Where & How to Add Client Testimonials to Your Website

We recently talked about how to get testimonials for your design firm, which leads us to our next question: where and how should you add them on your website?  

Before you copy-paste praise everywhere, it’s important to be strategic about it. Otherwise, it’s going to look a little messy and won’t be optimizing your testimonials’ potential to win over prospective clients. Strategy matters here.

Today, we’re covering:

• The top 4 considerations when sharing testimonials on your website
• How to condense testimonials honestly & effectively
• Which pages deserve which testimonials

Top 4 Considerations When Sharing Testimonials on Your Website

01. MAKE IT READABLE

Your testimonials are likely going to be long paragraphs, especially if you ask the questions we suggested here. This is wonderful, but in most cases, you won’t share them that way. Very few people take the time to read long stretches of text, and your testimonials will be far, FAR more impactful in digestible pieces.

This can mean cutting down a long testimonial into a shorter one, OR cutting a single testimonial into two or more that can be used in different contexts. Which brings us to our next point…

02. CATER TO CONTEXT

Catering to context means asking, What is this testimonial serving to underline? For example, if you’re looking for a testimonial to include on your Process page, which option will be more powerful: praise for your design style or praise for a professional and buttoned-up process? The latter, hands down.

03. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

Only include details that your future clients care about. If your past clients mention the fact that you also designed their mother-in-law’s house, or that it took them 5 years to finally renovate, leave those sentences out of your website pages. Those are great details for a longer blog post about their project, but as a testimonial, it actually detracts from what’s really important to potential clients.

04. BE CAREFUL SETTING PRECEDENTS

Lastly, if there are details within a testimonial that aren’t precedents you want to set with future clients, take them out. Did a past client convince you to go shopping together? (But you’d never do it again.) Were they really happy with budget items you found? (But you don’t want future budget-shoppers.) Do they mention a timeline that is faster than you can promise? Nix those phrases.

How to Condense Testimonials Honestly & Effectively

To help illustrate how we would condense a testimonial for various pages, let’s use an example:

The Full Version: 

“My spouse and I originally hired ABC Interiors for a consultation three years ago and was blown away by their expertise. When it was finally time for us to renovate our whole home, ABC Interiors was our first call. From the start, we knew we were in the hands of experts. They took the time to get to know us, listened to our vision, and made our renovation effortless. The whole team was extremely professional, and we always knew what was going on but never felt like we had to do anything or check in. Bliss! When our home was finished, the design went above and beyond our expectations. Every detail is stunning! It looks professional but also feels like us, including some of my husband’s oil paintings, our travel photography, and a reupholstered chaise that belonged to my grandmother. Our home is absolute perfection, and we would recommend ABC Interiors to anyone looking to take on a large-scale renovation!”

— Jane Doe

You didn’t read it all, did you? I don’t blame you. It’s too much on its own. BUT — there are a lot of powerful statements in there. How can we ensure they get read?

• Option 1: Condense the testimonial and pick ONE standout phrase to put in larger font.
• Option 2: Split the testimonial into smaller testimonials relevant to their location on the site.

Option 1: Condense the Testimonial & Pick Out a Phrase

This is a design solution that makes it easy for people who are skimming to see the most impactful statement in the testimonial and decide whether they would like to read further. Here’s an example that condenses the original testimonial by about 40%.

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“Absolute perfection!”

“From the start, we knew we were in the hands of experts. They took time to get to know us, listened to our vision, and made our renovation effortless. The design went above and beyond. It looks professional but feels like us, including some of my husband’s oil paintings, our travel photography, and a reupholstered chaise that belonged to my grandmother. Absolute perfection!”

— Jane D., Location

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The phrase you choose to highlight should underline the purpose of the page it appears on. Which brings us to Option 2…

Option 2: Condensing Testimonials for Their Designated Pages

With this strategy, the testimonial is going to get even smaller, creating bite-sized snippets that can be easily digested and threaded throughout every page of your site. While you won’t want to use the same client for every page, you can decide which of your testimonials have the most powerful statements for each page. Here’s how:

// Home Page

On your Home page, you’ll want to share either the most powerful sentence, the one that best reflects your brand, OR the sentence that shows you solved your clients’ number one pain point. 

If your brand’s #1 differentiator is around bringing clients’ interests to life, you might choose this:

“The design went above and beyond our expectations. It looks professional but feels like us, including some of my husband’s oil paintings, our travel photography, and a reupholstered chaise that belonged to my grandmother. Absolute perfection!”

If your brand’s #1 differentiator is around the high-quality service you provide, you might choose this:

“From the start, we knew we were in the hands of experts. They took the time to get to know us, listened to our vision, and made our renovation effortless. When our home was finished, the design went above and beyond our expectations. Bliss!”

// About Page

On an About page, select a sentence or two related to you, your team, or your client’s overall experience working with you. For example, you could choose:

“From the start, we knew we were in the hands of experts. The whole team was extremely professional, and they took the time to get to know us. They listened to our vision and made our renovation effortless.”

Note: You’ll notice that I flipped the order of a couple of these sentences from the original testimonial. As long as you are not changing the meaning your client intended, it is generally safe to do this. If you’re concerned they will be offended, simply ask them for their sign-off before you hit publish.

// Services Pages

On a Services page, choose a sentence or two related to that specific service, ideally aligned with your clients’ pain points OR as a way to underline the value of what you’re offering. Again, from the long testimonial above, we picked out this quote:

“From the start, we knew we were in the hands of experts. When our home was finished, the design went above and beyond our expectations. Every detail is stunning! We would recommend ABC Interiors to anyone looking to take on a large-scale renovation.”

By using these sentences, we establish your working style, the finished design, and WHO should hire you in the future—”anyone looking to take on a large-scale renovation.” Perfect for the Services page.

// Process Page

On your Process page (or below the process on a services page), you can select a sentence or two related to — you guessed it — working with you or how well you took care of your clients. O&B doesn’t have a page on our website like this, but if we did, we would pick this snippet:

“From the start, we knew we were in the hands of experts. They took the time to get to know us, listened to our vision, and made our renovation effortless. The whole team was extremely professional. We always knew what was going on but never felt like we had to do anything or check in. Bliss!”

Note: You’ll notice I cut one sentence into two separate sentences. Another totally fine way to polish the testimonial up without changing it.

// Portfolio Pages

If you can match a client’s testimonial with their project in your portfolio, great! This emphasizes the quality of your work and puts the praise in context of what was physically achieved. Again, shorten the quote to just a couple of powerful sentences and work with your website designer to display it well.

Other Notes on Using Testimonials on Your Website

MIX IT UP

The examples we shared with you all came from one testimonial, and while it’s okay to have a couple duplicates, it’s also true that you don’t want it to look like you only have one client. Use the same strategy to pick out powerful statements from the other testimonials you have and layer them strategically throughout your website.

CREATE A TESTIMONIALS PAGE

Another option is to create a single page dedicated to your clients’ testimonials. To be honest, this isn’t our favorite strategy, mostly because it clutters your website menu. However, if it feels right for your brand, use the tips above to condense your clients’ reviews and feel free to add them to this one location.

ASK LEADING QUESTIONS

If you ask your clients the right questions when collecting testimonials, you will get a story you can work with. Read here for our list of smart testimonial q’s to ask.

Alright, that’s a wrap for now. We hope this has been helpful and actionable for you! If you’re looking for support with your website copy or a “copy critique” to analyze what you have now, visit our services here.

Cheers!
Jaquilyn