Marketing 101: How Effective Are Testimonials?
Posted on September 13th, 2007
Before you make any sort of major purchase, you want to hear how others have fared with the same service or product. I know that I read a lot of reviews online before splurging on my laptop. I wanted to know about battery life, build quality, and how the specs stacked up against its closest competitors. I wanted to know if I was getting a good deal and if the laptop would suit my needs.
Most businesses have a section on their website dedicated to satisfied customers (I know I do). They say that so-and-so from ABC company was very happy with the services he received, placing a short quote expressing this pleasure. The same can also be found on many books: snippets from reviews are printed on the back cover, assuring would-be buyers that the book will be an excellent read. But really, how effective are these testimonials?
I’ve done a number of ReviewMe reviews for John Chow dot Com, and many of these are for some sort of online product. The page that the advertiser presents is oftentimes a very lengthy, single page sales letter, filled with highlights of features and testimonials from customers. When it comes to these kinds of webpages, however, I always have a suspicion in the back of my mind that the testimonials are all phony. Made up. Fake. The clients will have generic names like Tom Roberts from Seattle or Julie Hall from Boston.
My eyes usually glaze over these testimonials, because I simply cannot accept them at face value. By contrast, when I receive a recommendation from a good friend, telling me about the excellent service she received from a particular company, I take note. I trust her opinion and it’s because I know that it’s real. The same can almost be said about discussions within Internet forums. Real people, real feedback. By contrast, the testimonials on company websites have been specially selected to “sell”.
People want to hear opinions other than that of the company owners. They want to have some assurance and peace of mind. Testimonials are one way of doing this, but you’ve got to demonstrate to your customers that these satisfied customers are legitimate (I provide backlinks on my references page). Am I alone in this thinking?
Posted in Marketing Tips | 764 views
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5 Comments
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Posting testimonials on our site would be a violation of our privacy policy.
We do have an area in our forum where customers can post their testimonials.
I know I don’t take any testimonials at value unless they are face to face.
YA just reading up someones opinion don’t mean nothing realy.They are put together by a team of sales men to do what you said and thats drive up sales. The comment sections of a blogs post would be a good way to activate a site testimonial if the customer wants to leave it they can. If not they don’t.
I too feel that the testimonials on most pages just come across as fake. I’m not sure when the last time was that I even read them, let alone put any merit into them.
Now, that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be there as some people might look for that false sense of security.
I am surprised by all this scepticism. Then again, I’ve never thought about manipulating my clients’ testimonials to suit myself.
To judge all or most testimonials as fake is more a statement about one’s self and not about the companies that post them.
If you read the testimonials testimonials on my website you will know that they were obviously not written by a slick marketing team, but by real people with real opinions - yeah, they really do exist!
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