Thursday 12 May 2011

How To Write a Testimonial

Testimonials are made for a number of things – as a college recommendation letter, to a reference from a former co-worker or even as just a brief testimonial about a specific product. Regardless of where it will be used, testimonials need to be factual and concise since you need to convince the reader why you recommend the person or the product. There are some basic dos and don’ts when writing testimonials, and you can see them listed in the article below.

* Writing a testimonial for a former co-worker. One of the most common testimonials you need to provide is an anecdotal report of your former co-worker. This may be needed if he is applying to a new company and they want to run a background check on him to see if he will fit their company. One thing to remember is that you need to be very specific when you mention his good and negative points. A testimonial will not have great value if you just say that your former partner is dependable. You need to state that he always plans ahead and has several back up plans in parallel to a current plan just to make sure that he has a failsafe measure for all cases. Instead of just saying that he is professional, you can say that you can count on him to be always on time and always sends out meeting agendas and minutes.
* Writing a testimonial for your favorite product. Another common use of a testimonial is if you have been requested to provide a short testimonial for your favorite product. Whether it will be posted in the company website or be printed out in the store premises, your testimonial should be no more than two lines long and yet very factual. For example, instead of saying “I love the coffee and ambience here!” you can say, “This is my favorite place because I love sipping their white mocha Americano on these plush sofas!”. This way, you give the reader a visual image of why you love it in the coffee shop instead of just saying you love it. Another way to say good testimonials is by saying how a product affects you. For example, instead of saying “This herbal supplement made me healthier!” you can say “In just 3 cycles of the supplement, I was able to sleep earlier and at the same time, my skin cleared up!”.
* Writing a testimonial for other reasons. When writing testimonials, think of it as you are being tried in court for that person or product. You need to make sure that what you are saying is something that you can defend just so that the testimonial is real. You can also be specific about concrete improvements or even site specific anecdotes to put more credit to your testimonial. For example, if you were being asked for feedback about a certain professor then you can say “Mr. Smith was able to help me improve my skills in creative writing by allowing me to immerse myself completely on the subject and then had one-on-one sessions on how to translate my emotions into a screenplay.”


Do not scrimp on words when writing a testimonial since you are essentially marketing a product. Think in reverse – what if you were asking someone else to write a testimonial for your product? What would you want him to say?

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