First of all: What are testimonials and what is the aim of using them? The article ‘Using Testimonials to Boost Your Marketing Credibility’ gives us the answer on this question.
“Testimonials are quotes from satisfied customers that you share with the public. They can change opinions and garner trust from people that don’t know you. Testimonials add credibility to your business and product, and they can be included in all of your marketing materials, from newsletter printing pieces to flyers to business brochures.”
Testimonial blindness
But does this really work? Or is there something like ‘testimonial blindness’, described by Hunter Boyle in his article ‘Using testimonials effectively’. Are consumers to often faced with testimonials so that they are becoming indifferent to them?
Hunter Boyle himself gives an answer how to differentiate from the mass of other testimonials: yours should be specific, relevant and include strong arguments.
Avoid taking consumers for fools
This author also points out that consumers are more and more claiming transparency in marketing and are fed up with exaggerated an unsubstantiated pronouncements.
But this does not necessarily mean that companies should not use testimonials at all. In my opinion, in her article ‘Why Testimonials Do (and Don’t) Work’, Holly Buchanan demonstrates a way to respect consumer’s needs by using testimonials. Finally, the most important message of the article is that companies have to avoid taking consumers for fools. Companies damage themselves when people realize that the testimonials aren’t real.
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