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Marketing Management Public Relations

The Value of Customer Testimonials

Many customers look at paid advertising with a discerning eye while not filtering out those positive mentions generated by Public Relations. I think of testimonials as having the halo effect of PR but the clout of advertising.

Many customers look at paid advertising with a discerning eye while not filtering out those positive mentions generated by Public Relations.

I think of testimonials as having the halo effect of PR but the clout of advertising.

Testimonials on the Web Site

Testimonials can help convert visitors into customers.  The visitor is looking to feel good about the product or service.  He or she would like to see someone like himself or herself have a positive experience.

Selling Products?  Multiply the Testimonial Effect

Big shopping sites like Amazon.com, BizRate, eBay and Shopping.com will allow you to sell your products on their site. Customers can provide great merchant reviews of your company and products.  Use these reviews as testimonials on your web site.

But don’t passively wait for these reviews to magically appear.  Ask for them in the order confirmation and shipping confirmation e-mails.  Put a line on the packing slip as well.

Providing Services?  Multiply the Testimonial Effect

Blogs are a great source for positive words about your services.  Remember bloggers are always looking to write about topics of interest.  Some bloggers will go the extra mile and link to your web site.

Prospective customers can find the testimonials on blogs and follow those links to your web site.  Also, when performing a search on key words the prospective customer may find the blog post high in the search results.

The Takeaway

Testimonials bring credibility to your company and its products and services.  Multiply the effect by having testimonials appear on shopping sites and blogs.

Those are my ideas.  What do you think?

  1. Do you use testimonials on your web site?
  2. How do you obtain testimonials?
  3. How successful have testimonials been in driving prospective customers to your business?

By Rob Berman

Rob Berman is a PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT / MARKETING Executive with a proven track record of success growing the top and bottom lines in small, medium and large companies as well as matrixed and multi-national organizations. Experienced in domestic and international markets. Effective in a fast paced environment with multiple priorities -- meet deadlines while consistently bringing new products to market, managing existing lines of business, driving communications and achieving financial targets.

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