Have you ever looked at the testimonials page of a company’s website and thought:
“This page doesn’t make me want to buy from Honest Jim’s Used Cars … it actually makes me trust them less!”
I have. So when I was making the testimonials page for this website, I had a good think about what should be on it. And since that page has worked out pretty well, I thought I’d share some tips with you.
I came up with three basic principles that underpin a good testimonials page.
They’re very simple. After all, persuasive testimonials are just nice words from your customers. There’s no real need to be fancy.
So it should be easy to make your own great testimonials page. Just remember these three watchwords.
1. Credibility
Have a look at this screenshot from a boiler company’s website:
Who are Sue and Charles?
Is it possible the business owner just made them up? Call me cynical, but … yes. It is.
These are the kinds of doubts you DON’T want to inspire in customers.
So use proper citations:
- For testimonials from private consumers, ask to use their full names and home towns
- For business customers, include their full names, job titles and company names
This makes sure people know your testimonials come from real people.
It’s easy to do, but thousands of businesses don’t bother. So here’s your opportunity to create a better testimonials page than your competitors.
No.2: Quality
Testimonials are a but like the staff at the post office. Some are really helpful, others are actually pretty useless.
So…
- You don’t need list ALL the testimonials you’ve ever received. Your customers only need to see around 10 to be convinced.
- Choose the ~10 testimonials that show your business in the best light and leave the rest out.
- Put your very best testimonials at the top of the page, where they’ll be seen by more people.
Also — don’t be afraid to tidy up the spelling and grammar. A well-written testimonial makes a better impression than one that looks like it was typed by a ten-year-old. Don’t change what your testimonials actually say though, because that’s dishonest.
No.3: Presentation
Your testimonials should be smartly presented and easy to read.
If you’re building your own site, use the blockquote and cite tags and style them with CSS. Here’s a good guide from Smashing Magazine.
If you’ve hired a web designer, talk to them about your testimonials page and make sure they do a good job. It’s important!
What makes your testimonials page stand out?
So those are my three watchwords for a top testimonials page: credibility, quality and presentation. I hope you find them useful in getting the basics right.
If you’re proud of your own testimonials page, or you have more good tips, please share them in the comments.
Growing your business?
We’ve got bags of creativity and experience and we’d love to help! Click below to see what we offer for small businesses.
Helpful guide. We dont always get the qyality of testimonials to follow the credibility part. But i can see what you mean about showing they’re from real people. Thanks.