Since May is Mental Health Month, we decided to build this challenge around something guaranteed to give you the warm fuzzies: getting compliments!

‍

This challenge is all about getting comfortable with tooting your own horn and gathering the praise you deserve.

‍

While asking for feedback can feel a little vulnerable, collecting testimonials is one of the most powerful ways to build trust with new buyers, promote your vintage business, and a great way to remind yourself just how awesome you are at what you do.

‍

Let’s spend the next few weeks filling your cup (and your marketing channels) with customer love!

‍

Why do this challenge?

Gathering and sharing testimonials can:

• Build trust
• Boost your shop’s social proof/reputation
• Help set you apart in the marketplace
• And thus possibly increase sales

Like you, your customers are very busy. They may even intend to leave a review or testimonial and then never get around to it. It’s okay to politely ask, even directly — they won’t do it if they don’t want to.

It’s also really nice to receive positive notes from your customers! :)

This challenge isn’t just about collecting feedback that makes you feel good, though — it's about building stronger relationships with your customers and showcasing everything you do as a shop owner so that potential customers can find out about it!  

‍

The details

Begins: May 1

Ends: May 31

‍

Challenges are self-led. I encourage you to post about your progress in the comments and cheer each other on!

‍

Continued below

‍

‍

Continued from above

‍

What do I need to do?

1. Review our templates for asking for reviews/testimonials, or come up with your own. Ask for advice from your fellow members if you feel stuck about what to say, or nervous about this!

‍

2. Set a goal for how many reviews you want to get. Maybe it’s 5 or 10. Keep in mind you may need to ask 20 people to get 10 reviews.

‍

3. Decide what you want testimonials for. Testimonials/reviews don’t need to be reserved only for product purchases and the customer journey experience. You could ask someone in your community to give you a character testimonial, or to talk about how great your service is, or to share how fab your booth is.

‍‍

4. Choose your channels. Where will you ask your customers to leave reviews? Social media platforms, personalized emails (these are especially great if you already know your customer), in-store with a little sign, on your website with a dedicated area for testimonials, by updating your marketplace platform info to optimize for reviews, after a great conversation with a customer at a market, etc.

‍

How do you want to collect reviews? In-app reviews (Etsy, Poshmark etc.) are great, but DMs, email, Google, Yelp, a custom form on your website, a voice memo you can transcribe, etc. are other places where you can get testimonials. You can also ask permission to screenshot and share a text if someone gives you a positive statement offhand!

‍

‍5. Once you have your testimonials in hand, share them with the world! Post on social media, add them to your highlights, call them out in an email, put them on your website or about page…wherever you can. Schedule more days to share them on social media in the future.

P.S. If you already have lots of testimonials, choose some to share/create content around, or work on updating them with fresh ones.

Bonus: Share one or two of your lovely reviews here in the comments for us to read. Sharing is a great way to stay accountable to yourself and put these ideas into action.

‍

We’d love to hear about what you do for your customers and to cheer you on!

‍