to write their testimonial out longhand or type it themselves. Again, it will have a more down-home feel.

• If you have a killer quote but can't get approval, go ahead and use it but do not attribute it to the actual person. Simply using the customer's initials or city and state is fine.

• If one testimonial works, try two or three.

After all, who better to sell your product than your current users? That's the whole idea behind using testimonials, and it has a lot of merit. Give it a try.