How to Write Testimonials

Commercial Copy

Testimonials are important in marketing. Nothing beats a real testimonial singing the praises of your product or services.

When I write marketing copy for a client, testimonials are among the first inputs I ask for. They really make a difference in the tone and credibility of the copy.

There are 3 excellent methods to write testimonials for your landing pages, web sites, information products, or direct mail pieces.

1) Real Testimonials

Testimonials from real customers and users are golden. They are precious. For them, there's only one thing to say: the more the better.

However, you may need to edit some of them since most people are not very articulate in expressing their thoughts and emotions, especially when they’re talking to a camera.

Daily spoken language is not as grammatical and logical as written copy. Thus make sure you correct the grammar mistakes, cut out the parts that are not directly relevant to your product, and shorten them to just a few sentences.

Testimonials that go on for paragraphs bore most people. Make them short, sharp and sweet for maximum effect.

For example:UNEDITED testimonial, the word-by-word transcribed version that you should not publish:

EDITED and cleaned up version that you should publish:

2) Hypothetical Testimonials

Real testimonials are great. But sometimes the business would be so new that the client would not have any testimonials yet. So what do you do then?

A solution is to write "hypothetical testimonials" that express your client's rendering of what an imaginary prospect would have thought or said had she in fact used the product or service in question.

This way you'd avoid committing a misrepresentation (by inventing a real testimonial that does not exist) while planting the seeds of a realistic and positive outcome in the prospect's mind.

When a real testimony does not exist, that's the best a copywriter can do without crossing over into the misrepresentation territory.

For example, imagine you are Pam Smith, a (fictional) Real Estate buyer's agent and you have commissioned a copywriter to draft a copy introducing your services -- without any real client testimonials.

Here is a sample hypothetical testimonial to get around the problem:

The copy in italics clearly is a hypothetical testimonial since it expresses your thoughts (as "Pam Smith") about what an imaginary prospect MIGHT be thinking after purchasing a hypothetical home of her choice.

A sales or web copy with such hypothetical constructs would be more powerful than without them. And since you make it very clear that it is no more than a figment of your client's imagination (" I can imagine you out there ... and thinking") there is no misrepresentation either.

A "hypothetical testimonial" is a legitimate copy device that you may choose to employ when you do not have any better input from your client.

3) Indirect Testimonials

Another powerful method to support your copy with testimonials is to find INDIRECT but RELATED one-sentence testimonials provided by others, especially by celebrities and VIPs.

For example, take the above real estate example. You're trying to sell townhomes in Pacific Palisades. You have no testimonials praising the Pacific Palisades townhomes you are trying to sell and you do want to write any hypothetical testimonials either. So what do you do?

What if you found a published quote by a famous golf champion praising Pacific Palisades as a great place to live?

Admitted, the quote has nothing to do with your townhomes as such but it is still a strong endorsement of the location where the townhomes are located. That would be a perfect example of the "fair use" principle. You can certainly mention that within your copy without, however, building it up to a major sales element.

CAUTION: You have to be careful not to present the celebrity quote as a prominent selling point since that would misrepresent the quote.

For example, here is a legitimate in-line use of such a quote:

At the bottom of your copy, you have to provide the public source of the quote:

That would be a legitimate and excellent way to provide support for the community where your townhomes are located, if not for the townhomes themselves.

However, you cannot print a blown-up color picture of a smiling PGA Champion Pam Brown, with a prominent talk balloon coming out of her mouth and saying: "Pacific Palisades: a really great place to live!" That would be using Pam Brown as your spokesperson without getting her permission. You could be sued for that, and for good reason.

Limit your indirect testimonial to a short one-sentence in-line quote, followed by the source of the quote at the end of your copy, and you should be just fine.

Here is a great example of Indirect Celebrity Testimonial provided by Internet and Intellectual Property Attorney Bob Silber.

In this example we see Bob's photo with Frank Sinatra.

Then there is the text that talks about the troubles Sinatra had for not securing his intellectual property rights.

Does it say anywhere that Bob actually represented Sinatra? No.

Is there any misrepresentation with either the photo or the text? The answer is again a big NO because everything he writes about Sinatra is actually true, and the photo is genuine as well.

Everything is technically correct and true with Silber's presentation and the net effect is we automatically associate Frank Sinatra The Legend with Bob Silver The Successful Attorney.

A marvelous piece of smart "indirect testimonial" by using a world-class celebrity.

Good job Bob!

You can do the same by telling a (true) story about a celebrity which demonstrates the principle that you are trying to make in the rest of your copy.

Here is a great example of a site selling a relaxation and meditation technique and talks about Olympic Champion Swimmer Michael Phelps in the sales copy.

Phelps does not endorse the relaxation technique in question and the chances are he is not even aware that this story about him is retold on a totally unrelated web page.

But what is related is the THEME of "overcoming a disadvantage by hard work and turning it into an overwhelming advantage."

That's where the connection is made and the copy suddenly looks much more powerful and effective because an indirect THEMATIC association is made with a celebrity.

Here is the copy in question:

And then the author proceeds to sell his own offer... Nice work, don't you think?

WARNING: You must be very careful about the nature of your copy. If your copy has anything to do with an immoral, illegal, or pornographic enterprise, then you could get sued even for a short in-line quotation since nobody likes to have his or her good name associated in any way with those kinds of enterprises.

If you have any doubts, write to the celebrity directly and ask for his or her permission for a quote and consult with your attorney.