We’ve all been there.

You find a website that you like the look of and you’re thinking, “Hmmm, I might want to do business with them.”

But you want to make sure they’re kosher, that the product or service they are selling does what they says it does. You want verification. You want the recommendation that “word of mouth” gives.

And the only way you can do that on a website is by checking the testimonials (if the website has any). If they have testimonials from past customers, that is generally a good sign.

But how real are these testimonials? Are they genuine recommendations…or fake ones dreamt up by the website creator?

To be fair, you can usually tell a real one from a fake one. There is something about the way people write. Real satisfied customers speak as if they mean it. They are happy with what they have bought from that website and they want others to know that they are dealing with a reputable company and that the product or service they are selling is a reliable one.

In the old days, faking testimonials was a cheap way of creating good feedback for your product – but these days it just doesn’t work. You can usually spot a false one a mile away. Why? Because it will be laden full of “sales pitch” words which smack of being written professionally (or unprofessionally) by a copywriter. You can just smell it.

So don’t try it! Take our word for it. Fake testimonials can leave your practice badly damaged. It turns people off. They just won’t believe what they are reading. They will leave your site in droves.

But there is no doubt genuine testimonials vouching for the excellence of your service and results is one of the best marketing tools you have at your disposal. It’s the power of testimony and it speaks louder than any other marketing tool you can possess…if utilized properly.

Here are some simple prerequisites to establishing a good selection of testimonials from satisfied patients:

• Always ask permission to use a patient’s comments. Get it in writing, and keep it in your files.
• Always ensure she is okay if you include her identifying details and ensure she knows exactly what you are going to include
• Ask the person giving you a testimonial if you can use her signature
• Better still get her to submit a photograph of herself (a real face to go with the name adds so much more to the words)
• Sometimes it is better to be selective and choose the most relevant and best parts of a patient’s testimony rather than publish it in full (hopefully this goes without saying, but don’t cut out 95% of a complaint letter and use the remaining few words as a testimonial!)
• Even better still – ask her to send a “talking head” video of herself giving her testimonial (video testimonials are proving a real killer addition in overall business marketing strategies)
• In addition to a dedicated testimonial page, pepper your website with the testimonials in strategic places (hmmm…maybe we should take our own advice on that!)

Getting feedback to build your testimonial file is a standard practice all website owners should adopt.  It just adds so much to the credibility and marketability of your practice that it is well worth spending time accumulating them.

How are you using testimonials in your practice?

Scott