How to Get More (And Better) Real Estate Testimonials

Learn how you can get more testimonials and reviews as a real estate agent.

How to Get More (And Better) Real Estate Testimonials
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Why do I need client testimonials as a real estate agent?

Since, in most cases, buying a home is a unique and awaited moment, buyers are cautious when they choose a realtor.
Clients, especially first-time buyers, want to work with honest, hard-working, experienced real estate agents to secure a smooth and hassle-free experience.
As a real estate agent, you can have a top-quality website that shows how good you are at what you do, but the truth is that people prefer to learn about your work from your previous clients.
That’s why you need a solid social proof strategy incorporating testimonials in different formats to set yourself apart as a realtor and close the best deals.

Doing a great job is not enough; you need a system

A testimonial is “a public tribute to someone and their achievements,” so any type of evidence that backs up your expertise and the quality of your service could be used as a testimonial if you have permission from your client.
It’s important to note that these “public tributes” will rarely come without some sort of effort or trigger on your end as a service provider.
Clients are most likely busy or focusing on their things, so you will need a system that allows you to request, capture, and showcase testimonials if you expect to benefit from what your clients have to say.
The following are the best practices real estate agents should follow to incorporate a social proof strategy into their marketing plan.

Ask for feedback

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You have helped a client buy their dream home. Now what?
Unless you are stalking your clients’ Instagram stories (you shouldn’t 🤓), you cannot know if they are happy with their new house.
And that doesn’t tell you anything about their experience with you and your services.
To get started, request feedback from your clients in a simple way.
If you are a phone person, you can call them a few days after they close the sale of their new property or send them a short form via email or text.
If they reply with good comments, it’s more likely they will be willing to give you a text or, even better, a positive video testimonial.
So, once you feel the door is open, don’t hesitate to ask them!
Don’t forget that timing is super important here. If you ask for feedback, be ready to reply.
You will materialize or lose testimonial opportunities depending on how quickly and well-thought your replies to the feedback submissions are.
So, ask for feedback and set aside time to thank and reply to those who reach back.
Specifically, look for positive responses that look like a potential opportunity for a great testimonial, and ask these clients the big question.
Note: If you aren’t feeling creative right now, don’t worry! Steal these winning email templates and get a lot more testimonials with just a few clicks.

Make it easy for your client

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For various reasons, your clients may decline your invitation - that’s okay!
My experience says that most clients who express a favorable opinion will give you a testimonial.
Here’s where you need to be innovative.
You must make it easy for your clients to write or record their evidence.
Testimonial.to is a perfect tool for this purpose. It allows you to create a dedicated landing page to request testimonials for your business.
You can share the page link easily via email, social media, or even SMS; the best part is that you can do the setup in literally two minutes.
Using a tool like Testimonial could be a game changer for your process, especially if you don’t have design or coding skills. Get started for free here.
Okay, on top of this, let’s look at a couple more things you can do to make it easy for your clients to leave you a testimonial.

Ask for specific details about their experience

Ask for “a testimonial,” and you may get all kinds of results.
You will get some good outputs, but you could also get testimonials that need to be longer, shorter, or more specific.
How do you fix that? By guiding your client with some basic questions.
If you use a framework, you can be sure that most testimonials fall within a standard and will be as helpful as they can to serve your marketing and branding purposes.
 
The questions could be as simple as these:
  • Who are you?
  • How did [insert your name here] help you?
  • What is the best thing [insert your name here] did for you?
  • Why should other people hire [insert your name here]?
 
In the meantime, we all feel blank when seeing a white page.
By using guiding questions, you will make it a lot easier for your clients to produce a high-quality testimonial while, at the same time, you can keep the situation under control.
 

Send reminders (wisely)

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This section will depend on many variables, so you must use your best judgment.
Up until this point, you have:
  • Done a great job as a realtor
  • Asked your previous clients for feedback
  • Been attentive and replied to their opinions
  • Once you identified great candidates for a testimonial, you asked them for one using a super easy, optimized method
Like I said earlier, don’t be surprised if some of the “great prospects” said no.
Another variable here is that some of the people who said yes may have also failed at reviewing you.
Don’t faint. That’s pretty normal.
If employees getting paid to do a task sometimes forget about it completely, what are you expecting from people who are doing you a favor only? 🙂
In the same way you took action, asked for feedback, and acted to go a step further and request the testimonial, now you need to help your clients do what they said they would do.
You do that by reminding them about it.
The how, when, and how often is something that you need to consider carefully.
Test and study what happens in a few different scenarios.
Why? Because these previous clients may be your clients again, you don’t want to upset them or make them change their perspective about you by being too pushy.
I suggest only sending one more reminder after your client accepts to give you the testimonial and ONLY if a couple of days have gone by.
 
You want them to share their real experience, not a forced one.
 
Having said this, try to use a softer and more natural way of contact and use of words when you do this.
  • If you called them the first time, don’t call them again (send them a text message or email instead)
  • If you used an email template, send them a short and anti-sales custom email
 

Use templates such as:

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“Hi [name],
I hope you are having a great day.
A couple of days ago, we discussed the possibility of you leaving me a testimonial.
If you still feel like doing so, you can send me one here [link to your landing page here]. It would be helpful for me, but no pressure.
I’m always grateful for the opportunity of working with you in the past.
Always at your service,
[SIGNATURE]”
 
You want to remind them without making them feel they “have to” do this for you.
More like in an “I’m reaching out to remind you, but the door is open” way.
Help them complete what they committed to, but make them feel it’s optional.
People love to help and share positivity, but at the same time, they dislike feeling obliged or coerced.
You must help them do more of the first by using the proper methods, tone, and words.
Believe me when I say this; they'll give you a testimonial if you did a great job!
So, no worries, don’t be afraid to ask. Follow this guide, and you’ll remember me when you have a page full of testimonials after a short time.

Take advantage of your testimonials

Now you have a system that allows you to request, filter, and capture LEGIT testimonials from your real estate clients.
Don’t forget to set up “something” that allows you to showcase your testimonials on your site or wherever you prefer.
Testimonial.to can be that missing piece for you and help you showcase your testimonials better than any other tool.
What’s the point of everything I explained earlier if you can’t benefit from your clients’ love?
Using Testimonial, you could have a Wall of Love that looks as cool as this one in minutes without having to design or code.
 
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I have great news for you if that doesn’t look enticing enough!
With Testimonial.to you can do more than just only centralize your new testimonials with your previous Yelp or Google reviews.
We integrate with most top reviews sites loved by real estate agents.
Integrate your reviews from Redfin, Zillow, Apartments.com, Realtors.com, and more.
You don’t have to start from scratch! We’ve got you covered.
Pro Tip: After importing your testimonials, you can visit the integrations hub to embed your wall of love with any website builder easily. You’ll love it!
 
It’s time for you to level up and set up your real estate marketing efforts in battle mode by incorporating the system we just shared with you.
Feel free to share this with a realtor friend and change the game for them.
We know you’ll see tremendous growth in your business if you follow what we’ve just explained.
 
That’s all for now! You’re all set to celebrate more closings 🙌
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Written by

Damon Chen
Damon Chen

Founder of Testimonial