Can I fake users testimonials?
About to launch a new project of which I currently have no users.
As it has become a vital part of a landing page to have users testimonials, can use fake testimonials or wait for when I have users and then include their testimonials?
Please don't.
Truer words have never been spoken.
I definitely agree with the other comments here that faking reviews is a bad idea. That said, I like the approach that Patrick Griffith is using for Chat Thingy. Scroll to the bottom of the page: https://chatthingy.com/
The best fake testimonials I've ever seen were on mathpix.com
Clearly fake but yet amusing.
For example:
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Lol very interesting concept
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Lol love his use of "testies"
In my industry, we call that fraud.
I'd do a limited beta, private test to generate feedback. If it's positive, include it when you go full launch.
Otherwise, don't show testimonials, unless they're real. You could probably use that real estate on your site for something else in the meantime.
I think in this day-and-age, more and more people are desensitized to testimonials as noise and spam.
Exactly the right advice here.
Don't lie. Do. Not. Lie. Sales is a trust based game. Don't start bad habits because they don't hurt anybody now.
Testimonials are valuable for earning the trust of a potential buyer, but they're a cherry on top...not the whole trust Sunday.
There are lots of ways to generate enough trust that you don't NEED a testimonial to get your first couple of customers (once you have them, then yeah, ask for testimonials!).
The easiest way to earn someone's trust is to make them feel understood, and teach them how to solve a problem.
Go do 20-30 mins of research on the problems your audience complains about online. Pick 1-3 of them that you think you could help them with. Not just "do this" but the kind of instructions you'd give a mentee, or a friend, if they asked for your expertise.
Then turn that advice into a blog post, or record a video, whatever format is most comfortable for you to communicate.
Do that a few times and you'll earn way more trust than a standalone testimonial from a stranger on the internet.
I think testimonials these days are on every landing page, that they've become less meaningful just by themselves.
As part of your early promotion of your product why not offer a discount for those who spread the word or can offer a testimonial?
You could ask to your friend/colleague/network to test your offer and see if they have a nice testimonial to offer you.
Like that It won't be (too) fake and you will have your first testimonial(s).
Just my point of view
If you're testing a page for a product that doesn't exist, I think it's expected. You should be testing landing pages and concepts before you build anything (and seeing whether visitors click "buy"). The best way to do that is to have a convincing landing page that looks professional.
In this case, though, the whole site is fake.
Noooo. Can you? Sure it's possible but you don't want to do that. If you'll fake testimonials, what else would you not tell the truth about?
Make getting testimonials a goal for your beta or project pre-launch. You should be asking for feedback and testimonials on your project.
Something you can do is write an example testimonial for someone to use as a template of what their testimonial can look like. This is how I've gotten testimonials from CTOs and VPs. You write it for them and they approve it by attaching their name and title. They don't have the time to write it but do have the time to say yes, I would say that.
The reason why testimonials are important is because it's another way of building social proof with your audience. They are more likely to believe what someone who is like them has to say about you than if you said it about yourself directly.
A theme of mine has always been "if you want someone to do something, make it as easy as possible for them." I hadn't thought of doing this with testimonials...great idea!
Thanks Vanessa, I'll make it a goal for my beta.
I suspect that you already think this, but I think that would be a bad idea. If I can't reach-out to the people who left the reviews, I strongly doubt the veracity of any of the claims made by the product.
Thanks for your reply. I felt it would be a bad idea, just curious and wanted to know the thoughts of other founders.
Anything dishonest or misleading is a bad idea.
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I do, as I think I'd be hurting her more in the long run for misleading her.
Some people like honesty, others can't handle it.
In my experience it paid more to be honest
Luckily, I'm not around people who ask questions like this but I try to avoid any kind of white lies.
No don't make up fake testimonials, it'll make you look deceitful. If you really want something like that on your landing page then ask your friends to review your app and then use what they say about it.
I'm up-voting this because I think everyone should know that it is a terrible idea to fake user testimonials.
It's a bad idea for you because it sets you off on a path of lying and it's bad for customers because, well, it's bad to lie.
I don't think you wanted to do it anyway, or you would not have posted here :)
Don't think you should. Didn't read through all the comments but am sure someone has said this. Give your product away for free to a limited number of people, or a discount. Get them to try it and then write a review. You can chose to show the good ones and maybe manage the bad ones but fake reviews are really not a good idea. I use Yotpo for reviews. Hope this helps!
Just don't. Get a few early customers, do a fantastic job for them and ask for an early review.
Even if it means giving a few customers beta access and free services, that is a much better option than faking it. Plus you'll get some live customer feedback that can help the product/service.
Best of luck with the launch.
Rather wait. Social proof is definitely important, but in my opinion, people can spot fake testimonials a mile away and when given the choice between a site with clearly fake testimonials, and one with no testimonials, I'd feel much more comfortable trying a service with none.
Then once you have some users, follow the advice from the Baremetrics founder to get some good testimonials: https://baremetrics.com/blog/how-we-get-great-testimonials
I did this for my app and managed to get very good feedback as well: https://snapwidget.com/customer-testimonials-reviews
You'll feel much better with honest testimonials on your site!
no don't do that
Please Don't use that. Maybe you can give free account for fellow indiehacker for free,and ask for testimonial.
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Thanks bro👍
Testimonials and user reviews should only be placed when they're solid. They are like golden 🏅🎖badges of a good product market fit. But if you fake em they are like poison. ☠️
Don't risk your and your products' reputation and put in the effort to evaluate if your product delivers value instead of faking testimonials.
Fake it until you make it only applies to idea conceptualization, not market feedback.😅
All the best ✌🏻️
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I agree on that you can do this and use it to generate more feedback testimonials.
And if you don't "get caught" you're going for it good.
But I personally don't want to take that risk. The chance of getting caught is low, the impact high as it hurts trust and credibility.
Where does it stop? Fake white papers? Fake customer listing?
If you've validated your product with others reach out to them. Ask for a testimonial or get a quote from a customer interview. Nothing bad with that. I know that people don't give them out of the blue.
The only reason to place fake testimonials is to test your design, not to mislead others.
It's not vital, you can disable it if you don't have any. I personnally see these sections as fake - it's always 100 % positive.
I think there's a disconnect between us and "normal" people haha. I view them as fake, but I've never seen a marketing article or anything that suggests these are unimportant.
I basically ignore them and look at product features, which all the advice I've seen says is the exact opposite of how a visitor will look at a site offering.
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Or, you know, just don't lie.
This one isn't hard, gang.
Completely agree with you here. I'll add that it's even more acceptable when doing B2C . Nobody knows or cares about a handful of random people hundreds of miles away that said yay or nay to a product.
I'd consider being more thoughtful for B2B because the consequences can be more dire, losing tens of thousands of dollars in monthly revenue if "caught".
But ultimately, the risk/reward should always be calculated. And almost always the potential reward will outweigh the potential risk with B2C testimonials.
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