Testimonial or review?

Reviews are great for detailed comments about a product but you are more likely to engage new customers with a testimonial: a  clear, brief, positive messages from those you have already done business with. Put them on the front page of your website so new visitors can see instantly that your company is one that they want to be working with. 

Sharing customer testimonials

Using a prompt such as "leave your testimonial here" encourages customers to leave feedback and makes it very clear that their words are going to be used to represent the company.

This is how you can leave a testimonial on The Best Of Guildford, for example. But if you have, say, received a glowing email from a happy customer and want to share it more widely, you need to get permission first.

Once the customer has agreed, it is great if you can add weight to the words by showing that s/he too is a real person, maybe by adding a photo next to the testimonial or by including a link to their website, if they have one.  

Leaving your own testimonials

"If you like what we do, tell everyone," was around long before the internet but now we have it, it is easier than ever to "tell everyone" about an excellent company, product or service that you would recommend: leave a testimonial! 

The other half of that maxim is, of course, "...and if you don't like it, tell us." That is true as well.

Testimonials are not the place to gripe. If it didn't go to plan, contact the company first and give them the chance to make amends. You wouldn't want your business reputation undermined because of one human error  - don't undermine other people's either. 

Fake testimonials - just say no!

Naturally, there is some anxiety about fake testimonials. Are the ones that you see on other websites fake? What if you don't have any testimonials yet - should you fake some? My research has shown me that it is just not worth the risk - a company using fake testimonials lays itself open to accusations of false advertising or even fraud.

If you haven't had any testimonials yet, better to just wait until you have. 99.9% of the time, a website with testimonials is a website with real testimonials and you can believe what they say. That's a trend you definitely want to be part of.  

Receiving testimonials reminds you and your colleagues just what you are doing right.

Share testimonials on your website and tell your future customers too.