Forum Moderators: phranque
I have always been of the opinion that this sort of self serving aggrandizement is annoying, often unbelievable and far too easy to "fake". In fact, I laugh at those one paragraph "testimonials" that read like:
"We had a wonderful time! The boat was great and performed well. We loved the country and particularly enjoyed yada yada. We will definitely be back and next time we will bring a few more friends so we can get a bigger boat!"
Joan & Jon - Gary, Indiana
Jeeze ... who buys that cr@p? I sure don't!
Having said that, I have almost been convinced to go ahead and do it. However, if I am going to do it, it must be done in such a way as to be believable.
I have a few ideas such as using photos of happy clients (at the dock), interviews, rating systems, etc. but I would like to hear from you what your general feelings are on this topic and specifically:
Do you have any suggestions as to how to provide a truly believable testimonial that even the most cynical amongst us might buy?
I suppose if you're going to include testimonials like:
"Well I spent the whole trip puking my guts up because this is the first time I've every sailed anywhere but at least the boat broker was wonderful"
might make you're testimonials might be more believable - but then I'm just a cynic who rarely believes any testimonials.
However, including a photo of the people alongside the boat would probably make a good testimonial much more believable.
Using people's photos would be one way to authenticate them, but I just don't see anyone going for that. Too many people would like their web lives to remain more private.
The ones with "J.D., Texas" are just garbage in my opinion.
When we get nice comments via email, I ask the person if I can have their permission to list their name and comments on our site. If they do, great. If they don't want me to, I won't post the testimonial anonymously.
"Well I spent the whole trip puking my guts up because this is the first time I've every sailed anywhere but at least the boat broker was wonderful"
ROFLMAO! Heeeheeeeeeee! Good one! I guess that would kind of lend a ring of authenticity to it wouldn't it! ;)
When we get nice comments via email, I ask the person if I can have their permission to list their name and comments on our site. If they do, great. If they don't want me to, I won't post the testimonial anonymously.
When we get permission to do it, we make the comments into a nice graphic - that way the client's name can't become turned up in search results in the future - a bit more privacy for them.
Many of us don't bite, but there are a ton of people out there who don't even think about whether or not the testimonial they just read was real or not.
I wouldn't use them across the board but in many instances they may help, I haven't seen them hurt (so long as there are not hundreds of them) and I try to rotate them out as often as possible to keep them up to date.
I'm working on our own site facelift and plan to add them.
"Very in depth, fast service.. a pleasure to deal with!" A.G Jones"
Nobody is going to care or believe it.. However, a testimonial from an owner of a recognizable company like this is great:
We at XYZ Widgets were very impressed with ACME Web Development. Very knowlegable, and fast service.
Thats a great a advertisment when it's recognizable companies, especially if you are targetting local companies, you use local testimonials...
I find testimonials are especially effective with service based industries, more so than sites trying to sell products.
So aside from saying "yes, I use or don't use testimonials" do you have reasons to offer as to why or why not ... and any suggestions which will help make them more believeable?
We also write articles which are case studies with the last word going to the customer.
We try to get a picture of the work we did, occasionally we get a picture of the customer.
It does add trust to a site, especially when not all the feedback is 100% positive (We mimic the ebay system of feedback) and we are so convinced by this that we have just added blog style commenting on many of our pages.
Gathering feedback from our customers is essential and listening to them has made a major impact to the way we do business... we hope that the onsite commenting will help us get feedback about the actual webiste.
The other thing is that testimonies (and some of them are quite long) provide extra content - add key phrases that I would never have thought of. Noting where the customer comes from has been a great help because we now show up for searches in every part of the UK, and it shows the person doing the searching that our premisis is worth traveling many miles to get to... They don't feel so stupid for travel 400 miles if somebody else did it first. And this is the whole point of testimonies and why they work!
You may have heard it said that people are like sheep, actually we are more like wolves or dogs. We go along with the pack. Very few of us are Alpha males who lead the pack by taking a chance. Most of us don't want to be the first to do something. We don't have the confidence without the pack backing us up.
If you go to a web site that offers something amazing, don't you instantly get wary and imagine it's a trap? But if you see a forum with plenty of people using it -- the very fact that there are plenty of people using it is enough to help you overcome one or two complaints you might find on the forum.
Think of a web site like a watering hole. If the watering hole looks inviting but there are no other animals about, you start to wonder if there is a crocodile in there. But if the watering hole has zebras, wilderbeast, elephants etc. You are going to assume its safe, even if one or two Giraffes are complaining that the hippos crapped in the water. :)
I do very little editing. The only slightly negative comments I keep are ones such as such as "I wish you had a wider selection", "gimme more" etc. Customers want the world. They're whiney and needy. They write in that if we peeled their grapes for them, they would be easier to eat. We edit that stuff out too.
Lastly, this bit of text sits at the bottom of every page:
<<
Owner's Note: These are all actual customer testimonials, I swear it on my soul. Sometimes they might sound a little similar to each other, only because everyone is responding to the same brief set of checkup questions. There is some very minimal editing: yes, we do get an occasional complaint, but they're very rare, they really are. These are artisanally handcrafted wholesale products, which demand high precision and skill to make. Even with the best quality control, a {widget} can slip past inspection with a small defect once in a blue moon. Almost always, we remedy the mistake and all is well. As the owner of {WidgetWorld}, even though I know these are actual comments from actual customers, I am still awed by so much positive feedback. But it really is genuine, cross my heart and may I be struck dead right now if I'm lying. Thank you all for letting us know we are apparently doing our jobs so well; it feels good. And thanks again for your continued support - you're why we're in the wholesale {widget} business, and the key to our continued success.
-{Lee Harvey Oswald}
Owner, {WidgetWorld}
>>
And one more thing: we stay honest. We don't falsify a thing. You can do what you want, but ours is real. Period.
I know nothing about blogs other than I find them to be (mostly) full of drivel. If I were to open a blog specifically for customer comments and photos, is there a way to password protect anyone and everyone from commenting?
In other words, if I were to supply my clients with the password at the end of their holiday so they could comment freely. Is there blogware "type" software I could use on my own site or would I have to use blogspot or something like that?
I don't like the idea of editing customer comments unless they use foul language or something which is particularly vile ... like I want to kill you you blood sucking so and so! :)
Are 10, 20 or 30 testimonials enough? Rotate out the oldest in favour of the newest sort of thing? Should I include customer photos? Should I use a standard set of questions and then a general comments line? Should I use a rating system?
One more thing: be sure to keep every typo and misspelling, weird capitalizations, punctuation or lack thereof. You'll find that there's a broad difference in writing styles between each person's testimonials, and that really helps create the authenticity/believability.
Do you have any suggestions as to how to provide a truly believable testimonial that even the most cynical amongst us might buy?
Better questions:
Once your task-based design actually fits the needs of your users, then less important tactical decisions, like whether to use testimonials, become a matter of mere A/B testing.
Also, there are different types of testimonial, and testimonials can serve different purposes for different audiences. For example:
1) Press quotes are a type of testimonial. I have a page of "press clippings" with quotes from various newspapers, magazines, and Web sites, and I feature a couple of press testimonials (one a magazine award, the other a quote from a PC Magazine column) in appropriate areas of my site.
2) Testimonials don't just build credibility with readers--they can also enhance your credibility with prospective advertisers or with PR people who supply products for review, press trips, etc.
BTW, in another thread, there was a mention of personal photos. I use head shots throughout my site, partly out of habit (I was an About.com guide for 4-1/2 years before starting my current site) but mostly because "personal branding" has a long tradition in the travel-publishing field. Personal branding has worked well for Temple Fielding, Arthur Frommer, and Rick Steves; why should I buck a tradition that works, especially when a human face with a personal voice is one of the things that distinguishes my site from those of big-time corporate competitors?
The other example is at my favorite sushi restaurant. I display a discount coupon for dinner at their restaurant on my local directory website. The coupon has been a success and if you search on google for best sushi in (the name of my city) the first result is a link to my coupon for them and a quote from me saying that they serve the best sushi in (the name of my city). They now have a laminated copy of that google search hanging in the window beside the entrance, along with other upbeat reviews. I get free sushi for myself and a friend whenever I go there. Nice arrangement, I think!
They cherry picked the five best one-liners - and included any typos or grammatical errors, just as the notes were written. They typeset these one-liners in an animated gif so as not to affect the on-page text for search engines. The gif displays just one comment at a time.
And as I said, the result was a solid jump in sales with the same traffic. And that jump has been sustained for about 3 years. We would not take it down.
Another time when testimonials are a big help is if you have a comment from someone extremely well known who has given you permission. A testimonial from a former president on one site I work with helped a lot.
As EVF has said, testimonials have been around a long time before the Internet existed, with good reason.
I use testimonials, but only with permission and without full identification (even when offered by the writer). These letters to us often mention things that I would never think of saying, in a much nicer way then I do (or could).
Bottom line: testimonials add to our site's content, credibility and have a positive effect on sales, but only because they are never faked.
I used to think of testimonials as just a cynical marketing tool. Shortly before my mom died last year, she said she had visited my website, read all the testimonials, and was moved to tears. This, from a woman usually pretty sparing in her praise. I had no idea that would make her so proud. Wow.
Conversely, if all you get are complaints, then you've got a heads-up about which issues need repair. Either that, or you've learned you're working on a lost cause and it's time to find yourself a new specialty.
That standard sales letter format we see everywhere: with big headlines "$5,000 in just two days!" underlined and bolded, and another thing, and another thing, and yet another thing, and 10 testimonials, and then you see the price and it's quite reasonable, and then the free gift thrown in, then another couple of testimonials of lives changed, another free gift and finally a money back guarantee.
None of the individual parts, let alone the fake testimonials, would sell you anything. But they work because in the end you feel you have nothing to lose and it might just be real. The testimonials, which might just be real, add to the process.
These are tried and tested methods. We don't like them but they convert readers to customers at a higher rate.
My advice: get real testimonials and make sure they also look real or are easy to verify. You'll see conversions improve almost instantly!
Notice how everybody who writes a testimonial sends a passport photo for the author's convenience? And at least one testimonial is from an attractive woman? Beautiful women do that a lot - they have a disproportionate tendency to write testimonials for authors of Get Rich Quick books.
You've got to choose testimonials carefully to fit your audience. For most services online when I find that all the testimonials are from women (and accompanied by photos) the cynical me thinks they're probably fake. The unspoken thought is, "If you're faking your customer cross section you're probably faking the customer words."
If you are, say a web design company, and you include a glowing tribute from a client, link to their site, etc, then it carries a lot of credibility.
If you run a hotel, and include testimonials from local companies and the recommendation is from the CEO, then it carries weight.
But, as you say Jon and Jane from Hicksville do not, add anything to your sales pitch.
In Liane's case, I am sure there are "gold plated" recommendations that could be used with links to the punter's own web site to boost cred.
If buying a vacation somewhere, do you look for testimonials or read them even if they are available?
Take a note from places like webshots and others. Tell people that take your vacations that you have a section on your website where they can anonymously (or use their real name) upload their vacation photos with comments.
Have a block on your front page showing a photo sent in by your most recent customer with a comment beneath and a link to your customer photo section.
This creates good customer quotes (who would take the time to send in photos if they didn't enjoy their vacation) with multiple photos of happy people enjoying their vacation. If you allowed people who sent in photos to contact each other, then you could even create a small community of people who might share and talk about their experiences and return to your website occassionaly to meet others that shared their vacation spot. Maybe some will even plan more vacations with some of the poeple they meet through your website.
You would dominate your market and offer things that competitors couldn't compete with. Then you could send me any extra money you make.
Please pardon me if this is inappropriate, but I just wrote a bit more about this, which I'll repeat here:
Happy People = Testimonials = Dollars
Are people happy with your company? And are you looking for more people to be happy? If even a few people have told you that they are happy, then use their testimonials to engage more new people.
Let me specify that I'm not talking about paid endorsements. I'm talking about real people who are pleased with your product or service.
Why go to the trouble of promoting testimonials?
* increase your credibility
* add another layer of info without "selling"
* reinforce your brand message
* build relationships
* provide yourself with real-world info for more ideas
* re-motivate yourself and your team
What does a good testimonial look like?
* a photo of a real person using your product
* a short "They did a great job for me" statement
* a paragraph mentioning several great things
* several paragraphs telling a compelling story
* any combination of these
Who can give testimonials?
Well, who is a customer? Anyone whose actions affect your results, according to Steve Yastrow. So that includes:
* customers
* employees
* vendors
* community members
* industry experts
Testimonials work best when completely identifiable, so use full names whenever you can.
Are you too new to have good testimonials? Then get some test customers, give away some samples, and ask for comments.
How do you capture testimonials?
* Ask. Just ask. If someone makes a positive comment to you, ask them to write it down, or to let you write it down for them. Now if you do the writing, be scrupulously honest; do not stretch even a little bit. Make it easy for them. Let them use any of the types listed above.
* Use tags for del.icio.us, Furl, Technorati, and other online tools. As marketing and advertising continue to over-saturate us, the boom in social bookmarking and social searching online is one of our coping responses. It's the current version of word of mouth. The same people who are paying less attention to your ads are paying more attention to the advice of other real people. That little tag means that someone has endorsed you online. So make it easy for people to tag you.
* Give them something they can share. Chris Brogan suggests stickers, anything with your brand on it, and even coupons.
Where do you use testimonials?
* on your website
* in your store, especially in product displays
* in your office
* in your waiting area
* in any ads
* in your newsletters
* on the back of your business cards
* in your product descriptions
* on your brochures
* anywhere your branding appears
Testimonials can be incredibly powerful. With this reminder, and these ideas, now is a great time to pick up the phone and ask for one. Make it the first of many.
(c)2006 by Becky McCray
