The fact that testimonials are important to a company is a well known idea, but do you know exactly why testimonials work so well, and what they’re saying to your customers? Knowing why they work leads to better use of your testimonials, and can help to avoid some potential issues with them if you aren’t careful.

A testimonial is great at helping to show people that an outside source agrees with what you have to say in your marketing. Consider for a company that’s going to get some brochure printing done where the focus of the color brochure is going to be about their great customer service. What sounds better: the company just saying that their service is great, or an actual customer agreeing with them, and talking about what they enjoyed.

Now, the real reason why people like this so much is because it lets them see that someone a lot like them enjoyed the store, so they’ll probably enjoy it as well. This is why it means so much when a friend of your tells you about how great a place is, because you have a greater trust of their opinion.

This fact right here is particularly important because companies often overlook it. They understand that people want an outside source to agree with a company’s assertions, but they don’t understand that people also want to connect with that testimonial on another level. It isn’t just the outside approval, but also that the customers can see who is giving the testimonial, and see whether or not that person is like them.

If you run a company selling farm equipment, and you had a testimonial from a business executive who has never used farm equipment saying your company is good, will people really care or believe it? The person giving the testimonial has to be similar enough to your customres that they can relate to them.

This also means you have to give a decent amount of information on the person giving the testimonial. Don’t just say satisfied customer, but instead give a name, give a picture, even give an occupation. Now your customers can draw a stronger connection with the testimonial, and they’ll be more likely to read it and believe what it has to say.

Testimonials often work best with advertising that allows you the room to accomplish all of this. Brochure printing and booklets will give you a great chance to both push a message and have a detailed testimonial. You can also use them with shorter formats like posters or postcards, but if you do that than the testimonials will be the more emphasized part of the ad, and will probably require that you put even more information about the person giving it, or have a longer testimonial.

Never use something without understanding exactly why it works and why it will improve your business. You won’t help yourself much if you aren’t sure what makes your advertising work.