Testimonials can be a powerful tool to help you stand out from your competition.
Yet, most of them look generic and canned.
This is what testimonials on a lot of B2B websites look like:
Product company:
"[Company name] has an amazing product. It's easy-to-use and it has really helped our business. We love using it!"
Services company:
"[Company name] has been a pleasure to work with. They have a highly professional and friendly team that has always gone out of its way to help us. We highly recommend them!"
These testimonials are extremely generic, bland and frankly, unhelpful if you're a potential buyer.
In fact, you could pick up a testimonial from two different websites in the same industry niche and more often than not, they would look almost identical.
That's a big problem - and the reason why so many B2B buyers don't rely on testimonials on vendor websites anymore and prefer looking for reviews on third-party sites.
There was a time when you could post generic testimonials like this on your website and get away with it, because most B2B businesses didn't even have a website.
The stakes are much higher now.
Now, your testimonials should act as a summary of your case studies.
How to improve your testimonials
Instead of having testimonials with fluffy adjectives like great, amazing, mind-blowing etc that don't actually convey much, your testimonials need to be more specific and succinctly communicate to your target audience HOW you helped other businesses like them.
The best way to do that is by asking your happy customers these 2 questions:
What problems/challenges were you facing when you came to us?
How did we help you solve those problems? (probe them to highlight specific results and differentiators)
When you ask specific questions, you’ll get more specific answers.
Avoid over-polishing/paraphrasing the original wording (Buyers can easily make out if a testimonial was written by the marketing team).
Sticking to your customer's own words makes your claims look far more authentic - because they are.
Some examples of testimonials done well
Airtable:
Zapier:
Typeform:
What's common in all these testimonials?
They are specific (not fluffy and generic)
They are short
They clearly highlight the benefits
They show the customer transformation
Remember: Your testimonials should help prospects decide why they should choose you over your competitors.
That's not going to happen when yours sound like theirs.
Want to generate more leads and revenue from your B2B website? Sign up for a Website Audit. It's a comprehensive and professional assessment that digs deep into various aspects of your website (including your testimonials), and provides you with actionable recommendations to improve your performance. What's more - It's done by a human, not a tool!
