74% of customers use two or more sources of information before deciding on which business to use.
A winning strategy is to showcase both customer reviews and testimonials on your website to build social proof for your business or products.
But what is the difference between testimonials vs. reviews, and how do they contribute to your business’s credibility?
This guide answers that question, including providing a step-by-step guide for displaying testimonials and reviews on your website.
TL;DR – Reviews and Testimonials Differences
The table below summarizes the key differences between reviews and testimonials:
| Testimonials | Reviews |
| – Requested from satisfied customers to highlight specific results or outcomes of using your products. – The results are often expressed in quantifiable metrics, such as cost and time savings. | Independent feedback provided by a customer after using your products or experiencing your services. |
| Pros | Pros |
| – High control over the messaging and tone – Highlight specific, unique selling points (USPs) your products offer – Add credibility to your brand story | – Considered more authentic than testimonials – Provide unbiased customer feedback about your offerings – Influence purchase decisions at the research stage |
| Cons | Cons |
| – May feel overly salesy – Offer only one perspective (positive aspects of a product) | – Limited control over tone and content – Negative reviews can hurt your brand’s reputation |
| Best For | Best For |
| Brands looking to reinforce specific USPs or B2B companies highlighting expected results/ROI | Businesses relying on discovery through search engine results pages |
Continue reading for a detailed overview of reviews and testimonials, including tips on how to earn them organically.
What Is a Testimonial?
A testimonial is an endorsement by your customers that often highlights specific results, experiences, or transformations, and is intended to persuade potential leads to trust your products or services.
Testimonials are typically curated and company-controlled, meaning you have the autonomy to choose which submissions to feature on your website. This means that testimonials are almost always positive or promotional.
One standout feature of testimonials is that they provide concrete details about your products and services, such as a client’s painpoint(s), how your solution fixed it, and the measurable outcomes.
Customer Testimonial Examples
Now that we’ve covered what testimonials are about, let’s highlight some examples to inspire you:
Example 1
The example below is for a business selling packaging materials:
“At least one in three customers were complaining that our deliveries arrived when already damaged, or the packaging was torn. We were really stressed about the 15% decline in sales over 10 months. A friend at a high school reunion suggested that we try packing boxes from the XYZ company. Since then, customer complaints about damaged items have reduced to almost zero. Never been happier!”
Notice that the testimonial follows a problem-solution-result structure and includes specific percentages, timeframes, and concrete outcomes to help persuade customers.
Example 2
Here’s another example for an Saas provider offering a calendar scheduling plugin:
“As a freelance consultant, I was spending up to 10 hours weekly reviewing my calendar and confirming appointments. Unfortunately, I messed up many appointments due to double booking, which cost me business with some reputable clients. Plugin XYZ automated the entire scheduling process. I have already noticed a 20% increase in sales over the last 3 months. XYZ has really been a lifesaver. I would recommend it to other professionals.”
The pattern repeats itself, as this testimonial also uses the problem-solution-result framework. Additionally, it goes a step further by including a subtle call to action, advising other professionals to switch to the XYZ plugin as well.
What Is a Review?
Reviews are customer-initiated opinions of your product or service shared on third-party platforms, such as Google, Trustpilot, and G2. Most review sites also require customers to rate from 1 to 5, indicating their level of satisfaction.
Usually, reviews are unsolicited (for the most part), so you have no control over what customers share. This means customers can share positive, neutral, or negative reviews about your business.
Customer Review Examples
The following examples are real-world reviews submitted about businesses on their Google Business Profiles to help you understand how they differ from testimonials:
Example 1
Here’s an example of a customer review for a coffee house in one of the major US cities:
Notice how it doesn’t follow a specific structure, as the client shares both the positive and negative experiences they had while at the coffee house with their partner.
Example 2
Below is an example of a negative review for an Saas product as shared on G2:
Unlike testimonials that are company-curated, customer reviews can be negative and include a low rating, such as the 2.5/5 rating in the example below.
Additionally, customers can be brutally honest about what they don’t like about a product, which could sway potential clients’ purchase decisions.
Key Differences Between Reviews and Testimonials
Based on the definitions and the highlighted examples above, you may already have identified a few differences between reviews and testimonials, such as the level of control businesses have over either option.
Let’s highlight other key differences in the table below:
| Testimonial | Review | |
| Main Purpose | Share curated success stories and social proof to establish your brand as credible and your products as trustworthy. | Share honest user-driven opinions about your product or business to help potential customers make an objective decision. |
| Control | Complete control as you determine which customers to approach for testimonials. Also, you can guide them on which areas to address in the testimonials for effective lead generation. | Limited control because the opinions are shared on third-party platforms that don’t let businesses edit or delete the reviews. |
| Tone | Mostly positive and narrative-driven to establish an emotional connection with potential clients, creating lead conversion opportunities. | Varies among customers based on their experience with your product and satisfaction levels. |
| Visibility | Often displayed on company-controlled platforms, such as landing pages, banners, and social media pages. | Highly visible because they are available on public review platforms like Google and G2. |
| Length | Can be short, medium, or long, and is at the company’s discretion. | Short to medium as most review platforms limit the number of characters per post. |
Reviews and testimonials have distinct differences that limit where they are used. For example, testimonials are most effective for warm clients who are seriously considering using your products or services.
In contrast, customer reviews help potential leads form an initial impression of your business.
Why Both Matter for Building Trust
Reviews and testimonials are equally important when establishing your brand as credible and encourage customers to trust your business. For example, reviews get prospective buyers to trust your business enough to visit your website, while testimonials foetn help you close the deal.
Other ways reviews and testimonials benefit your business include:
- Influencing Purchase Decisions at Different Stages: Reviews cater to customers in the research and comparison phase by answering general questions they might have about your business. Customers who are interested in your products may visit your website, where you display curated testimonials to help hesitant buyers feel confident enough to take action.
- Reducing Perceived Risk: A high review count helps demystify customer concerns or fears about your products through consensus. Similarly, testimonials’ specificity addresses customer fears by providing concrete proof of value, i.e., when clients highlight changes in their productivity or peace of mind.
- Boosting Search Engine Visibility: Reviews help your business rank in relevant local searches, attracting prospects to your business profile. On the other hand, testimonials provide keyword-rich content (that you control) you can display on product, service, or landing pages to help your website rank higher in SERPs.
- Creating Compounding Marketing Assets: Unlike paid ads that stop generating results when you stop spending, reviews and testimonials remain on your website or on third-party platforms for the foreseeable future. Additionally, each new review or testimonial you receive reinforces your social proof further, encouraging prospects to trust your business.
Ways to Earn Authentic Testimonials and Reviews
Delivering excellent service isn’t enough to get a stream of reviews and testimonials for your business. You must deliberately create opportunities for customers to want to share their experiences.
Some effective strategies for growing your testimonial or review count include:
- Ask at the Right Time: Request reviews immediately after customers interact with your products or services, such as ordering an item. On the other hand, ask for testimonials after customers use your product and see the results.
- Make the Submission Process Seamless: Streamline the way you collect feedback to encourage customers to follow through and submit feedback. For example, you can add a feedback widget that meets website visitors where they are, as opposed to sending emails. You could also add a tooltips widget providing additional context on how customers can submit feedback.
- Use Multiple Channels: Leverage various platforms to collect as many reviews and testimonials as possible. For example, you could send customers a Google review link that directs them to your Google Business Profile. For testimonials, share a QR code where customers can send short narrations or videos of their experiences with your products.
- Incentivize the Process: Encourage participation by entering all customers who submit reviews or testimonials into a random draw. However, do not offer rewards for positive feedback, as this amounts to bribery.
- Showcase the Collected Feedback: Add a social proof widget to your website and display reviews and testimonials from other customers to encourage more users to share their experiences.
How to Showcase Testimonials and Reviews on Your Website
Once you’ve collected reviews and testimonials, you should showcase them on your website for social proof and to establish your business as an authority in your industry. Our social proof widget lets you display customer reviews and testimonials anywhere on your website to boost visitor engagement and nudge customers through the conversion funnel.
Below is a step-by-step guide for displaying testimonials and reviews on a website using our social proof widget:
Creating a Social Proof Widget on Webynize
Follow these steps to set up your social proof widget:
- Create an account on Webynize and visit our pricing page to pick a monthly plan that works for you.
- Click +Create Widget to access our widget library.
- Open the dropdown menu and select the social proof widget.
- Input your preferred name for the widget and click Next to open the editor panel.
- On the left menu, select the Stories tab and create the posts you want to display on your feed.
- Navigate to the Colors tab and set your preferred widget background and button colors.
- Select Embed on Website and specify your website platform to generate an optimized JavaScript code.
- Copy the script that appears in the pop-up.
Adding the Social Proof Widget to Your Website
Here’s a simple guide for adding the widget to your website:
- Log in to your website admin dashboard.
- Create a new web page or open an existing one where you want to embed the social proof widget.
- Launch the code editor, rich text editor, or code block section where you’ll paste the script. This will depend on your website type: Squarespace, Webflow, WordPress, etc.
- Paste the embed code you generated using Webynize.
- Publish the web page so the social proof widget goes live on your website.
Our social proof widget is easy to set up and customize, making it convenient for first-time users. Additionally, our social proof widget is mobile-friendly, encouraging visitors to interact with your customer testimonials and reviews across different devices.
Create your widget and join 1000+ businesses using our social proof widget to showcase engaging reviews and testimonials on their websites to boost visitor engagement.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
This section answers commonly asked questions about testimonials and reviews:
What Format Works Best for Testimonials vs. Reviews?
The best format for testimonials is video, where customers progress from the problem they had, the solution they used, and the measurable outcomes they obtained.
On the other hand, reviews work best as short user-generated snippets with star ratings and product photos.
Should I Display Negative Reviews on My Site?
Yes and no. Displaying only positive reviews on your website could make prospective customers sceptical about your product or service.
As such, including a few negative reviews helps create a more realistic picture. However, ensure the negative reviews don’t harm your brand’s reputation.
Where Should I Place Testimonials for the Best Visibility?
The best place to place testimonials is on conversion-focused pages like product and landing pages.
You could embed the testimonials on the header, footer, or sidebar sections of your web pages for maximum visibility.
Do Testimonials and Reviews Need Customer Consent to Publish?
Yes and no. Reviews don’t need customer consent to publish, as they are already published on other platforms.
However, for testimonials, we recommend informing customers where you’ll post the content, such as your website and social media pages, especially if they are in video format.
The Bottom Line
Both testimonials and reviews are equally essential for your business, especially to build social proof and establish your website as credible. Additionally, reviews and testimonials aren’t meant to be used interchangeably; rather, they should be used together at various points in the conversion funnel.
Our social proof widget provides a no-code solution for showcasing the collected customer testimonials and reviews on your website to build trust. The widget is compatible with all major web builders, so you can use the same plugin across multiple websites.
Display a curated social proof feed on your website to build credibility and boost conversions. Create your widget today.