Teachers want Benefits, Administrators want Evidence of Success. A Killer Testimonial Demonstrates Both
Getting a great testimonial can do so much for promoting education technology. A solid testimonial is authentic, specific, and believable. Testimonials make you feel like you’re on the right track and doing a great job, it helps teachers show off that they’re innovative and making positive improvements for the students, and it helps potential purchasers like school district admins confident they’re making a good choice. If it’s such a win for everyone, why are good testimonials so hard to get? Whether it’s because we’re afraid to ask or the testimonial is too broad or bland, sometimes they just don’t turn out well. Here’s a simple guide to getting the best testimonials for your edtech product.
Why we’re afraid to ask
The problem is, it’s hard to ask clients for a compliment. Not many people are willing to ask, “Hey, what do you love about me?” It’s the fear of putting someone in an awkward position, or worse, we don’t want to get shot down. We don’t want to waste their time, after all, we’re the one that’s supposed to be serving them, not the other way around.
Asking for a favor is relationship-building
A quick story that will change your mind about asking for favors from clients.
When you ask someone for a favor, they actually like you more. It’s called the Ben Franklin effect and it is cognitive dissonance at work. Ben Franklin was having trouble with a rival legislator, so he asked to borrow a book from him. He returned it a week later with a thank you note. They became good friends. The cognitive dissonance part is this: people’s brains connect actions with perceptions. When Ben’s rival did something nice for Ben, his brain connected the action with the perception that he must like Ben. If this works for a rival, then just think how it’ll work with someone that does like you, or at least the edtech you provide. Asking a favor will build that relationship, too.
Who to ask for that amazing testimonial
People like to read testimonials from other people like them. Since we’re talking about teachers wanting to know benefits, interview some teachers who are using the edtech extensively and who have experienced the benefits. We also want to show evidence of success, so a teacher or principal whose finger is on the pulse of student outcomes will be helpful. The IT director should have information on how quickly and easily she implemented your software, how quickly she trained the teachers, or how many teachers continue to use the technology.
Guiding the testimonial with questions
· Customer satisfactions questions such as, what problem did we solve for you? Had you considered other solutions to the problem before deciding on us? What are some positive outcomes you’ve experienced? Would you recommend us to others and why?
· Ask for something specific, such as, “We’re working on a story about successful student outcomes using our product. Do you have anything you could share, such as data on student outcomes?”
Finally, sometimes luck finds us and testimonials land right at our feet. If someone compliments your product, ask them if it’s OK to repeat it on your web site’s testimonials page and backlink to their web site.
The best part about this effort is, now someone else is saying something great about your edtech. Word-of-mouth is believable and powerful.
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