Guidelines for Testimonials

As mentioned under our guidelines for the "About Us" section, testimonials are one of the most effective means to prove that you meet your customers' needs better than anyone else.

If you're involved in sales or marketing, you already know that personal referrals are the most coveted of all sales leads and have the highest likelihood to convert from a lead to a new customer. In many service industries, a majority of new business is derived from referrals.

Likewise, as consumers bombarded with thousands of advertising messages each day, we've all come to realize that advertising often lies to us, and therefore is not a reliable source of information on it's own.

A recommendation from a friend or acquaintance provides information from an unbiased source with whom we've already established a level of trust, and are better positioned to evaluate their claim based on our past experience with that individual.

The next best thing to a direct personal referral, is a testimonial or endorsement from a neutral third party. Quality testimonials can support your unique value proposition for the same reasons as personal referrals. The effectiveness of testimonials will be determined by how well they're presented to your prospective customers.

Testimonial Guidelines

1. Provide testimonials with as specific information as possible about your client. We've all seen the fake testimonials — "This product changed my life - John. D." Even if this type of testimonial was real, it would be detrimental to display it on your site because many people would assume it was manufactured. Don't use a testimonial if you can't get a customer to allow their full name, city and state to be included.
2. Consider including details of the customer's experience with your company along side the testimonial. Case studies are one extreme, but may not be appropriate for your target customers. As a rule of thumb, the more complex your product or service, the more detailed information you should include with each testimonial.
3. Present testimonials from customers who are a close match or carry prestige with your target clients. This can include basic demographic criteria but you may also want to consider which products or services you are emphasizing. For example it may be easier for you to get testimonials from customers who have bought your widget, but if your priority is now selling gadgets you'll want to spend more time soliciting testimonials from those customers even if there are fewer to choose from.