Testimonial's are all fake

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Karldo

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Websites with testimonials are all fake.

If you go eat at a new restaurant and think it has great food, you tell nobody, unless somebody asks you to recommend a good restaurant.

If you go eat at a bad restaurant, you go home, boot up computer and start posting like mad, and hope your message catches on like wild fire about how bad the food/service was.

This is human nature and is the same concept with shopping online. If you purchase a good product off the internet, you don't write a "dick-riding" email to the company telling them how much you adore them. Have you ever written an email telling a company how great they are ? Lol NEVER!...Therefor testimonials are all BS and most of the times, you could tell they were written by the same person.
 
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Karldo said:
Have you ever written an email telling a company how great they are ? Lol NEVER!
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I certainly have done that in the past... I think that helps keep the business on the right track and is part of what a good consumer ought to do.

People respond to positivity and that usually causes them to be sure to maintain a high standard.
 
BassTrackerBoats said:
I certainly have done that in the past... I think that helps keep the business on the right track and is part of what a good consumer ought to do.

People respond to positivity and that usually causes them to be sure to maintain a high standard.
Click to expand...

I agree with BTB here, I've done that as well.

There's been a lot of talk about fake reviews in BSTs lately, and the same applies to websites. Some are fake, some are not, but you can't just blame them out of the blue without making sure your accusations have a solid ground beneath them.

Personally I love giving good feedback to sellers/people I deal with when they deserve it, and if possible I even usually post it visibly. Constructive criticism I leave to private messaging every time, but I do that as well, not to mock, but to help out.
 
As recently as last week I emailed a guy to tell him his staff were the most helpful people he could possibly have. He rang me the next day to thank me. Small businesses appreciate a bit of support and feedback.

Karldo said:
Have you ever written an email telling a company how great they are ? Lol NEVER!...Therefor testimonials are all BS and most of the times, you could tell they were written by the same person.
Click to expand...
 
BassTrackerBoats said:
I certainly have done that in the past... I think that helps keep the business on the right track and is part of what a good consumer ought to do.

People respond to positivity and that usually causes them to be sure to maintain a high standard.
Click to expand...

Me too, if I receive exceptional customer service, I will write to the company to thank them and name the representative.


OP, there are laws regarding testimonials (here is a selection of US and UK info)
http://www.ftc.gov/news-events/pres...al-guides-governing-endorsements-testimonials
http://www.seqlegal.com/blog/customer-testimonials-and-law
http://www.cap.org.uk/Advice-Traini...stimonials-and-endorsements.aspx#.VG9fgGf8s-g
http://www.cap.org.uk/Advice-Traini...stimonials-and-endorsements.aspx#.VG9gJWf8s-g
http://www.findlaw.com.au/articles/4503/a-testimonial-in-regards-to-a-good-or-service-is-t.aspx
http://www.lawforyourwebsite.com/start-up/testimonials-laws/
https://www.sba.gov/blogs/using-tes...reviews-your-marketing-how-ensure-you-arent-0
 
I have left genuine reviews in the past and I know that every single review I have received for all of my software has been completely legitimate. I have rarely even asked users to leave a review unless it was in return for a review copy.

This obviously has not stopped many negative people from accusing because they would not go to the effort of leaving a positive review. I guess some people only ever go to the effort to put people down when they have been unhappy with something as opposed to passing on some positivity when they are happy.
 
Does anyone ever read them anyway?

Always scroll past them
 
In forums, yes people will leave good or bad reviews, although im talking specifically about websites that have their own "testimonial" section. To me, they all seem 100% fake.
 
Karldo said:
In forums, yes people will leave good or bad reviews, although im talking specifically about websites that have their own "testimonial" section. To me, they all seem 100% fake.
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If the review is verifiable, i.e each links to an actual review on a public site, then they are not necessarily fake.

Again, all of my reviews are from genuine users, I post them to my website and not one is fake and without any evidence or even a hint of any being fake I still get accused of it. I can only put this cynicism down to 2 things:
1) We are in an industry where it is very common place to deceive people to make a sale
2) Negative people are negative and cannot fathom that some happy customers will take 5 minutes to write a positive review.

My previous job before going full time online we often took gifts from customers because they were so happy, we actually had a wall of the main sales office dedicated to customers "thank you" cards that we had received. Real people do actually leave positive reviews, it is not that uncommon.
 
Wow OP what a post for your first one here in BHW. Someone must have pissed you off or what?
 
Karldo said:
Have you ever written an email telling a company how great they are ? Lol NEVER!...
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Wowbutter. For anyone who is allergic to nuts, you have to try this stuff. I waited years for it to come to the US from Canada, and it finally did. It was worth the wait. Love that company and I was sure to let them know it. I had also pestered the supermarket chain headquarters until they ordered it.

Betty Crocker. Thanking them for being the first of the three major cake mix companies to use dedicated nut free facilities for their cakes. Pillsbury followed. Duncan Hines is still being a cheap ass.

JetBlue-thanking them for making an announcement on the loud speaker that there was someone with a nut allergy traveling. Also thanking them for going nut free on their planes. Delta is still being a cheap ass and refuses to follow suit.

Major casino in my state-thanking them for taking the time to have the chef come out and go through all the foods that I can eat, and what I needed to stay away from at their all you can eat buffet.

There's more, but you get the drift. I hate corporate America. I hate the banking industry and many corporations. I despise them for many things-outsourcing to other countries being my major pet peeve. But when a company does something good, I let them know. I can't stand when people aren't proactive.
 
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I must admit that this happens a lot, however some companies have a well thought out marketing strategy which helps convert their customers into reviewers. At least this is a small but significant part of my ORM strategy and it can do wonders for a business's online presence and reputation if executed properly.
 
if it's for a money-making plan then it's probably fake. those are easy to spot once you know what to look for:

1. "i just know i'm going to make money with this plan!"

2. "you've over delivered on this!"

a few years ago i wrote a testimonial for a business partner after he asked for it.
 
different people may have different natures
dont even think ,all people in the world are of same type or your type,that why it is Human ;)
 
Karldo said:
Websites with testimonials are all fake.

If you go eat at a new restaurant and think it has great food, you tell nobody, unless somebody asks you to recommend a good restaurant.

If you go eat at a bad restaurant, you go home, boot up computer and start posting like mad, and hope your message catches on like wild fire about how bad the food/service was.

This is human nature and is the same concept with shopping online. If you purchase a good product off the internet, you don't write a "dick-riding" email to the company telling them how much you adore them. Have you ever written an email telling a company how great they are ? Lol NEVER!...Therefor testimonials are all BS and most of the times, you could tell they were written by the same person.
Click to expand...

Karma is a b|tch and one day it will come back at you for being a selfish b..t..d
 
I have definitely left more positive reviews about companies than negative ones. Of course this is usually only when the company has gone beyond my expectations and I feel that others should also benefit. A lot of negative reviews on Amazon are actually false to me because a 1 star rating that's given because the customers item was late, or the shoes they bought didn't happen to fit their feet are to me false reviews and don't really reflect the product.
 
I too have left plenty of positive reviews without any obligations or hidden reasons. I considered that developers/service owners deserve to get promoted and thanked if they've done a good job. Also, I have recently started working for a company that develops WP themes and plugins and I've been taking care of support for a while, all I can say is that there were mails coming from random users that did not need help nor did they want to report an issue, they were just saying thanks.
 
I have writen feedbacks to the products and services which perform better than my expectations.
There are many people who are grateful for what they got. So they share their experience for the products and service. and this makes the internet trust worthy.

I can't say that the all testimonials are real. Few of them may be fake. But still there are people who are grateful for good things.
 
I give positive feed back and have never been asked.
This guy does too
 
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