Testimonials mean NOTHING

[Mike Bogowski]

Hey Warriors,

First up I'm not disputing the power of a good testimonial, I'm specifically talking about IM products here.

I just finished reading the sales copy for one of the big new IM launches but when I got to the testimonials I just had to laugh. They really mean nothing to me anymore, its such rubbish. They may as well just say

'Hi Guru, Im your friend and of course Im going to say this product rocks because you are going to put my URL on the bottom of this testimonial... Dave www.superprofitswithnowork.com'

Give us some testimonials from REAL people using your strategies with REAL niche affiliate websites. That would get me well on my way to forking out dollars for your product.

Am I being overly cynical here? Am I the only one that feels like the testimonials are losing any value in this niche?

[Andres]

I agree 100%

In the IM world I've seen the same crap redone 100 different ways and sideways and yet the testimonials are as if it was a brand new idea.

[Jared Alberghini]

This is pretty funny:

Warrior's Names Used On Review Site

- Jared Alberghini

[Simon_Sezs]

Originally Posted by clank

For me, I only buy a product if it is something I think will help my business.

That is because you are an entrepreneur and being such, you aren't looking for the usual "get rich quick" books or "tips" that most fall for (they are "opportunists").

As far as testimonials are concerned, coming from someone that does pimp his own products, they are a necessary evil. If you look at metrics and you split test, you will have to understand that testimonials do bump up sales, regardless of whether you like them or not and regardless of whether they are true or not.

Social Proof, as it is called, is necessary and has powerful psychological effects on the regular, every day reader. It says "hey, if they can do it, so can I".

There are some gurus that actually include testimonials in their books as well to cement that what the person is reading is that good and therefore, the guru writing it is that good as well.

On a separate note, the reason why ad copy is so long (a la direct mail copy), is because it has been tested and it works. Does it work for everything? Of course not. But to completely dismiss the tried and true b/c you personally are annoyed by it is probably not the best avenue to run down without testing it first.

[JasonKing]

The numbers never lie...

[Kevin Riley]

Originally Posted by Mike Benkovich

Hey Warriors,

First up I'm not disputing the power of a good testimonial, I'm specifically talking about IM products here.

I just finished reading the sales copy for one of the big new IM launches but when I got to the testimonials I just had to laugh. They really mean nothing to me anymore, its such rubbish. They may as well just say

'Hi Guru, Im your friend and of course Im going to say this product rocks because you are going to put my URL on the bottom of this testimonial... Dave www.superprofitswithnowork.com'

Give us some testimonials from REAL people using your strategies with REAL niche affiliate websites. That would get me well on my way to forking out dollars for your product.

Am I being overly cynical here? Am I the only one that feels like the testimonials are losing any value in this niche?

THat's a pretty wide brush you're painting us all with. For the record, I do get a lot of requests to review and give testimonials or feedback. I turn many down as I don't have the time to read much, however, those that I do review I carefully assess the info being provided before I write a review.

The other day, I received a piece of software. my first question was, "Can I get this running in under 10 minutes? Because otherwise, I have no time to look at it." I had it up and running in a minute, was very impressed with the results, and am now using it in my toolbelt. Of course, I gave a glowing testimonial because I felt it is a great tool that did something for me in about 1/60th of the time.

I know there are a lot of other Warriors here who only give testimonials when they truly feel the products are worthy of it. I'm proud to call these people my friends. I would list them here, but I'm afraid I'll miss a few. Instead, know that those I network with constantly are the kind of people who still have honour.

[Michael Dominic]

Sometimes testimonials aren't even for the actual product being sold!

[Dan Grossman]

Originally Posted by Imran Naseem

The fact that you have never purchased an e-book implies that either you are not ready to take the risk as an Internet Marketer or you simply you give up easily

I don't think I'd be stretching to say most professional marketers haven't bought ebooks... there are other ways to learn to sell, even on the internet.

[Mary Gallivan]

Hi

The first thing I look at on a testimonial is the name of the person who wrote it.

If it's from someone well known like Willie Crawford for example then that has some merit for me.

It all depends on who wrote the testimonial.

I don't like to see umpteen testimonials on a sales page, 3 or 4 is sufficient to add, otherwise it can be overkill.

Mary

[Tristan Bull]

From personal expeirence I have found that video testimonials from people who have actually used my product before work effectively.

Because they are real, they are not doing it for the link back to their product and often if it is just from a customer they are not a well know guru so people don't think of course he is saying that because they are good friends.

[scene4u]

Video testimonials are really effective. Alos, sites that have over 20 testimonials tend to have genuine testimonials rather than those written by themselves or friends.

[SusanneUK]

Originally Posted by Keyblast1

No you are NOT being over cynical. You explained exactly what I think as well. I NEVER saw any value in these types of testimonials. (I have never purchased an e-book because I have always seen them as scams). The long, one-page sales page has always been a HUGE turnoff. That stuff screams SCAM; as do the fake testimonials.

I have to ask, what gives you the idea that ebooks are scams? I don't produce ebooks but I have bought a few here and there and I have to say, whether they ended up helping me personally or not, they always contained what I paid for, so how is that a scam?

Also..

I beg to differ, not all testimonials are fake, I was recently asked if I would like to give a testimonial for a product I bought and as it suited my purposes, was very cheap, easy to use I was happy to give a testimonial, nothing fake about that and there are hundreds of others who are not fake either, I am not saying there are no fake testimonials out there but please don't paint all of them the same.

Observation, you do seem to like the word scam, I personally get fed up of seeing that word bandied about all over the place - and more often than not, it is used when someone simply does not like the product or sales method - just because you don't like them does not make them a scam and in constantly using that word you help to taint the IM world most of which is actually ethical and honest.

Sue

[lakshaybehl]

Originally Posted by Keyblast1

No you are NOT being over cynical. You explained exactly what I think as well. I NEVER saw any value in these types of testimonials. (I have never purchased an e-book because I have always seen them as scams). The long, one-page sales page has always been a HUGE turnoff. That stuff screams SCAM; as do the fake testimonials.

Yeah, so what do you like about IM then huh?

[Dan Grossman]

Originally Posted by lakshaybehl

Yeah, so what do you like about IM then huh?

All internet marketing is not long sales pages or ebooks... in fact, most marketing on the internet isn't.

I know it's easy to forget that here.

[lgibbon]

Originally Posted by Mike Benkovich

Hey Warriors,

First up I'm not disputing the power of a good testimonial, I'm specifically talking about IM products here.

I just finished reading the sales copy for one of the big new IM launches but when I got to the testimonials I just had to laugh. They really mean nothing to me anymore, its such rubbish. They may as well just say

'Hi Guru, Im your friend and of course Im going to say this product rocks because you are going to put my URL on the bottom of this testimonial... Dave www.superprofitswithnowork.com'

Give us some testimonials from REAL people using your strategies with REAL niche affiliate websites. That would get me well on my way to forking out dollars for your product.

Am I being overly cynical here? Am I the only one that feels like the testimonials are losing any value in this niche?

They don't do a lot for me either.
There's one person that's appeared on just about
every product ever released.
If it wasn't for that, I'd probably never have heard of them.