Do you Trust the Testimonials on Websites or Consumer Manuals?
By theSids
@thesids (22180)
Bhubaneswar, India
October 19, 2010 11:51pm CST
While surfing Internet I come across many sites that have great testimonials on them. Similarly when I buy a product I see that the manuals of almost every product come with a bunch of testimonials too.
I am yet to see a product or a website that offered a negative testimonial on it. This makes me believe that whatever they mention under this head, is incorrect and crafted. What do you think?
Do you really trust what you read on these Testimonials?
2 people like this
11 responses
@Jadsta (269)
• Gibraltar
20 Oct 10
Most of the time they are fake unfortunately. I always look to see if there is a change of grammar in the testimonials. For example, if you see a testimonial with perfect grammar and a good structure, then see one with worse grammar and a worse structure, it is more assuring than if you see all the testimonials have excellent grammar and a good structure.
Usually the sites will not show negative testimonials however, even if all the testimonials are real. They will mostly only show the good ones, but you can't really blame the site for doing that.
@thesids (22180)
• Bhubaneswar, India
21 Oct 10
Hi Jadsta
Thanks for sharing this here. It adds to my knowledge and also helps me to understand the difference.
But what if the testimonials are real and from other websites who are too skeptical and would never let any error - grammar or spelling - happen? Should I edit them?
Regards,
theSids.
@eshaan (6188)
• India
20 Oct 10
never....i nevr believe them...i have once lost the money due to such testimonials and so i am very careful now that which site i should trust and work in and where i should not waste my time...the site was liberty reservation which was a HYIP site and i invested in it.....later the fraud administrator removed the testimonials when people who got scammed wrote many many bad words in bold letters....the surprising fact is that after the removal of testimonial the site is still running and i still see the admin online ...fooling people...
@thesids (22180)
• Bhubaneswar, India
20 Oct 10
Hi eshaan,
To be honest, I too have been a victim of such testimonials myself and that is why I am not into trusting them any more. The curious thing that I realized now was that I have just launched my blog and wanted to put a couple of the testimonials that I have there. So as they say, I understand that many or almost all of them would consider them to be fake too...
As for the websites, Internet should have some rules and regulations but they would be too hard and difficult to implement.
Cheers,
theSids.
1 person likes this
@incredibleDNA (1742)
• Philippines
20 Oct 10
Actually, it depends on who made the comment or testimonial. Like when you know that a certain site is for reviews, i would probably believe on what they've written. But if I am just looking for a service, I would make some thorough research on that service (not just googling)
@sender621 (14894)
• United States
20 Oct 10
I am not sure that I always believe everything that is said in a website testamonial or consumer manual. You don;t know the reason there might be for the words they say. I like to figure it out for myself.@thesids (22180)
• Bhubaneswar, India
20 Oct 10
Hi Sender,
I believe there are many more people like you and me who would try to believe and decide only after some efforts. The reason I say so is because I plan to put a couple of these on my own blog and I realize that there are many like me who have been cheated and been a victim of the fraudulent ones.
Thanks for sharing your opinion. It helped me boost my confidence and regain a sort of lost hope.
Thanks,
theSids.
@ddaguno (3107)
• Philippines
20 Oct 10
Amazon.com also has negative feedbacks but still i dont know if I should trust the reviews because usually the negative comments promote a different product so there might be an underlying purpose why they submitted a review.
And I do HITs in Mturk and there are some requesters who pay workers to post comments. That means even if they havent tried that product they still place a review just to get paid.
So like you, i do not fully trust reviews
@JackRoy (242)
• United States
20 Oct 10
You are right thesids. Almost all the testimonials found on the websites are fake. Even if somebody adds an original testimonial, it seems fake as well in the presence of so many scamming. I would rather say better put any live evidence on your website or say product such as live website that you build. This might work. I say 'might' because people still 'may not believe' that you have built those websites.
@thesids (22180)
• Bhubaneswar, India
20 Oct 10
Hi Jack,
Unfortunately this is what concerns me. I have a blog that I have recently launched and now I had some testimonials to put up. But as the facts remain, I feel that they would be valueless and many would think them to be fake too. That is the Irony.
Thanks for sharing your views here on this discussion.
Cheers,
theSids
@frontvisions101 (16043)
• Philippines
20 Oct 10
I don't trust those. I have a very solid hunch that those are fake. First of all, they can't prove that those people in the picture are real. You can manipulate pictures nowadays using photoshop. I suggest you don't trust testimonials on the web. You'll just be wasting your time.
@thesids (22180)
• Bhubaneswar, India
20 Oct 10
Hi frontvisions,
I too feel the pics they have are morphed or collected from sites that allow people to use them for free. But some of them have Phone Numbers too. Looking into that aspect again has been unfruitful as I feel that they give phone numbers of only those people who are in some way related to them or their website.
Thanks for the share of your views,
Regards,
theSids.
@carla82 (4)
• Brazil
20 Oct 10
I trust always look very carefully read what I beleve is a serious thing because I think it is a form of exchange in which collude in the products we buy
