Where & how to use testimonials on your website

If you’re selling coaching or consulting services through your website, client testimonials should be a key content element on your website. Testimonials are statements from your (former) clients about their experience working with you. They work well because they establish credibility and trust by using other people’s opinions of your service. If used well, they really help improve your conversion rate.

92% of people say they read testimonials and reviews when considering a purchase, and 40% of people form an opinion by reading just one to three reviews. You don’t need a ton of reviews, so don’t worry if you’re just starting out with your coaching business and only have a few!

What testimonials need to say

You can ask clients for a testimonial directly, but unless they have experience with online marketing, you might end up with testimonials that don’t work so well. Instead, I recommend you ask clients to fill out a questionnaire. By asking the right questions, you can use their answers to create a great testimonial. Make sure to let them review the testimonial you created/edited before using it!

The best testimonials go into a pain point, need, or worry a client had before working with you, and speak about how well you helped solve that pain point, filled that need, or how that worry wasn’t an issue.

Here’s a breakdown of one of my testimonials that shows the pain point/solution well:

The needs and worries they had before working with me:

• We needed a new sales page on a tight schedule. Anouska came highly recommended so we signed on, albeit a bit concerned how the time zone difference could affect us. 

What they were worried about wasn’t an issue:

• As soon as we got started, we realized that wasn’t an issue at all. Anouska’s response time is amazing! She is so fast and efficient with her time. 

And they got what they needed:

• The sales page looks great and I truly appreciate the expertise she brought to the table and the systems she has set up for quick and effective communication with her clients. 

Where to put testimonials on your website

For most people, a separate testimonials page gets very little traffic. It’s better to sprinkle testimonials throughout your website and add most (if not all) of them on your sales pages. You can add a few to your homepage, About page, and all other pages. If you’re selling products, you definitely want reviews on those product pages as well. You can even add some to your opt-in landing pages if you get testimonials or reviews for your opt-in freebies.

It’s totally OK to re-use testimonials on different parts of your website, so use them all again on your sales pages (if they’re appropriate for that specific sales page, of course).

Working on a sales page? Get my free Sales Page Blueprint to learn what to include on your sales page and how to structure it so your ideal clients can’t help but click that buy button!

How to design testimonials for your website

If you’re using a page builder such as Divi, Elementor, or Beaver Builder, you can use one of their built-in testimonials modules. Another option is to use a testimonials plugin. Either way can be great for DIYing, but they don’t allow for a lot of customization in the way your testimonials look. I personally prefer to create the layout for testimonials using my page builder’s Rows and Columns, and using simple text and photo modules. In most page builders, you can save a row (or column), so you can easily create and re-use a template for your testimonials that way.

Do not use sliders or carousels for your testimonials

Heatmaps show most people don’t click through the carousel so they’d never see some of the testimonials. I recommend showing all testimonials directly on the page, even if there are a lot.

If you can, add some video testimonials to your sales pages

Video testimonials are even more effective in converting potential clients into actual clients. Videos build even more trust because we can see and hear the person actually say whatever they’re saying. There’s also more connection because emotions are much more easily conveyed through video. When a client is visibly thankful, relieved, or happy because of your work, potential clients will experience those same feelings just from watching the video.

That said, not everyone wants to take the time to watch or listen to a testimonial video, so keep them short and make sure to include both text and video testimonials on your sales page.