Crime #014
Using vague testimonials that praise you without helping people understand your service.
The explanation
“She’s amazing.” “I can’t recommend him enough.” “An absolute pleasure to work with.”
These comments sound positive. They tell a prospective customer that someone liked you. They reveal very little about what that person bought, why they needed it or what changed as a result.
For service businesses, this leaves important questions unanswered. What did the work involve? Was the client dealing with a similar problem? Did they receive practical guidance, ongoing support or simply an enjoyable conversation?
“Working with Rachel changed my life” could describe health coaching, career advice or personal training. Without context, the reader has to supply the meaning themselves.
Existing clients know what sits behind their praise. They remember the sessions, the difficult decisions and the progress they made. A stranger has access only to the words on your website.
That makes specificity useful. A testimonial can show how your service works in practice, using a client’s experience to make an unfamiliar proposition easier to understand.
It can also address a hesitation. A client who explains how the programme fitted around shift work gives someone with the same concern information they can use. “Rachel is wonderful” leaves that concern untouched.
Warmth still has a place. Feeling listened to or supported may be an important part of the service. But those qualities become more meaningful when the client explains what you did and why it helped.
A page full of enthusiastic but interchangeable quotes can leave visitors reassured that you are likeable while still unsure whether your service is right for them.
How to fix it
Ask clients about their experience while the details are still fresh.
A broad request for “a testimonial” often produces a broad compliment. Give people questions that help them recall what happened:
- What was happening when you decided to get help?
- What were you unsure about before starting?
- What did we actually work on together?
- Which part of the service was most useful, and why?
- What changed as a result?
Let clients answer in their own words. You are looking for an honest account, including the details they consider important.
Choose extracts that connect a starting situation, something the service provided and a specific change. Not every testimonial needs all three, but the collection should help visitors understand both the experience and its value.
Specific does not have to mean numerical. A client describing how they established a routine around an unpredictable working week may be more informative than an unexplained percentage improvement.
For illustration, compare “Rachel was incredibly supportive” with “Rachel helped me plan meals around my night shifts. We reviewed what worked each week, so I could adjust the routine instead of abandoning it.”
The second explains what the support involved. It is an invented example of specificity, not a testimonial to publish as client evidence.
With permission, identify the programme or service each testimonial concerns. Add relevant client context where appropriate, respecting their privacy.
If you shorten or edit a quote, preserve its meaning and ask the client to approve the final version. Place it near the claim or question it helps substantiate.
The aim is to give a prospective customer a clearer picture of what working with you could involve.
Are you guilty of Crime #014?
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