Testimonials mean NOTHING

This is pretty funny:

http://www.warriorforum.com/main-int...view-site.html

- Jared Alberghini

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

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

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.