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The Power of Customer Feedback
Choose the best: Testimonial vs Review
1. Meaning
Testimonials
✅ Testimonials are longer and provide more in-depth information about a customer's experience with a product or service.
✅They often contain a personal story that highlights the benefits of using the product/service and how it has positively changed the customer's life.
Reviews
✅ Reviews are shorter and more concise than testimonials. They are often focused on specific features of a product or service and provide a brief summary of the customer's experience.
✅ Reviews are given by customers who have used a product/service and want to share their opinions with others.
✅ These can be either positive or negative and can be found on a variety of platforms, including social media, review websites, and online marketplaces.
➡️ Explore Carina H.'s written review of webdew, a client of theirs, and compare it to the testimonial.
As we can observe here, this is a written review provided by one of webdew's clients. It is concise and straight to the point. Being featured on a reputable platform like G2 enhances its trust and credibility.
The key distinction between a review and a testimonial lies in the absence of emotion and personal connection in a written review. Additionally, the briefness of a review sometimes limits the depth of insights gained from feedback.
Verdict:
2. Authenticity and credibility
Testimonials
✅ Testimonials are considered more reliable because they are often written or recorded by real people who have actually used the product or service.
✅ These testimonials often share personal experiences. This, provide potential customers with an emotional connection and a sense of reliability.
✅ Customers are more likely to trust the information provided in a testimonial because they know that it comes from a genuine source.
Reviews
✅ Reviews can lack the personal touch of a testimonial. Some reviews may be written by competitors or paid reviewers. Thus, making it difficult to determine their authenticity.
✅ Anonymous reviews can be even more difficult to trust, as there is no way to verify if the reviewer is a real customer or not.
✅ But, when we read reviews on websites such as Amazon or other online marketplaces, we can see that people often share their reviews along with images and mention both positive and negative aspects of the product.
Verdict:
Testimonials and reviews are both useful for marketing, but testimonials are generally considered more credible. However, this doesn't mean that reviews are always unreliable or fake.
3. Consumption of time
Testimonials
✅ Creating a compelling and effective testimonial requires time and effort. Testimonials usually involve a more personal and emotional touch.
✅ They also include detailed explanations of the customer's experience and how the product or service solved their problem.
✅ Also, it is known that it can be either in written or a video form. Thus, if someone is planning to create customer testimonial videos, it can be a time-consuming task.
✅ It may also include the customer's personal story, background, and context. This type of information can be beneficial to potential customers who are looking for more in-depth information about the product or service.
Reviews
✅ Reviews tend to be shorter in length compared to testimonials, as they usually focus on one or two specific aspects of the product or service.
✅ As they are produced in written form, thus, can be created more quickly than testimonials. As testimonials often need more detailed explanations and personal stories.
✅ These can be written in a few minutes by a satisfied customer who wants to share their experience with others.
Verdict:
4. Ways of receiving
Testimonials
✅ Businesses usually get testimonials by reaching out to their satisfied customers and requesting them to share their experiences with the product or service.
✅ These are usually collected by businesses from customers who have had a positive experience and are willing to share detailed feedback. Thus, providing a more comprehensive and in-depth view of the product or service.
Reviews
✅ You need not get reviews, as they are often given by customers voluntarily without any prompting.
✅ Customers who feel particularly happy or unhappy with their experience with a product or service may leave a review on third-party review websites or on the company's website or social media page.
✅ Since reviews are more spontaneous, they may not always provide a complete picture of a product/service's performance.
Verdict:
5. Usage
Testimonials
✅ Testimonials are used as marketing tools on a company's website, social media pages, or promotional materials.
✅ They are designed to showcase the benefits and success stories of the product or service from the customer's perspective.
✅ By doing so, they try to gain new customers with a sense of the product's effectiveness and build trust and credibility in the brand.
Reviews
✅ Reviews are often found on third-party websites like Yelp, Google Reviews, or Amazon. Here customers can rate and comment on the products they have purchased.
✅ Reviews play a critical role in helping potential customers make informed purchasing decisions, as they provide honest feedback on the quality, features, and drawbacks of the product or service.
✅ Because impartial customers post reviews, they are often considered more trustworthy and genuine.
Verdict:
6. Ability to showcase product/service
Testimonials
Reviews
✅ Reviews can be effective in showcasing specific features or aspects of your product or service.
✅ They are usually shorter and more concise, focusing on particular aspects such as ease of use, quality, or customer service.
✅ But, reviews can help potential customers in making informed decisions by providing insights into the customer experience, both positive and negative.
✅ As they are generally in written form, it is not always physically possible to show the use of a product or service in there.
Verdict:
7. Shareability
Testimonials
✅ Testimonials are often created by businesses with the intent of sharing them on their website or social media platforms.
✅ They are usually longer and more detailed and can showcase the success stories of your customers.
✅ But, they may not be as easily shareable as reviews because they may need permission from the customer to use their name and story.
Reviews
✅ Reviews are often voluntarily shared by customers on third-party review sites such as Google Reviews, Yelp, Google My Business, or social media platforms.
✅ They can be easily shared and reposted by businesses on their own platforms. This makes them more shareable and can reach a wider audience.
Verdict:
