Best Personal Testimonial Examples

Testimonials are essential to marketing. People don’t want to just be “sold to” or just “take your word for it.” Instead, they would like to hear from someone who already uses your product or service. The purpose of this article is to address testimonial advertising and share some personal testimonial examples.

What is a Testimonial?

In marketing, a testimonial is an advertising method in which a person offers positive comments about a product or brand. They build trust and strengthen brand credibility. Testimonials are valuable because they convert your website visitors into customers.

A personal testimonial is a form of recommendation used to highlight a person’s abilities, skills, or achievements. It’s normally written by a customer or colleague about someone or something else such as a product.

what is a testimonial

Types of Testimonials

Different types of testimonials can be more engaging and more authentic than others. The testimonial you use depends on the story you’re trying to tell and how you display it.

  • Quote testimonial: This testimonial is the most common and uses words directly from a satisfied customer.
  • Peer testimonial: This testimonial usually includes a portrait and shows your customer as someone similar to your future customers.
  • Social testimonial: This is an organic testimonial, where your customer offers to share their experience with your company on social media.
  • Video testimonial: This is an eye-catching testimonial where your customer is video recorded talking about your product/service.
  • Interview testimonial: This testimonial is a video or written question-and-answer format where you ask your customers about their experience with your company.
  • Influencer testimonial: This testimonial is when celebrities or social media personalities speak for your company. Keep in mind that you should clearly label any paid influencer campaigns.

Writing a Testimonial 

According to Hubspot, testimonials have a few distinctive qualities and best practices. These are essential for inspiring readers and can motivate your clients to take the desired action. Follow these steps to write great personal testimonial examples.

Be Authentic 

Authentic testimonials show how your product or service solved or improved the customer’s life. Testimonials give potential customers an inside look at your product/service.

Keep it Short and Direct

Most people don’t have time to sit and read long testimonials. Therefore, keep your testimonials short and direct. The goal is to capture emotions and keep visitors interested and continuing to read. 

Be Specific 

Phrases like, “It was great!” are not all that helpful or have meaning. Personal testimonial examples should be about the benefits the service/product provides. Telling a story by briefly explaining the problem and especially sharing how the product or service helped is a way to create a convincing testimonial.

personal testimonial

Personalize the Testimonial

Personalizing a testimonial helps potential customers remember the testimonial and the product or service it is written about. Personalize the testimonial by adding before and after photos, a company logo, or other images.

Make it Conversational

Testimonials should be easy to understand. Be sure to stay away from technical and overly formal written testimonials. Readers are likely to move on if there’s too much technical jargon.

Testimonial Best Practices

Besides the distinctive qualities of testimonials, we will also share some testimonial design best practices. 

Get Inspired

Sometimes the best ways to learn are through inspirational, successful examples. Testimonial pages serve this purpose. Hubspot offers a 25 Testimonial Page Examples resource to help inspire you.

Make it Visually Engaging

Well-written testimonials create a picture with words so that the reader can understand the value of your product or service before purchasing from you. It’s important to post descriptive, detailed, enthusiastic language that helps convince your prospects to make a purchase. To make the testimonial more effective, include visual elements like images, videos, and social media feeds. Adding these components will show readers that the testimonial is from a real person.

Make it Specific

Make sure your testimonials are specific. For instance, this personal testimonial example:  “I love SEO Design Chicago!” isn’t very specific. Share testimonials that show someone using your product/service so that readers can see themselves using your product/service. Show them why they should use your product or service. Ideally, your customers will agree to serve as case studies and you’ll be able to publish comprehensive stories with more specific details. 

Keep it Aligned

Highlight testimonials that align with specific features of your product or service. Use these testimonials to link readers to different products or tool pages where people can read more about what they’ve just heard about. Again, adding images and videos to go along with specifically aligned testimonials would be beneficial. 

testimonial advertising

Asking for Testimonials

There are many ways to ask customers for a testimonial. The best way to ask for a testimonial will depend on your business type and who your customers are.

Email

Email is the fastest and most efficient way to ask for a testimonial. You can use an email to send someone directly to a landing page requesting testimonials.

Text Message

Text messages may be a better, more effective way to ask for a testimonial. Just like email, you can easily send someone to your review landing page from a text message.

Link on Your Website

A link on your website can remind customers to leave a testimonial. You can leave the link on your homepage sidebar, blog, or a page to pay a bill or make a follow up appointment.

In-Person

In person requests are great when you have a small email list or prefer to engage with people face-to-face. Use a card with an applicable link so that they can easily leave a testimonial later.

Social Media

Many businesses are highly connected to their customers via social media. If you engage your audience frequently on social media, consider making a testimonial request on your preferred platform.

Event

Finally, a large gathering or event is a great place to collect testimonials. You can give out cards with a link to your testimonial page, set up a testimonial kiosk, or use a tablet or mobile device to collect testimonials.

personal testimonial examples

Testimonial Advertising

Now that you’ve gathered some testimonials, how can you use them for testimonial advertising?  Neil Patel offers 4 legal tips for using customer testimonials. All testimonials should be truthful and not misleading. 

Disclose Your Relationship with Your Endorser

You must disclose the relationship between you and your endorsers. For instance, if an employee promotes your product, they must disclose that they are your employees. The business owner is responsible for creating a policy that states this. You should be sure to share the policy with your employees, shareholders, and investors. All disclaimers and disclosures must have clear, simple language so that viewers can’t miss or misunderstand your message. You can be held liable for failing to disclose material connections with your endorsers.

One way endorsers disclose their connections is to include a hashtag on social media posts and promotions. Perhaps you are endorsing Nutella. A social media post would include an image and might say something like: “Another fun breakfast. Strawberry, banana, and @nutellaUSA candy canes! #12daysofNutella #ad”

Ensure That Testimonials Are Accurate

All testimonials must be accurate. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), endorsements must reflect honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences of the endorser. Also, endorsements must reflect typical experiences. If an experience is not typical, it should be disclosed in an easy-to-spot disclaimer. You can be held liable for any false or unsustainable statements made through endorsements.

Get Written Permission From Your Customers

You should always get permission from your customers who choose to endorse your product. The agreement should be in writing, so there is no confusion. An email is sufficient. This protects you in case a customer wants to retract their testimonial in the future. With a written agreement, you won’t have to remove their testimonial until the contract ends. You can also include clauses in your Terms of Service or Privacy Policy that user reviews submitted to your website can be used for marketing purposes.

what is a personal testimonial

Don’t Lift Testimonials From Review Websites

Lastly, if you see a testimonial for your product on another website, don’t copy and paste it to your own website. Most review sites have a clause in the Terms of Service saying that any user-generated content is owned by the user and licensed to the website. If you copy and paste a testimonial, you’re infringing on the property rights of the person who wrote the review. In order to stay above board with testimonials and reviews, include links to the reviews on your website. 

Using Personal Testimonial Examples in Advertising

Finally, testimonials are a great way to advertise. Testimonials are valuable and people are more likely to buy your product or service if they have a story or review from a real person. If you have accumulated great testimonials from your customers, make sure you are putting them to use in your advertising. After all, they are essentially free marketing!

FAQ:

  • What is a testimonial?
  • What are some types of testimonials?
  • How can you ask for testimonials?
  • Why is testimonial advertising essential?
  • What are some testimonial best practices?

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