Yelp, Zagat, Trip Advisor, and the like prove it — social proof is the name of the game. Who buys a product or invests in a service without hearing that someone else has benefited from it first? No one, that’s who (alternate answer: suckers). In fact, nearly two-thirds of consumers read product reviews before deciding to purchase.
The short story: testimonials matter.
They matter just as much for service providers, like travel agents. In fact, I’d argue that they matter even more, because consumers can’t just “return” a travel experience and get their money back if they didn’t like it. That’s why any list of marketing tips for travel agents should include “get testimonials — lots of them” on it.
Too often, though, I see travel agent websites that don’t have a single testimonial.
Your copy could be so much stronger if it’s supported by a testimonial or two. Nothing builds trust like hearing directly from a fellow traveler.
Marketing Tips for Travel Agents: Mine Your Content for Existing Testimonials
Maybe you don’t have any testimonials … or you don’t think that you do. If you’re not totally new to the game, here’s where you may be able to mine testimonials.
- Posts made on your business’s Facebook page (don’t forget to check in comments to posts that you’ve made). Check your other social media accounts too.
- In emails that your clients have sent to you. Even short praises like “Best trip ever!” or “Thanks for making this easy!” can count.
- Have your clients referred anyone to you? Then obviously they think what you offer is valuable. Reach back out to thank them again for the referral and ask if they’d be willing to provide a short testimonial.
- Send out a survey to your clients, through a service like SurveyMonkey or KwikSurveys. Ask a few basic questions, and be sure to ask an open-ended question like: What did you think of our travel planning services? You’ll probably get a quick testimonial or two just doing this. You may get some negative responses too, but think of that as valuable feedback on how to improve your service.
- You could email past clients asking for a testimonial — but better yet, you could call them. It’s harder to ignore or forget about a phone call!
Finally, make getting testimonials a permanent part of your offboarding process. Get into the habit of asking every single client who returns from a trip for a testimonial. Soon, you’ll have an entire library of kind words to show off!
Not only can you use these on your website, you can feature your testimonials in your e-newsletter and on social media too. In addition to the trust factor, having a lot of testimonials from happy clients makes you look like you’re in high demand — and people will naturally gravitate to you.
Everybody wants to be friends with (or work with) the popular kid 😉
Get More Marketing Tips for Travel Agents
Psst … Want more marketing tips for travel agents? Download a free Travel Agency Website Checklist below — with tips on what to include on the core pages of your travel agent website!
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