Key Takeaways
- Think about it this way, nobody trusts the waiter who says the food is amazing but they absolutely trust the stranger at the next table who is clearly enjoying every bite.
- Slapping a “great product, highly recommend” testimonial on your website is not marketing, it is just filling space that could be doing real work.
- The testimonials that genuinely move people are the ones where someone says here was my problem and here is exactly how it got fixed.
- Your testimonials should back up what you already claim because if your brand promises simplicity and your reviews talk about confusion you have a serious problem.
- People connect with people who remind them of themselves so stop collecting random reviews and start collecting the ones that speak directly to your actual audience.
- A customer who tried three other options before finding you and can explain why you won is worth more than a hundred generic five star ratings.
Public opinion can change your perception with respect to few things. It is sometimes good and sometimes bad but from business point of view, it is absolutely positive to increase sales.
Let’s take an example, you went to a restaurant, the waiter there offers you their special dish and urges you to try it. Since the dish is new and you have no idea how would it taste and with the fear of ruining your dinner, you might gently decline to order. However when you notice the same new dish has been ordered by the couple sitting next to you and they are enjoying the dish and are just praising it, you instantly might change your decision and think of ordering it. What made you change your opinion about the dish?
Firstly, the customers who ordered the dish, are actually tasting it and exactly know how it tastes rather than the waiter who is trying to promote and sell the dish and secondly the customers have no profit, hence you got to believe it that the dish actually tastes good.
Similarly in business more than company talking about their product, when you hear their satisfied customers talking about it, you tend to believe them and consider making an investment. By using testimonials on your business website, you are actually building a trust factor among your prospective. It is the easiest and positive way to boost your sales.
You might have various testimonials but what do you mean by best testimonials that can really be effective for your business. Let’s check out:
Not the typical ones:
“The product is really very nice”, “I love the product”, “Service is great”, such kind of feedbacks are definitely positive but not impactful. They do not give the potential customers a strong reason to buy the product; they don’t get an idea why this product can be beneficial for them. There is no harm to put such testimonial on your website but you can’t expect that it would drive your sales.
So how should the testimonials be?
- The testimonials should highlight the benefits about the products and services
- Comments like “The product is quick pain relief”, “This online invoice is easy to use and helps to create invoices swiftly”, such comments talk about how the product has benefited them and certainly will prove effective
The testimonial should match with you company message or motto:
If you claim your product is easy to use and affordable, then the testimonials should reflect the same. Provide with some actual facts and figures, so that the future customers believe is what you assert.
The testimonials should highlight:
- How much time and effort was saved by the customer with your product or service?
- How much money did they manage to save?
- How did your product or service solve their problem?
- How did it help them?
Questions to these answers in form of testimonials will really be helpful and create a positive impact on the potential customers.
Testimonials should be for the targeted audience:
Let your website visitors know how your products and services helped people like them. For example – If your products are specially designed for senior citizens then mention the age of the customers who provide the testimonials or if it targets mom and children then you can put their photos or put some details about their family. This will add some personal touch to your testimonials and relate more with the audience.
Comparative testimonials:
There is no need to mention the brand name but comparing and focusing your unique qualities will make product stand apart from the crowd.
- If your customers have tried any other product before you, let them compare and state what your product offers that other products don’t
- Highlight on points which make your product stand apart from others as this can be an effective factor to amplify your sales
You can incorporate testimonials on your website in any format – text, audio, video or all three, the choice is yours. Remember, the testimonials presented by the customers might not be always grammatically correct, it might contain some errors. Therefore to make it more presentable and readable, refine the content appropriately. You can send the refined testimonial to the respective customer and let them know about the modification made.
Using these impactful and fact-filled testimonials will let your visitors know how creditable it is to trust your business.
FAQs
Q1. Why do most testimonials just sit there doing nothing?
Because they are too comfortable and safe. “Wonderful experience, will use again” sounds pleasant but it gives a potential buyer nothing real to hold onto. People are not looking for reassurance that your business exists and is fine. They want to know if it solved a real problem for a real person and whether it could do the same for them.
Q2. What does a testimonial that actually converts look like?
It tells a mini story – the problem at the start and how it ends. There was a problem, there was a solution, and here’s how life is different now that things have been sorted out. Add some detail such as saving three hours per week or cutting our invoicing time in half, and it is no longer a review; it becomes proof.
Q3. My customers keep leaving one liners, how do I get something more useful?
Stop asking open ended questions and start asking specific ones. Instead of leave us a review try what were you struggling with before you found us or what would you tell a friend who was thinking about trying us. Guide the conversation a little and the quality of what comes back will surprise you every time.
Q4. Do my testimonials need to match my brand message?
They absolutely do and honestly this is where a lot of businesses quietly undermine themselves without realising it. If your whole pitch is built around ease of use and your reviews are full of people mentioning how long it took them to figure things out, that disconnect does real damage. Your customer voices should be the loudest confirmation of everything you are already saying.
Q5. Does it actually matter who the testimonial comes from?
It matters more than almost anything else about the testimonial itself. A review from someone who sounds exactly like your target customer lands completely differently than one from someone your audience cannot relate to at all. Put yourself in a visitor’s shoes for a second. Are they going to trust a review from someone who shares their situation or from someone who clearly does not
Q6. What is a comparative testimonial and why should I be collecting them?
It is when a customer explains what you gave them that nothing else did, without needing to throw any competitors under the bus. These are gold because they answer the exact question every potential buyer is sitting there quietly asking which is why you and not someone else. And they answer it in a voice that is not yours which is the whole point.
Q7. Can I clean up a customer testimonial or do I have to publish it exactly as written?
You can tidy it up and frankly sometimes you have to if the grammar is rough enough to distract from the message. Just never touch the actual meaning or twist what they were trying to say. And always send the edited version back to the customer before it goes live. It is a small step that protects you and respects them.
Q8. Text, video, or audio, does the format really make a difference?
Video wins almost every time because it is the format that is hardest to fake and people respond to a real face and a real voice in a way that no amount of text can replicate. That said a sharp well written testimonial from a named person with a photo still pulls its weight. Use whatever your customers are actually willing to create and just start collecting them rather than waiting for the perfect format to fall into place.
