Would you change this testimonial if it was for you site?

[Ashley Gable]

I recently gave away a few free copies of my ebook. Its not in the internet marketing niche.

I got back some reviews. But is it better to "edit" a testimonial by cutting it down. Or to put "Unedited, Unchanged Testimonials" Or something like that, and put them up as they are.


here is one testimonial I got that is very good. She says how training is so expensive, which by the way, is what my main competitor sells, and is a point I make in my book and site -That one on one training is not necessary and too expensive to "just give it a go".

There are a few typos in the testimonial, like "brake" instead of "break" , is that okay? Also she points out the typos in my ebook, should I leave that in?

loved the book!! it is full of USEFUL information.
Information I wish I would have had 5 years ago when I first wanted to get started in this business
The Internet was the only place to get information where I live and that was fine but you only get little snippets of information here and there its like a jigsaw puzzle and lets not forget the misinformation out there too
And classes were so expensive and barely covered anything I needed to feel comfortable getting started.
If I had found this ebook back then I would have been ready to start as soon as my equipment was purchased
I cant wait to see what you come up with next
and I really like your brake it down get to it detailed attitude
the only problem I saw with the ebook was some type--os and a few missing words otherwise just its fantastic
please let me know what you come up with next

Thanks
Ashley

[Tom Brite]

Edit it so that its to how you want it!

Then email her back with the 'new' version and ask her if you can use it on your website and if she is okay with that as its her name going under it!

Then if she say's yes then use it... if not then find someone else's.

Tom Brite

[David Babineau]

Stuff like fixing typos shouldn;t be a problem at all. After all, if that person's name is appearing on your site they won't want to look like idiots anyway...

But yeah as Tom says I would chagne it as you like and email the peson and get their approval. Just try and be diplomatic when you email them and say something like "thanks for your great testimonial I really appreciate it. I was doing some editing to fix a few typos and to make it fit better on my site so I was wondering if you could look over it and tell me if this is OK or not? THanks again! Ashley"

Cheers,
David

[Ashley Gable]

Originally Posted by Tom Brite

Edit it so that its to how you want it!

Then email her back with the 'new' version and ask her if you can use it on your website and if she is okay with that as its her name going under it!

Then if she say's yes then use it... if not then find someone else's.

Tom Brite

Originally Posted by BargainCopywriter

Stuff like fixing typos shouldn;t be a problem at all. After all, if that person's name is appearing on your site they won't want to look like idiots anyway...

But yeah as Tom says I would chagne it as you like and email the peson and get their approval. Just try and be diplomatic when you email them and say something like "thanks for your great testimonial I really appreciate it. I was doing some editing to fix a few typos and to make it fit better on my site so I was wondering if you could look over it and tell me if this is OK or not? THanks again! Ashley"

Cheers,
David

Okay thanks. I didnt think of doing that!

But just to be clear, you think that the testimonial as it is (with the typos fixed) is not good enough? That it needs to be changed?

Thanks

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by TMG Enterprises

Personally, I think it's fine the way it is. More genuine and believable that way.

Absolutely right. I'd be very happy to use it exactly as it is and would think anything I "did to it" would make it less credible.

[Raydal]

I normally advice my clients to leave misspellings in testimonials
'as is' because it gives some credibility to them. People are not
particular about spelling when they write an email. If the
testimonial sounds too polished then you're more suspicious
about them being 'made up'.

-Ray Edwards

[Ashley Wright]

Leave it exactly how it is! Shows its from a genuine person, people reading it will understand that also

[Daniel Roach]

I agree with Raydal, typos make the testimonial seem more genuine. Nobody writes the way they did in high school english class.

I would personally edit it for length, just so the reader can hit the high points of the testimonial quickly without slogging through a personal letter, but it's still pretty good the way it is.

[Daniel Scott]

Personally... I try to keep the "tone" of the testimonial... while polishing it so it reads better.

The testimonial is still a part of your sales letter... and customers are terrible at writing good sales material :P

If you've got spelling errors in it, I usually try and leave them in (so long as it doesn't confuse the message). But I DO edit for ease of reading and emotion.

-Dan

[Ashley Gable]

Thanks for all the help. I was thinking the same thing as all of you - that maybe if I leave the typos in it will seem more genuine, the last thing I want is to make it look like i made it all up!

I will write and ask here about fixing the "brake" part as that kind of bothers me and might confuse readers.

Thanks Again for the help!
Ashley

Originally Posted by TMG Enterprises

Personally, I think it's fine the way it is. More genuine and believable that way.

Tina

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Absolutely right. I'd be very happy to use it exactly as it is and would think anything I "did to it" would make it less credible.

Originally Posted by Raydal

I normally advice my clients to leave misspellings in testimonials
'as is' because it gives some credibility to them. People are not
particular about spelling when they write an email. If the
testimonial sounds too polished then you're more suspicious
about them being 'made up'.

-Ray Edwards

Originally Posted by wrighty10

Leave it exactly how it is! Shows its from a genuine person, people reading it will understand that also

Originally Posted by Daniel Roach

I agree with Raydal, typos make the testimonial seem more genuine. Nobody writes the way they did in high school english class.

I would personally edit it for length, just so the reader can hit the high points of the testimonial quickly without slogging through a personal letter, but it's still pretty good the way it is.

Originally Posted by Daniel Scott

Personally... I try to keep the "tone" of the testimonial... while polishing it so it reads better.

The testimonial is still a part of your sales letter... and customers are terrible at writing good sales material :P

If you've got spelling errors in it, I usually try and leave them in (so long as it doesn't confuse the message). But I DO edit for ease of reading and emotion.

-Dan

[Dainis]

I'd say fix the carriage returns for sure. Sometimes people are embarrassed about their spelling, if it winds up in a testimonial. I'd just take up contact with the person as suggested above. My inclination is to help the person and the testimonial look good, which does involve a bit of editing. Keep the tone, run it past the person, post. Also, if I use testimonials "as is" (no editing), I just use the first initial of the person's name and don't check with them.

[geekology]

Yeah I would go with Tom's suggestion.

[Astounding Writing Coach]

I agree with leaving in the typos. It sounds like it's from a real client/customer with the misteaks in it.
Susan

[marciayudkin]

I normally advice my clients to leave misspellings in testimonials
'as is' because it gives some credibility to them. People are not
particular about spelling when they write an email. If the
testimonial sounds too polished then you're more suspicious
about them being 'made up'.

Ray, it depends on your market.

For an audience of consumers who don't care about professionalism, it's fine to leave a testimonial with misspellings and without capital letters.

For a business audience, a testimonial like this could be a disaster. I would question the sanity of a company that wanted to use something so sloppy to brag about its services. This is a pretty extreme example, like showing someone in a video wearing pajamas - not just "casual Friday" clothes.

Marcia Yudkin

[Jack Bastide]

Originally Posted by Astounding Writing Coach

I agree with leaving in the typos. It sounds like it's from a real client/customer with the misteaks in it.
Susan

Misteaks = Mistakes

did you do that on purpose ?

Jack