While walking through a busy Trader Joe’s on Saturday, I found myself in a conversation about whether the store is a better deal than places like Jewel-Osco. As anyone who reads this blog could guess, my answer was an overwhelming “yes”. I told the new shoppers about how I save at least $100/month versus any other stores in downtown Chicago, and they seemed pretty happy with the endorsement.

Basically, the prospective customers were asking me a very simple question: why do you shop here? If you asked 100 people that question, you’d probably get 100 different answers. However, I bet many of those responses would make for great testimonials. So why don’t more stores ask their repeat customers for this sort of info, and then make it a key part of their outbound messaging?

Restaurants already do a great job of this: any decent place will have a wall full of reviews, and some restaurants may even include customer quotes in the mix. Online retailers also make extensive use of testimonials. If you ask me, local stores need to adopt the same model. Find out why people shop with you, select the most convincing responses, and get big signs printed up to tell the world why your store is the best place to shop. My personalized testimonial helped bring a new customer into the Trader Joe’s family, so just imagine the impact that information would have on a larger scale.