Using testimonials in your website copy to gain trust

We all know testimonials build trust and credibility… but most businesses are missing a trick (or three) when it comes to using them well on their website.

Too often, testimonials are hidden away on a separate page, buried in a slider, or just tossed in without intention.

The result? They don’t actually build trust or support your copy in any meaningful way. Let’s fix that.

In this blog post, I’ll walk you through:

• How to gather stronger, story-driven testimonials
• How to pick the right ones to share
• Where to place them on your website for maximum impact

Let’s get started. 

How to gather better customer testimonials 

You probably already have a system for collecting feedback – whether it’s asking for Google Reviews, LinkedIn recommendations, or sending a quick follow-up form.

That’s a solid start. Just make sure you’re asking consistently:

• At the end of a project
• After a product purchase
• Or even midway through a longer working relationship

Something that helped me is creating a workflow in my CRM system that has an email template and the link for a Google Review request. 

Do I still forget sometimes? Yep. But I’ve now got 24 live Google reviews for my website copywriting services (I only work with a handful of clients each year, so I’m pretty happy with that). 

Interview your customers for testimonials straight from their mouth

Written reviews are great. But they can only tell you so much, and people often hold back or write something quickly without much thought… 

So to get even more valuable testimonials, I urge you to do something you might not have done before – interview your customers. 

Yes, it’s more work than sending a link and asking them to write a review. But you’ll learn so much more in the process… 

From interviews, you’ll get:

• Rich, specific language (hello, voice of customer research!)
• Deeper insights into what people actually value
• Golden one-liners you’d never get from a form

All of these insights help you to know what to say in your website copy.  

Not sure where to start? I’ve written about how to conduct these interviews, including customer interview questions, here.

Or, if you’d rather not DIY, I offer client interviews as part of my website copy packages (or as a standalone service). Just say hello, and we can chat about it. 

Analysing your best testimonials and picking what to share

Once you’ve got a stack of testimonials or interview quotes, it’s time to curate. Ask yourself: 

• What are the common threads? 
• What do people value about you? 
• What phrases are people using?
• Is there anything unexpected? 
• Do people highlight something you’re not mentioning? 
• Which ones have great one-liners that capture your brand? 
• Which reviews are from your absolute ideal clients?

Now, choose the testimonials that best reflect your existing business. These are the ones you’re definitely going to put on your website because they: 

• Highlight results or transformation
• Reflect your current offers, values, and client type
• Use clear, relatable language

For anything outdated, not aligned with your values, or from a not-perfect-fit client, skip them. 

Now, look at which testimonials are too long or wordy. Don’t be afraid to cut down your testimonials to only include a sentence or two. Often, this has a bigger impact on the reader. 

Obviously, don’t put words into their mouth, but cutting down their original copy is ok! You can add an ellipsis (…) between phrases if you’re cutting a chunk of a sentence out. 

Let’s look at a customer review I received from a client…

Here’s the original: 

“We’ve been working with Meghan for just over a year, and have been fortunate to have her support with multiple projects for our two businesses. The most recent project was providing copy for our brand new website which she did an amazing job with.

 

Meghan really captured my voice and helped bring the brand to life, which was hugely important to me. She worked closely with the web designer and made the whole process very straightforward which was a huge relief as these projects can often be quite stressful!

 

We’ve had so much positive feedback on the site, as well as some immediate sales, so from my perspective it’s been a very positive experience and I wouldn’t hesitate to use Meghan again.”

And here’s how I’ve trimmed it to use on my website: 

“Meghan really captured my voice and helped bring the brand to life, which was hugely important to me. She worked closely with the web designer and made the whole process very straightforward, which was a huge relief as these projects can often be quite stressful!”

By making this shorter, it packs more punch.

Where do you put testimonials on your website?

Before I get into specific pages, I want to say that there are two things you should avoid, if possible: 

1. Testimonial sliders

Not being in control of what people see isn’t ideal. It also means people could be reading a testimonial, and it switches before they finish. 

2. Isolated testimonial pages

Unless you’re also naturally integrating testimonials elsewhere on your website, I don’t recommend this because you want people to see testimonials without them having to search for them or decide to click. 

Instead, what I advise is to strategically place your testimonials on your website, backing up key themes and points made in your website copy. You should have testimonials on all of your core pages: the home page, service pages, and about page. 

For example…

Home page

Feature 2-3 strong, snappy testimonials that highlight why you’re awesome, especially the results you help people achieve.

Service pages

Match testimonials to the specific offer. If it’s a high-ticket service, feature clients who’ve experienced that exact transformation. Likewise, use relevant testimonials for your lower ticket offers. 

About page

Use testimonials that speak to your personality, values, or work style – this helps build a connection beyond just “results”.

What if you only have a few strong testimonials? 

Repeat them. Better to reuse a powerful, aligned testimonial than scatter weak ones just for the sake of variety.

Ready to make your website actually work for you?

So now you know how to gather stronger testimonials, pick the best ones, and place them where they’ll actually build trust, back up your copy, and help people say yes faster.

But if you’re thinking, “I could really use some help pulling this all together,” I’ve got you. I work with high-end service businesses to write website copy that feels like you and gets results. Here’s how we can work together:

• Get SEO website copywriting all done for you (customer interviews included!)
• Learn how to do all of this (and way more) in my group programme, Sculpt
• Book a consultation to polish your existing copy and review your testimonials, together

Not sure what you need yet? No problem. Drop me a message and I’ll help guide you to the best option based on your goals, timeline, and budget.

Let’s turn your words into conversion gold ✨