Using Client Testimonials

"Your service is great! Every other company I've used had terrible service and made lots of mistakes. I know I can count on you guys to do things right."

Would testimonials like the above help or hurt sales?

Would you believe that testimonial if you saw it at someone else's site? Why or why not?

Testimonials can help businesses if they're used well, particularly in service industries. Their use at eBay shows how persuasive they can be. If other people have used a service and found it to be good, the perceived risk is lessened. Testimonials make it easier for us to pay our money to an unknown entity.

Testimonials have been used for a long timeŸ they aren't new to websites. Online, they have the added benefit of providing more content for search engines to index. But if they aren't used with care, they can turn people away.

Testimonials and credibility

The above testimonial could describe just about any service type of business. Why should people believe that it's about ours? A lot of testimonials are fake. They may be written in the same glowing style as other testimonials on the page. Some are even copied from other websites.

Testimonials carry more credibility if they include the person's first and last name, location, and a way to contact them, such as a link to their website. Company-specific details — both their company and ours — also aid in credibility. Photos of the clients can also be useful if people are willing to send photos to go with their testimonials. Readers are more likely to believe testimonials that look like they were written by real clients and which can be verified.

Testimonials and privacy

If the type of service we offer is an invisible type such as marketing or editing, our clients might not want to identify us as a service provider. Aside from that concern, some people might not want to have their full names online or at our sites.

If only the name is a concern, converting the name to an image so that search engines don't find it will solve this problem for some people.

If there's a risk of some people trying to poach our clients, we may choose not to display our clients' full names. A first name and last initial might have to suffice.

How to get testimonials

Sometimes clients send us praise on their own for service or products we've provided. We can also ask for testimonials by sending out standard feedback questions about specific services and benefits. Or we can ask specific clients if they'd be willing to provide feedback about particular services or situations.

If we send blank postcards with feedback requests, we can scan the responses and upload the images. Handwritten testimonials have the advantages of privacy (as images rather than text) and added credibility.

Another way to get feedback is to invite people to post their experiences in a company blog. It's a good idea to moderate the comments so that they can be filtered before they're posted. Not everything that's posted will qualify as a testimonial.

Of course we need to have our clients' consent to use both their testimonials and any identifying information, or those clients could become ex-clients. Unsolicited feedback in particular may have been written with only us in mind as the audience.

How to use testimonials

A long list of testimonials on the home page can be a turnoff. These methods of using testimonials are less intrusive:

• Link to the testimonials on their own page.
• Use a script that rotates the testimonials and displays only one at a time.
• Work the testimonials into your other content, such as in articles, or on the same page as service descriptions.

Should we edit testimonials for such things as grammar, spelling, and capitalization? They'll have more credibility if each one has its own voice and characteristics. Editing may give them a look that's too uniform. On the other hand, editing may be called for if we use testimonials mixed with other content.

Short or long? While a few longer testimonials have their use, generally, shorter ones are easier to place and are more likely to be read.

If our websites aren't our only marketing tools, we can use testimonials in other ways as well:

• In brochures
• In newsletters
• In advertisements
• With product displays in bricks-and-mortar stores