Can you have Too Many Testimonials

Hi there. Putting together a long form sales letter and have a ton of testimonials. Do you think there can ever bee TOO MANY?

how many is too many?

 

I think anything more than 3 or 4 is over kill.

 

I hope 5-10 is great and more than that is not worth.

 

I guess it would best be determined by what value each one adds. If they all essentially say the same thing, then less is more. If they can be used to accentuate particular points, then sprinkle them throughout the letter.

Just make sure that a long sales letter is the best option. More and more people are likening them with snake oil.

 

I agree with YMC, if they are redundant, don't bother... But the testimonials should highlight and shine on the serious points you are making in your sales letter(product)

But if your testimonials will really hit homeruns, than put as many as you can... John carlton has testimonials on the side of his sales letters going allllll the way down to the end. But they are all stating that they have literally made x amount of money with his tactics.. Not stating that the product is great....

...you should highlight the huge points - for example a good template for a testimonial (long winded) would be -

"how was you life before (my product)?"
"how was your experience during (my product)?"
"how did your life change after using (my product)?"

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or you can simply ask them for specific points, like "how quick after you finished the course did you start to earn?"

Testimonial can be the lifeblood if your letter. With a john carlton letter for his product.. I can just read the testimonials and want to buy it.. because it gets me excited to get that same results. The psychology stating that "normal" people can do it too resonates with people.

Hope that helps.
Dave R.

 

I think you should choose your top 4

 

Above all ensure that the testimonials appear sincere and not fabricated or exagerated,otherwise they will do you more harm than good.

 

Don't put more than a handful. I wouldn't read tons of them, would you? Plus, most people today know that most testimonials are fabricated anyhow.

 

I have to agree with YMC on this one. Add the testimonials that are from any special clients first (Special clients are clients that people would be more impressed that you have compared to the average client). After you get through those, then toss a couple of your normal everyday clients in there. That way you can show them that you have worked with a variety of clients, including some that are more recognizable than others.

 

You put that well. Just the other day I read a post where it said that it also helps to change the term 'testimonial' to 'review' (not necessarily in your sales letter) as it apparently inspires more trust that way!

 

I'd say there can definitely be too many, especially if they are in the body of the sales letter. If you have more than a couple of testimonials that say essentially the same thing, there's no point in including all of them in the letter. Your readers are just going to skip over them. Also, as SpoiltDiva mentioned, make sure that your testimonials appear legitimate. The more of them you include, the more your audience is going to think that you created these testimonials to make yourself look better.

 

It depends on how you are presenting them. It would make it a good idea to perhaps provide references to a prospective customer that is in the same line of business as them. But if you’re just posting them on your website, select your most compelling ones and it should be good to go.

 

As tjcreation said, structure your range of testimonials the same as you would any copy - think of the most significant, high-impact messages you need to send and just pick the testimonials that work for each one.

In theory, if you have 12 different things that I really need to hear about your product, I'd read 12 testimonials.

But I think most people find that the fewer benefits you're conveying, the better!

 

I agree I think that you should not over load your sales letter with more than 3-4 testimonials.

 

Testimonals on your website - YES Tesimonals on a third party website NO. No one belives testimonals on your own website anyway.

 

4 or 5 sounds good. You could always provide a link to a page with more testimonials in your sales copy if you think they are too good to throw out completely.

 

How are people managing to suggest a "correct number" of testimonials without allowing for product-pricing and copy length? That's rather "far-sighted" of them.

Clearly, short copy for a $7 e-book is going to look ridiculous with 28 testimonials, just as 3 testimonials will be inadequate for 5,000-word copy for a $297 course.

It always depends on several different factors.

But there is such a thing as "too many testimonials", in general - yes. It can make the vendor come across as either desperate or implausible, or a combination of the two, just as too many bonuses can.

 

Having a huge list of happy clients with positive feedback is great.

Do not use all your testimonials in front page. Include 4-5 in main page and for the rest, give a link to let your visitors see more of your clients' positive remarks.

 

Having more then a few testimonials make it look like suspicious. Again, it depends upon the design of your webpage.

 

If I was reading testiomonals, I think 5 would be enough)