Testimonials, a reality or a (fake information) strategy ?

rowebca

rowebca

Member
I never understood "CLIENT TESTIMONIALS". When you publish something like this on your website without a possibility to verify the client, web hosting provider can "write" by it self CLIENT TESTIMONIALS. So what is the purpose of this ? To advertise your clients testimonials, if they are fake ?

Like writing: Steve J. said that: "bla bla bla "


How can I check if Steve J exists ?

In a case that the client can be verified (domain name, complete name etc) is it OK.


It is like watching to the American wrestling knowing that is fake, but
enjoy it like is real.


Can somebody give me an explanation of this, or your opinions about this ?


Regards
 
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If a client leaves us a review/testimonial, then they have to provide a URL of the site they host with us or hosted with us, if they dont provide this then the testimonial does not get published. This way anyone can verify this by visiting their site.

A lot of fake testimonials on websites you will find the site is a template and these are the testimonials that come with the template, sometimes a host will change the names and yes some hosts will write their own reviews
 
For us, we ask our clients if they'd like us to include their URL in the statement. Some clients don't want us to publish that information though as then their competitors would see who they're using.

We have hundreds of testimonials over the years, but we take regular audits of the testimonials being used to make sure that the client is actually still with us. If you look on our testimonials section at the bottom of our website, you'll see many of the clients who left testimonials didn't fill out their websites. I've no idea why they don't, but many people just want to offer a review and nothing further.

But I completely agree with George about the fake testimonials - they're everywhere!
 
the reason i request the URL is that still 5 years after terminating a client for no payment this ex client posts stuff about me and my company everywhere he can. he started a mywot campaign, even abused me on MSN after he demanded i give him my server admin details or he would ddos me. his recent one is i have posted his personal details on several public forums, yes if this was true why has he not reported me under the data protection act. also he tried using the mcafee site advisor to say he had bad shopping experiences on every one of my domains, even ones that dont have active websites, so testimonial without URLs to verify would be just another thing he would post everywhere to say i use fake testimonials, even when my long term clients have defended me on some of the forums his replies are that they are just me using different names.
 
Just like the vast majority we do use reviews when they are supplied with a url. as long as the url traces back to one of our machines. One would think it is all good.
 
If a site doesn't provide a link with the testimonial, doesn't provide proof that it's real, I will assume it's not. I've seen these so many times they don't even phase me anymore.
 
I agree with George too.. there are many sites in the internet which are paid to give reviews and testimonials. Testimonials are supposed to be a great way to find out how good a service provider is but some are taking advantage of it and use it as a strategy so we better be careful and not believe immediately if we do not see any links. :)
 
I agree that it is possible for fake testimonials to be posted, but I think it is more common for the testimonials to be real than to be fake. I think it's one of those situations where a little dishonesty on the part of one hurts everyone.
 
We offer customer surveys which gets sent out randomly and we show the responses on our website, each one of the reviews / testimonials we publish links to a website to show legitimacy.

I generally don't believe testimonials with no form of validation (link to URL etc...) just because there are to many fake ones out there.
 
I like how my host does the testimonials as they are just quotes or links to reviews about them on web hosting talk. One of my own reviews is on there. I would prefer if I was to submit a testimonial that it would not include my full name. My url is fine.

As a potential client of a host I do look at testimonials and will click on the urls and check out the sites. If it looks like a fake site to me, I will do more looking and more then likely I will not be hosting with them. There was actually a host the other day I looked at that had like 3 testimonials I looked at that all looked fake. I forgot what the name of that host was but it will not be one I will be hosting with. I also I recall one or 2 of those testimonials didn't even have a link to a site.
 
Using a reliable and trusted 3rd party to collect and display reviews is the best thing to do. This way your visitors know your reviews are legitimate, because they are verified and reviewed by another company. :thumbup:

We started using ShopperApproved recently and HIGHLY recommend it to anyone looking to gather customer reviews, send client surveys, and then display those reviews easily on their website.
 
HostLeet said:
Using a reliable and trusted 3rd party to collect and display reviews is the best thing to do. This way your visitors know your reviews are legitimate, because they are verified and reviewed by another company. :thumbup:

We started using ShopperApproved recently and HIGHLY recommend it to anyone looking to gather customer reviews, send client surveys, and then display those reviews easily on their website.
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we stopped using these 3rd party sites as we had an ex client who we terminated for non payment and has constantly absued up on many forums and even on live chat found a way through these to sign up using different names and leave abusive and libel comments. yes once we reported these reviews they would be removed, but this become a daily task, so it was just pointless to us
 
easyhostmedia said:
we stopped using these 3rd party sites as we had an ex client who we terminated for non payment and has constantly absued up on many forums and even on live chat found a way through these to sign up using different names and leave abusive and libel comments. yes once we reported these reviews they would be removed, but this become a daily task, so it was just pointless to us
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Sounds like some people have way to much time on their hands.
 
bunnykins said:
Sounds like some people have way to much time on their hands.
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exactly. his latest forum comments was that i posted his personal details on various forums. but his own site you had to accept his TOS to proceed an order, but you were never given these to read and no link to see them. he also stated he was a UK ltd company when he was not. he also threatened to DDos me if i did not give him my server login details.

I told him if i posted his details then go ahead and report me to the ICO under the data protection act.

strange he never did this.
 
Wow reminds me of a customer I had where I work. He was so upset that he threatened all kinds of stuff. Including killing us. One of his threatening calls we recorded and sent to the police. That was the last of that. As far as I know he is no longer a customer.
 
I've thought about posting clients reviews on our site, but decided not too.

I just point the clients to my webmaster forum where they can post the reviews.

Haven't got any reviews yet, but when/if we do I'll post a link to the forum on the site where people can find the reviews.

bunnykins said:
Wow reminds me of a customer I had where I work. He was so upset that he threatened all kinds of stuff. Including killing us. One of his threatening calls we recorded and sent to the police. That was the last of that. As far as I know he is no longer a customer.
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WOW. That's insane.

Chad
 
whland said:
WOW. That's insane.

Chad
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you get clients like that, they take hosting and a few months down the line they decide to leave, but what they do is usually just move their sites to another provide, but never tell you or cancel hosting with you and then take offence when you still keep invoicing them, which they dont understand when you say its because they have not cancelled their hosting, so they give you bad reviews, when its them that never followed your cancel procedure.
 
We usually direct our clients to post testimonials at webhosting forums before we copy that to our website. Its not just safe, but also generates a trust in one who reads it.
 
The main problem with testimonials is that businesses will not post anything negative. Same with referrals.

I have prospects that ask for referrals and I just flat tell them that we don't send out referrals because a) we've been in business since last century b) I (nor any other person in their right mind) would give them someone that is going to give them a bad referral and c) here is a free 30 day trial of our service, if you don't like it -- just tell us and you owe nothing.

That said, we have a bunch of video testimonials that we've gathered over the years and use periodically. We had the people record them with digital video cameras we sent them... let them keep the camera as a thank you (small price to pay).

have fun!
 
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