Business can be tough. You’ve might have a brilliantly-conceived product or service. Your marketing is attracting potential customers, and you and your marketing team, have completed a stellar job showing prospects how you can solve their problems. But without a ‘reason to believe’ they obdurately refuse to buy into your products and services.

Why don’t they believe?

You’ve heard of buyer’s remorse? It usually occurs when a consumer feels they’ve been blinded by emotion or they haven’t done enough homework. These findings are supported by CoreData research for comparison website Choosi, which found that one in three Australians made a large purchasing decision they’ve later regretted.

To avoid remorse, buyers must tick a series of boxes before they can feel comfortable with a purchasing decision. For their part, savvy marketers will help prospects through the research phase, by giving them ample proof points that demonstrate a business’s ability to satisfy consumer expectations.

What are my proof-points?

There was a saying in the IT industry that “no one ever got fired for buying HP”. Meaning that their reputation and demonstrable experience made buying HP a safe choice.  HP’s reputation even justified a higher price, but in the current commoditised marketplace, those days are gone. Clients need more, with research from CoreData revealing that almost 90% of Australians say greater choice is making the decision-making process harder.

Demonstrable experience

Customers must feel comfortable that a business can meet their pain-points before they choose to buy from you – and this is where a well-written user story will prove invaluable. To develop a trove of testimonials, establish the expectation with your customers early that you want their endorsement.

Appropriate expertise

Promoting the combined experience within your organisation is a valuable leveraging technique. Don’t be frightened to tell your customers about your team and its collective expertise, tenure, industry qualifications and certifications. When Starbucks was struggling a few years ago, its CEO Howard Shultz convinced the board to spend $30 million retraining over 100,000 baristas to ensure they were experts at what they were doing.

Overall customer experience

The collective experience of your customers is critical to brand success. For example, 80% of buying decisions are made online before a prospect talks to a sales agent. Consider TripAdvisor, which is a business built on customer referrals. Can you imagine Basil and ‘Fawlty Towers’ lasting more than a week in today’s hotel market?

A customer’s endorsement carries a lot of weight with potential customers. That said, to get a valuable endorsement, the testimonial should just focus on the product or service you supplied. Rather it should describe their engagement with your business, the process and the customer journey – to be of true value to future customers, and give them a ‘reason to believe’.