3 builders who never spoke to each other

Ask customers to write why they picked you

A piece written by a customer explaining why they chose you over the named alternatives reaches exactly the people comparing those same options, and reads as credible because a peer wrote it. Emailing your list for public reviews works more often than founders expect, small feature requests can be traded for one, and telling people how much you want, two or three sentences, gets you something usable.

The method

1. 01

   Ask your existing customers by email to post public reviews on a third-party review site, and expect a meaningful number to actually do it.

2. 02

   Ask a customer to write about why they picked you over the alternatives - it reaches exactly the people currently comparing those same options and reads as credible because a peer wrote it.

3. 03

   Trade small feature requests for testimonials. When a lifetime customer asks for something easy to build, HR Partner asks for a testimonial in return.

4. 04

   When you ask a satisfied customer for proof, specify how much you want: two or three sentences about their experience.

What it returned

• Zue solicited reviews from his Pegasus customer email list and ten people left positive reviews.

• Clubhouse had published for months with weak results; a single customer-written post about choosing them over Trello and JIRA caused signups to spike.

Sources

• How to Sell Yourself (without being salesy)Justin Welsh · justinwelsh.me · Principle 3: Establish Social Proof · 2023-07-01
• Lifetime Deals and SaaS Businesses – The Bootstrapped FounderDevan Sabaratnam · thebootstrappedfounder.com · Customers, Expectations, Limitations · 2021-04-01
• The ReboundCory Zue · coryzue.com · Collecting Customer Reviews · 2022-07-01
• Your Software Company's Blog is Not a JournalGreg Kogan · gkogan.co · Blogs Work for Software Companies · 2017-03-13