BloggernityThe Secret to Effective Testimonials on Websites
ByPart of a web copywriter’s job is to stay abreast of what works and what doesn’t work on websites. One of the things that don’t work is testimonial pages. People ignore them. Americans are way too jaded to believe that your testimonials are genuine.
Testimonials can work
That said, testimonials are still a great marketing device for your website. You just have to know how to make them work for you in this cynical atmosphere. And testimonial pages are not the way.
How to make testimonials work
The way to use testimonials on your website is by inserting the testimonials right into the page text. After the first paragraph is probably the best location. Put it in a box with a colorful background so it jumps out at the reader. And it must be right in the middle of the page so the visitor can’t ignore it.
Identifying information is key
The next important thing to do is give as much identifying information as possible about the person you’re quoting. “Bob in Omaha” doesn’t cut it. “Bob Whistler, Press Operator, Richter Machine Shop, Omaha, Nebraska” is a gold mine. That is a testimonial people can believe.
The cloak of respectibility (begging Harry Potter’s pardon)
The biggest benefit to having the testimonial placed right in the text and early in the text is that it will color the rest of the copy that they read. It will have a psychological effect on the reader of covering everything else they read with a cloak of respectability. And that is the sort of thing that genuinely leads to sales.
Originally posted 2007-12-06 20:49:43. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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2 Comments
March 21st, 2010 at 4:54 pm
[...] in the Twin Cities, … As a meteorologist, Paul is aware of most of the evidence underlying …The Secret to Effective Testimonials on Websites :: Online …How to make testimonials an effective marketing tool for websites … Meteorologist and Entrepreneur [...]
June 7th, 2010 at 11:48 pm
Bob –
This is excellent advice.
One additional point — testimonials no longer have to be only written. They can also use an audio format or a video format on a website.
I asked a client to make a video testimonial after he so successfully took to the video blogging that I started him doing. The praise he gave on the testimonial in connection to how many people he had talked to before me surprised me. This is not something I would have thought to ask him.
When soliciting testimonials, encourage the people recommending you to do so in whatever format they are most comfortable.
P.S. The client’s testimonial video was so good that I put it at the top of the home page on my company site. You can watch it at http://www.millermosaicllc.com