Social proof - like student testimonials and stories - is critical when marketing your course. You can use it throughout your funnel to persuade your leads to act. Use testimonials and other proof to get more visits from email and social posts, drive higher conversion on your course sales page, and increase your completion rates.

You can collect testimonials from your course participants or students in several ways:

Ask these questions

You need to avoid collecting generic student testimonials which don't convince leads to act. Instead, ask intentional testimonial questions to ensure you collect more persuasive responses.

Here's the three types of student testimonials you need to sell more courses:

The "it really works" testimonial

Don't just say your course helps people get the promised result, prove it Showcase real student results to convince prospects to act Screen grabs and visuals with evidence build even more trust Add these testimonials next to your CTA or to your pricing section

The "objections" testimonial

Showcase objections your students had before paying for your course This will comfort prospects with the same objection And remove the doubt that is stopping them from acting Add these testimonials next to your course outline or details section

The "what makes it unique" testimonial

Prospects want to solve a problem and are comparing options Focus on showcasing why students think your course is unique This makes it easy for prospects to compare, and pick you Add these testimonials next to your "pain building" section (the section focused on the pain of inaction your prospect is feeling)

Collect your first testimonial BEFORE the course starts

Offer free access to your course in return for a feedback and a testimonial. That way when you launch you new course you already have social proof. Social proof like testimonials can help you get more sign ups for your next course.

Don't request via email, ask inside your course

Never email your course students asking for a testimonial.

Instead ask them inside your course.

This makes completing a testimonial feel like part of the process and will increase the number you receive.

You should also add your request about midway through. Even the best courses only see 50% completion rate. By asking midway through you will not only collect more testimonials, but you may even increase completion rates. This is because the student will reflect on what they're enjoying and be motivated to continue

Ask students to leave a review

Your course platform or website may have a feedback function for collecting testimonials, reviews, and star ratings. Enable this so that the platform collects social proof for you. Here are details of testimonial and review collection on the major platforms

Offer incentives / rewards

Such as discounts on future courses or free resources for writing a testimonial. You can even offer a bonus lesson or resource in exchange for a detailed testimonial or video testimonial. Here's some testimonial reward ideas.

Encourage students to share

You can drive more course sales by asking your students to share their proof. Request that they share their success stories or testimonial on social media or over email. You can also ask them to tag you and reward the best.

Get permission

Remember to always ask for permission to use the testimonial and make sure to respect your students' privacy by only using their first name and last initial.

Once you have testimonials, it's time to share them. Our guide on sharing your course testimonials explains some unique places to share them to drive more students to sign up.

Once you've collected testimonials for your course, consider these ways to share your course testimonials.

Sell more with social proof

Go beyond testimonial collection. Here's how course creators should use social proof throughout their funnel to sell more courses. You can see also more on selling more courses with testimonials.