Are these a waste of time putting them on a business website?

I'm asking because nothing really stopping anyone from making them up.

This is one of the reasons I like sheffield forum so much. I have decided that when my new website is built I am going to incorporate a mini blog/forum where customers can post, and also do a customer satisfaction sheet and scan it a bit like a picture.
hope that helps you decide

Are these a waste of time putting them on a business website?

I'm asking because nothing really stopping anyone from making them up.

In my opinion yes - a waste of time.

It's not that people will make them up, a company will always get good and bad testimonials. But those who have testimonials only show the good ones. There could only be 4 good ones but 50 bad ones.

Sites like gettingpersonal and Amazon are clever as they have a star system, so the more favourable reviews get put to the top. Although I do occassionally see poor reviews on Amazon.

The best testimonial is word of mouth. I would just have a box with company logos in - 'as used by...'. This allows people to drop your service in conversation 'Oh I hear you use...., what are they like'. So much more powerful.

Depends on the business

If your's is a service Business then, yes, they are important because people buy from people.

Some simple rules:

1) Real people, real companies...I always make contact with them when I'm assessing a new supplier
2) Do not make them up for the reason described in 1
3) Describe what you did for them and what benefit they got from what you did for them

We put our testiminials on and include full information about the client who has provided the testimonial so anybody can contact them and check up on it.

http://www.northyorkmoors-stay.co.uk/testimonials.php


We know that we have won new business due to these testimonials, so it can work.

We put our testiminials on and include full information about the client who has provided the testimonial so anybody can contact them and check up on it.

http://www.northyorkmoors-stay.co.uk/testimonials.php


We know that we have won new business due to these testimonials, so it can work.

How do your customers know that you are not biasing the sample by only posting good testimonials and refusing to post bad ones?

They are happy that they are able to contact good ones and check things out.

After all, putting testimonials on is marketing - if it works then fine.

I can see where the guys above are coming from, anybody can make up a testimonial, however if you design them right on your own website, e.g.: picture of the person, say where they are from, a short paragraph and then a link back to their website if they have one with the full testimonial then it should help you.

But if you can only get a short paragraph and a name then it might not be worth the hassle as people can be pretty suspect.

Hope that helps! :thumbsup:

Some simple rules:
1) Real people, real companies...I always make contact with them when I'm assessing a new supplier
2) Do not make them up for the reason described in 1
3) Do not use them 'creatively' and/or out-of-context, because...
But if you can only get a short paragraph and a name then it might not be worth the hassle as people can be pretty suspect....it may eventually turn round and bite you in the proverbial:

Only this morning, I happened to be looking into testimonials (short para/name) featured on the website of an infringer of one of my clients.

The infringer claims it was doing something as early as years ago, and refers visitors to these testimonials as evidence of the alleged time period.

Turns out all the testimonials, without exception, are either lifted verbatim from, or can clearly and unequivocally be connected to, individual transactions of buyers with the infringer on a very well known online tat-bazaar in the last 6 months :rolleyes:

As I'm a virtual assistant I use testimonials on my website as I find them useful references for work I have carried out for clients. I can see that some dishonest people might make them up but what would be the point when clients could be contacted.

Anway, I would ring up client and speak to them if testimonials were included on a website to get it from the horse mouth.

One suggestion I will use will be to put a link to my clients website - didn't think of that - GOOD IDEA.

Myrtle

Genuine, 'traceable' testimonials can certainly add credibilty - that's different from 'selling' you, but contributes to doing so. People aren't stupid - they don't necessarily believe 'the hype', and if they are interested in you and your products they may well be likely to 'google' you and check you out on forums and discsussion boards.

The world is far more transparent now, so don't make them up.

Get Testimonials from people with 'credibility' and they'll certainly help.

We have just started putting testimonials on our website, after debating the "cheesiness" of doing it, for quite a while.

The deal that we have made with ourselves is that the person who supplied the quote knows that we have done it (I was once astounded to find out that I had been quoted in a website without any prior knowledge; and it had been flowered up a lot!)

At the moment, we are "lifting" the quotes from letters/ emails that we have received rather than verbal quotes. That way we have back up should anyone want further details.

There isn't anything to stop someone making up a testimonial and adding it to their site but advertising standards can turn up on your doorstep and ask to see proof of the testimonial. The chances of this actually happening even if you had made it up and and someone had complained that you used a fake testimonial are slim to none.

Putting testimonials from the likes of Mrs Jones, Lancaster street - " What a fantastic job etc.......is a waste of time becuase even if they are all genuine most clients will have there doubts.

However if you can get testimonials from the likes of an established company for example Chatsworth house, A local council etc.....this will add trust and prestige to your name.

People will take note because if those are made up your going to get found out.


Paul

Anybody who say's testimonals are a waste of time or don't recommend them clearly don't know what they are talking about.

Depending on how genuine they are testimonals will increase sales and credability. If you don't lie, and are genuine then will or should increase sales. As you know your challenge is getting your "customer" to trust you so putting a testimonal from bob smith in the UK will not work.

When I have testimonals I ask if I could use their contact details or telephone number. Pictures of the person or video testimonals are awsome.

A better route would be to link to a website where people can post their own reviews of your product or service, such as free-index or Google Maps.

Of course, this can backfire if you provide a poor product or service.

Doing that, you could also get competitors entering 'incorrect' testimonials.

I think if you provide the persons name and company name and where possible a link to their website if they are a business, then you are being transparent about it.

It's up to the customer then, whether they really want to take testimonials into account by following them up.

it depends on the type of site & the business.

i'd often recommend interactive social functions on your website that allow users to leave their own comments as a better alternative to having 'testimonials'. independent review sites are another option.

any business is going to be very selective of the quotes they use in testimonials, if they don't make them all up. it might be slightly better than nothing, but i'd never trust them.

You can make them up - but testimonials are like the news page. They need to be constantly updated and refreshed.
Any regular visitor to the site will quickly spot stale of spurious comments.
Companies need to habitually invite customers for comments, and then they don't need to make anything up.

I've been looking into solutions for all of the 'issues' surrounding testimonials that have been raised in this thread, and I have subscribed to a business directory service, thediscdirectory, as their service solves a number of these for me; they provide a stock of A5 response cards prepaid and addressed to The Disc Directory on one side and full feedback request info on the other, including 5 star ratings, 'what did you like' section, 'what could they do better' section, referrals section and contact details.

Seems to work well, and with the use of widgets etc the testimonials received can be auto populated on your website, twitter & facebook.