Comments on: Are Testimonials Factual Information or Creative Advertising?

By: John stone

John stone — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:57:41 +0000

Bill,
Excellent post. I agree with Bert that marketers probably can tell the difference between sincerity and hype. I’ve always questioned the testimonials that end with “J. Smith, Ohio”

John
Google Buzz

By: Yo Le

Yo Le — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:48:28 +0000

Hey Bill,

I agree with Bob…when you use video testimonials, there’s not way that you alter it or embellish anything. You get nothing but a genuine results based social proof.

- Yo

By: Bert

Bert — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:32:54 +0000

Unique post Bill,

I agree on your characteristics of a true testimonial vs. a hyped up ad. I think that us veteran marketers are more in tune with a true testimonial verses an ad.

I would say that the general public may not tell the difference for the most part, but as more people are getting online the fine line between ad & testimonial will be more scrutinized.

Great post,
~Bert

By: Bob Howard

Bob Howard — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 15:10:56 +0000

You are so right. That is one reason why I like the video testimonial because there is no real way to alter it and therefor is very believable.

You have made some very good points here.

Thanks
Bob

By: Kathy Sammons

Kathy Sammons — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 03:21:29 +0000

I agree with you, some testimonials seem just too good to be true. The ones that you can tell just come from the heart are the ones that I like best. Thanks for bringing this up, because when I see testimonials I usually just skip over them because you usually do not usually learn anything from them,you just hear mostly a lot of hype.
Thanks,
Kathy Sammons
Kathy Sammons Dot Com

By: Zack Covell

Zack Covell — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 22:11:37 +0000

I disagree with only one portion of your post Bill. The part that discusses how people are burnt out on certain types of testimonials. I do not think the VAST MAJORITY of Internet users understand AT ALL what ‘makes them click,’ pun intended.

However, when it came to the part where you laid out the steps of a successful testimonial I learned from you that when it is done RIGHT they can be MORE effective than the normal sales pitch testimonial.

I think what happens is that people using the Internet for a short time are becoming more familiar with marketing online and they (we) start to sense that many people join affiliate programs and have ZERO results and to promote their affiliates they make sales pitch tesimonial vids and this can drive more traffic.

My biggest concern is when watching these testimonials on other affiliate sites how can I tell which people are really getting results and which are not and just telling you how “amazing” the product is; even before they bought it….

Zack

By: Tamra

Tamra — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:31:12 +0000

Bill,

I’ve always wondered about using testimonials. I have a couple on my blog and I made sure to use their words, no changes.

I want to be able to build credibility, not loose it.

Tamra
Article Marketing

By: Carlos

Carlos — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:36:40 +0000

Bill,

Testimonials are great when done right, some people miss use this technique and loose credibility .

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:47:49 +0000

Hey Linus,
Thanks for the comments. I stumbled onto this topic after reading several places that many people think all testimonials are fabricated. I disagree that most are fabricated. However, some seem WAY to good to be accurate.

Unfortunately, when people do ads as testimonials, the entire system suffers credibility.

By: Cassie Strom

Cassie Strom — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 04:51:26 +0000

You’re so right Bill …. I have a hard time believing most testimonials out there….. they just seem a little TOO well written sometimes! lol