A recent article from Marketing Prof reminded me that all testimonials are not equal.

Holly Buchanan opens a post at the FutureNow blog with a pair of seemingly contradictory ideas: that testimonials work very well and that they don’t work at all. Both are true, she argues, because customer praise can be a two-edged sword: If it appears inauthentic or doesn’t offer true insight, it can actually have a negative impact.

According to Buchanan, effective testimonials:

1. Are specific in their commendation. A generic testimonial like “I enjoyed my time at your hotel” won’t grab the attention of a business traveler in the same way as, “I was impressed by the 24-hour concierge service, especially when they found an all-night printer at 3 am.”
2. Address possible objections. You gain credibility when a happy customer explains how her initial skepticism was unfounded. “By addressing and voicing what many perspective customers may be feeling,” says Buchanan, “these testimonials are powerful persuaders.”
3. Are shown in a proper context. The testimonials on your website’s landing page, for instance, will be different from those on product pages or order forms; each should be appropriate for where a customer might be in the sales process.

The Po!nt: Not all testimonials are created equal. “Testimonials hurt you when people don’t think they’re real,” says Buchanan. “Anything that sounds vague or cliché can smack of insincerity.”

Again, this gives greater importance to the authentic reviews that are so important to all the hospitlaity industry. Encourge your guest and customers to write reviews on inn or product because their review will carry more crediability weight than an out of context testimonial.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 at 12:33 pm and is filed under Bed and Breakfast Websites, Client Blogs, Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.