How important do you feel it is to have a variety of customer endorsements/positive feedback/comments on your website?

I only have a few on my site at the moment. I personally don't pay any attention to "What Our Customers Say" sections on websites as the cynic in me says that pretty much anyone could do a good enough job at some point to get good feedback & how do I know it's not from friends or family anyway? (told you I'm a cynic ).

However, lots of sites have tons of endorsements on them so how much importance should I place on asking customers whether I can put their feedback on my website. I'll admit that I hate asking, but if it is important to everyone other than me, I'll do it.

Thanks

I'm not a big fan of the "What our customers say" sections for the reasons you outlined, however, I do like guestbooks and letters/notes. I'm nust not a big fan of the 'excerpts'.

double post

If your customer is Betty Lou from down the street, it's not relevant. If your customer is Micheal Jordan, you might want to include it.

For this industry, I don't think they're worth the added cost of the additional website page. Either the cake is good or it isn't. People are going to put more validity into the quality of your work if you have good pics than they will if you have Great Aunt Bethany saying you made a delish cake. If the picture gets them to salivate and the language you use to describe things does as well, that's what's important. Customer comments, well, people are cynical about them.

Do you pay attention to them when buying anything? Why is anyone any different? I am so cynical, I ALWAYS think the endorsements come from family and friends; I never pay attention to them and think it's kinda weird.

I tend to agree with the cynical side of it, but I do have a page on my website that has comments from previous clients. I've actually had people tell me that they were impressed by the commetns that I have on there and that it was one of the factors that helped them decide to hire me, so go figure...

Don't know if ppl look at mine, and I don't care . I haven't had anyone complain that they are on there, so there they go. One simple "testimonials" link and any time anyone sends a comment my way (in writing) I put it up. I don't pay anything for extra pages. Can't hurt, right?

I've had just the opposite experience with my testomonial page.

I've had people call and tell me they made their final decision to order from me just because of that page. I've also had others ordering from out of town for a party that will be intown and made that decision because of the comments. One was even an old neighbor that she knew before she moved out of town. Small world!!!

I don't pay extra for the page so that is not a factor. People may read them " with a grain of salt" but they do read them.

I know this is on a MUCH bigger level than us (well, me at least), but just found this interesting - especially since this topic came up here.

From today's NY Post's Page Six

Hello,

I have feedback up on my website from brides/couples. People thinking about getting a cake from me seem to like it. The people on cake central are another story. They seem to think I take money and never deliver a cake. I guess that means I write the feedbacks myself.

Bye

I used to have people ask for references but since I added the testimonials page, that stopped. Good....saves me the work of sending them out all the time. My page also shows that I do more than just weddings .... I have thank-you's" on there from churches, fraternities, from 50th anniversary parties. Brides/clients also LUV seeing their name in print on a website ... and they will tell all of their friends to check out my website because they are so "honored" that I selected their comments to post.

I also ALWAYS get their ok to post them, and definitely keep the written testimonial. My SIL works in marketing and said if ever questioned, I MUST be able to provide the original from the person giving the testimonial so I can prove I didn't make them up.

If a customer takes the time to send me a thankyou comment i ask if i can add that to my feedback page and they are only too happy for me to add it. i only sign it with their first name. I know when i am looking to use a business i will read their feedback page or reviews that have been posted. It doens;t cost me extra for that page either.

I think they are silly.. I mean who is going to put "you made a crappy cake and we hated it" on their site.. Of course it's all going to say "We loved our cake!! Thank you soooooo much".

I guess a guest book where people write their own testimonials is better.. but are you going to keep a negative comment up? I think not.

LMAO!!! Now THAT would be funny.

How about:

"After we all got out of the hospital from the food poisoning I wanted to take the time to let you know that you cake tasted great but gave all of our guests salmonella."

P. Uker from East Coli

"We just wanted to say how impressed we were with how you matched the green color with our wedding colors...... after eating your cake, all of our guests turned the same green-at-the-gills color, right before they regurgitated it back up."

HA!! that really WOULD take talent.

and wicked awesome??? I thought only us new englanders said that one..

OK, ok, I think the message is that some customers value endorsement sections on websites, but building up mine is probably not a priority right now. That suits me just fine - I've got leaflet printing to sort out over the next couple of weeks.

As a customer for a lot of things, I do use the testimonials if they're available--but if there are no negative testimonials, or no way for a person to add a testimonial personally, I discount them somewhat. I think a bakery that left up at least some negative comments, their testimonials would seem more credible. Everyone I know who does use the testimonials to judge products looks at the overall picture and the specifics of the complaints; it's not that hard to tell that Bridezilla left the complaint as opposed to a serious concern when you read it.

It wouldn't be the thing to determine whether or not I bought the cake, but, when I was looking for a baker for my big 30th b-day party--we got a wedding-style three-tiered cake--I did look for testimonials on the bakeries in the area the party would be held. It's a two-hour drive and we couldn't afford to run up there every day to check things out ourselves, you see. I found two bakeries I was willing to schedule tastings with that way, and didn't want to try others because they were only names and dots on a map.

I guess I'm saying that testimonials can be valuable, but I wouldn't fret over them too much or pay them that much attention. They're not going to make or break your business alone.

...also, myohmy, please drop the vindictiveness. You totally misread what I said and that thread was locked besides, so you don't need to keep dragging it around.

This is just a thought, but I would think that something that customers might be interested in would be a page with pictures of some of the brides and grooms cutting their cakes, with their comments below their picture. That would give a more personal/legitimate side to the comments, and people probably wouldn't be as skeptical.

Hey Varika,

I just did a cupcake/brownie photo shoot last night and was wondering if I could get a free image consultation? You being so nice and all.