Table of Contents
- What is a good testimonial?
- What makes for a good testimonial?
- Brief and specific
- Authentic and relatable
- Visually appealing
- Delivers a unified message
- Emotional but logical
- What to avoid while creating a testimonial
- False information
- Overused buzzwords
- Unverifiable claims and generic statements
- A negative view of competitors
- Using testimonials without permission
- Top 5 good testimonial examples to boost conversions
- 1. Quote testimonials
- 2. Social testimonials
- 3. Video testimonials
- 4. Success stories
- 5. Interview testimonials
- Conclusion
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Writer
Sanketee
Title
What is a good testimonial? (With top 5 examples)
Status
Person
Current Column
Sanketee
Date
Jul 21, 2023
Description
In this guide, we answer, “What is a good testimonial?” along with 5 unique examples to help you collect better testimonials.
What is a good testimonial?
Testimonials are written or spoken statements describing what it is like to work with you or praising your brand, product, or service. It is an effective form of social proof that establishes credibility and brings new business.
Customers research their fellow netizen’s experiences with brands before making a purchase. Your existing customers vouching for you will make them confident about your capabilities and nudge them to choose you.
But for that, you need good testimonials that tell a convincing story of how your brand’s services solved a customer’s problem. It has to make your audience resonate with the narrative and see you as the best solution to their challenges.
In today’s article, we share what an authentic and impactful testimonial looks like to help you showcase retable and high-converting customer stories for your brand.
What makes for a good testimonial?
Good testimonial examples will leave lasting impressions on the audience and have these elements:
Brief and specific
Your audiences don’t have time to go through multiple paragraphs while choosing a brand. They want quick and authentic facts on real customer experiences.
So, to capture their attention, make sure the testimonial is concise and gets to the point straight away. Such reviews are easier to skim and communicate the message without tiring the reader.
For written testimonials, use two-three sentence reviews of how your product solved a problem. You can also use one-paragraph customer stories describing customers’ experience with your brand. Such crisp client statements are also easier to showcase on your homepage or sign-up page.
For video testimonials, keep the duration under 3 to 4 minutes like Justin Welsh does for Testimonial.to. If you plan to promote them on Instagram or TikTok, divide the video into short clips of 60 seconds or less highlighting the most influential parts.
Good testimonials also include specific details to deliver a more convincing narrative. They highlight the best features of your products or services and describe their positive impact in tangible examples.
For example, “Working with [brand name or product name] was a great experience. They offer good customer service.” is a vague testimonial. But a testimonial that goes, “Using [product name] has simplified our lead generation process and increased our sales by 35%. The customer service team is always available for assistance,” is specific and insightful.
Authentic and relatable
Customers know when a brand is not genuine with their marketing endeavors. They are more willing to opt for brands with reviews that reflect real customer emotions.
So, to establish credibility, your customer testimonials have to come across as genuine experiences. Using the same example as above, Justin explains how using our product has led to a 3x conversion rate for him.
Good testimonial examples always portray the customer’s own words. The narrative should be relevant to your target audience and detail features targeting their specific problems.
This way, the audience can relate to the experiences and see your product as a suitable solution for their problems. They trust your capabilities more, which makes them more likely to convert.
Visually appealing
Visuals communicate ideas faster. They make the content eye-catching, memorable, and easier to consume. Hence, good testimonials showcase relevant visuals to capture the audience’s attention.
High-converting testimonials focus on different design elements. They use different font choices, colors, and sizes to make the review stand out. Many feature happy pictures of the particular customer beside the testimonial snippets on their homepage and social media. It catches the attention of even casual visitors skimming through their website or social media handles. Also, adding the face of the customer makes the review seem more credible.
Most good testimonials have clean and simple designs to make the content more digestible. They incorporate text reviews and customer testimonial videos that powerfully communicate the brand’s image. Testimonials with compelling visuals are also more shareable, making them omnichannel marketing materials. They drive more engagement and help you reach new audience segments.
Alternatively, a simple no-hassle video can be equally appealing due to its authenticity.
Delivers a unified message
While different customer testimonials narrate different experiences, the core message should be consistent. It should align with your brand image and communicate your value as a service provider.
Good testimonials should convey a clear story where they
- First address who they are
- Their earlier challenges
- Explain how the product was applied to solve the problem
- Followed by the positive results of collaborating with your business (e.g. conversion rates, ROI, etc.)
The narrative should be solution-oriented and portray a success story that amplifies your core value.
Before you request testimonials, create a brief of a consistent value proposition you want the review to highlight. You can prepare questionnaires, prompts, and testimonial templates. This will guide the customers to talk about the specific product aspects that you want to highlight.
Emotional but logical
Studies state that emotional appeal plays a significant role in purchase intentions. It enhances the customer’s perceived usefulness of your product and makes them more likely to opt for your services.
Ask your customers to explain their challenges before opting for your product. This will hold an emotional appeal for readers facing the same or similar roadblocks.
However, solely relying on emotional appeal is not enough to drive the point home. You must back it up with logical and tangible information to prove your business’s proven track record as a service provider. Good testimonial examples work because they blend a review’s emotional potential with substantial reasoning.
If you have reputed names for your clientele, showcase their logo to prove your company’s trustworthiness. Add client or spokesperson credentials to show that the opinions come from industry experts. Include data, statistics, and third-party reports with your testimonials to boost your social proof.
What to avoid while creating a testimonial
Now that we know the elements of good testimonials, let’s look at what you need to avoid while using customer reviews:
False information
Remember, it will take only a few clicks for your audience to verify the authenticity of your reviews. So, never ask your customers to provide false information or exaggerate your capabilities. This compromises your credibility with existing clients and makes your testimonials seem gimmicky and non-reliable.
Overused buzzwords
Your goal is to make your brand stand out with customer testimonials. Hence, steer clear of marketing jargon or current buzzwords. This will only make your reviews sound more cliche, insincere, and tricky to comprehend. Use simple language to make the story more impactful.
Unverifiable claims and generic statements
Eliminate claims that you can’t back up with substantial evidence. It will make your testimonial seem generic and unconvincing to the customers. Try to include supporting data to prove that you deliver what you promise. Avoid vague statements that don’t provide helpful insight into your services.
A negative view of competitors
Outperforming your competition is necessary. But using testimonials that undermine your competitor’s credibility while highlighting your own will make your brand seem arrogant and unappealing to viewers. Avoid any kind of negative remarks about your rival brands. Instead, focus on your product’s capabilities in your testimonials.
Using testimonials without permission
Showcasing testimonials on the website or promoting them without explicit permission from the reviewer is a bad marketing practice. Make sure you have consent from the customer before using their review.
Top 5 good testimonial examples to boost conversions
Here are some examples of good testimonials for your to learn and get inspired:
1. Quote testimonials
One of the oldest forms of social proof, quote testimonials is still one of the most common testimonial forms today. A brief snippet from customer reviews is convenient to use, quickly digestible, and highly convincing.
Quote testimonials are easy to collect, and by including the customer’s name, picture, and company logo, you can make it incredibly impactful. They are easy to embed in your website content and can nudge visitors to explore your brand further.
For example, Kissmetrics showcases quote testimonials on their “Customer Success” page.
2. Social testimonials
Social media channels are a goldmine of organic customer testimonials. A happy customer may not personally reach out to appreciate your services. But if you have quality products, they may gush about your brand on social media.
Good testimonial examples you can collect from virtual networking sites include:
- Pictures of your products with appreciative captions
- Shoutouts on Twitter or Instagram
- TikTok videos featuring your products
- Review videos on YouTube
- Community posts on Facebook around your brand
Social testimonials represent a natural connection between a brand and its customers. It adds a strong layer of authenticity to your social proof and boosts your relatability.
Make sure you like and repost such UGC on your social media handles. You can use social listening tools to monitor and collect testimonials from networking sites. With explicit permission from the creator, you can post them on your profile.
Tools like Testimonial also allow users to import social testimonials and embed them directly on their website. You can feature Instagram and TikTok reels on your website and even turn Twitter DMs into testimonials.
For example, Try Illuminate collects product-related reels posted by customers on social media channels and features them as testimonials on their websites.
3. Video testimonials
Videos are one of the most popular formats of content consumption. According to a report, 82% of global consumer internet traffic came from videos in 2022.
So, it’s no surprise that even the biggest brands rely on video testimonials to establish credibility. While words can lack sincerity, it’s tough to fake expressions and body language. This makes video testimonial examples seem more authentic to your audience. Adding properly produced customer testimonial videos can also make your Wall of Love seem more vibrant.
For example, Wyndly, a brand that offers affordable immunotherapy, uses video testimonials from real customers and showcases them on its testimonial page.
4. Success stories
People like stories. They resonate with its narrative and retain more information. That’s why using success stories as testimonials often drive excellent results for a business.
Success stories are niche specific and give a clear insight into your expertise with a detailed view of a customer’s journey with your product. It dives deep into the challenges faced by your client and illustrates measurable results. These testimonials document how your product made a specific change in your customer's life and imprints a reliable brand image in a potential customer’s mind.
For example, MailChimp has a dedicated page to showcase success stories as testimonials.
5. Interview testimonials
One of the simplest ways of collecting effective testimonials is conducting client interviews. You can ask customers questions about specific aspects of your services and how your brand helped achieve their goals. It keeps the testimonial's authenticity intact while allowing you to control the narrative.
Customer interviews are quite adaptable in testimonial format. You can take snippets from the customer's answers and use them as quotes on your website. Businesses can also film the interviews and use them as video testimonials.
For example, Stio, an outdoor apparel brand, conducts interviews with its brand ambassadors and publishes them on its website.
The questions are specific and guide the interviewee to highlight the most appealing aspects of the brand and its products.
Conclusion
Good testimonials can showcase a proven record of customer satisfaction and drive exponential growth for your business. No matter what format you use, the key is to keep the narrative on brand, authentic, and solution-oriented.
As we wrap up today's conversation, here are some parting suggestions:
- Keep your testimonials short and crisp.
- Ask customers to provide tangible data on how your brand contributed to their success.
- Use social listening to keep track of shoutouts and other UGCs.
- Use colorful images to capture attention.
- To make your testimonial page vibrant, showcase a blend of text-based and video testimonials on your website.
Finding it difficult to gather and use effective customer reviews?
Testimonial is here to help. With our no-coding platform, you can collect high-converting customer testimonials and directly embed them on your website in minutes without hiring any developer.
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