Testimonials are a very powerful, yet underutilized, internet marketing tool that helps businesses build credibility, alleviate concerns, and convert prospects into clients. Adding client testimonials to your website can be an extremely effective way to establish trust and strengthen your company’s reputation.
The traditional layout, structure, and design elements of a testimonials page usually consist of customer reviews arranged in a list style that is redundant and unattractive for users. This is because a lot of companies don’t view client testimonials as being an integral part of achieving success on the web. We have compiled 13 great testimonial page examples to show you how useful these pages can be when designed appropriately for your website.
Don’t get me wrong: including testimonials anywhere on your website is better than having none at all. However, they may prove to be a lot more valuable to your web strategy if you step outside of the traditional formats used for client reviews and create a custom-tailored approach.
Why You Should Display Testimonials Throughout Your Site
If your company worked hard over the years and earned a collection of awards and certifications, would you display them on a shelf that very few people see? Hopefully the answer is no. I’m not saying that you should dust off every single award your company has ever received and pack them into your waiting room, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to put one or two of your proudest achievements on display.
Rather than hoping that your site’s visitors are going to click on your testimonials page and read about the great work you’ve done, put some of your most prestigious achievements at the bottom or in the sidebar of every page. For example, we display the following bar at the bottom of some of the pages on our site:
We opted to display this particular testimonial because we think it shows potential clients what we can do, and they can click to read more if they choose.
By putting testimonials on each page, you can ensure that a large percentage of your site traffic knows how trustworthy your company is, even if they don’t go to your testimonials page. When you site traffic does go to your testimonials page, though, keep in mind that this page is a great place to think outside the box and showcase more than an otherwise dull and monotonous list of customer reviews.
In today’s fast-paced world, it’s no longer the job of the consumer to research brands and products before making a commitment. They expect companies to provide that information for them. This isn’t because consumers are lazy or unable to gather the information on their own, it’s because consumers now have the ability to navigate from website to website, evaluating and comparing brands with the click of a mouse rather than traveling from store to store.
Word-of-Mouth: The Most Persuasive Way to Sell Your Brand
The primary function of a website is to promote your brand or products on the web so that you can expand your reach and increase conversions… but wouldn’t you rather have other people promote your brand instead? The best way to sell your brand to potential customers is to let your current and past customers do the selling for you.
An excellent way to accomplish this is to integrate client testimonials and customer reviews into the central theme and layout of your website. Testimonials aren’t something to hide – they are something to be proud of and share with others. Modern websites use seamless web designs to flaunt their customer reviews via live social media streams, content sliders on the homepage, video testimonials, case studies, and much more.
Below is a list of 13 websites that demonstrate a variety of attractive, persuasive and creative applications for testimonials. I’ve also included highlights of sections or design elements that I found particularly unique and useful.
1. xero.com
The full package! Xero’s website includes testimonial snippets on the homepage with customers’ photographs, the testimonial page includes videos, quotes, client names, industry, testimonial content slider, and read more buttons that take you to a full Q&A page for that individual case study.
2. desk.com
Desk.com does a phenomenal job using typography, color and balance to create a layout that’s extremely clean & structured. There are three types of testimonials here: featured testimonials (logo, quote + video), regular testimonials (logo + quote) and case study testimonials (summary, quote + read more button that links to a newsletter-type PDF for each client).
3. cloversites.com
Another great use of color and fonts. Clover’s testimonials include client names, company names & client reviews along with video testimonials, an attractive sidebar quote bubble and additional PR sources.
4. freeagent.com
FreeAgent does a nice job segmenting the types of reviews into multiple tabs. These tabs include a Buzz tab (overview of quotes + video), User Testimonials tab (headline snippet for each testimonial, detailed testimonial, client name, photograph, company name + “Twitter Love” section with Twitter reviews), Case Studies tab (challenges, solutions & results for each company, photograph, additional company information) and a Press Reviews tab (reviews featured in magazines + links to additional reviews on the web). Personalizing testimonials with photographs is a great way to let your audience know that your testimonials are credible.
5. thesocialagency.ca
The testimonials page has a simple layout with blockquotes, but the homepage is what I’m really impressed with…the reviews are the center of attention! The Social Agency has a simple, yet attractive content slider with graphics, quotes, company names and employee’s names & positions.
6. shoeboxed.com
Most of the time, people don’t like reading through paragraph-long testimonials to get to the meat of what past clients are saying about you. That’s why Shoeboxed.com has such a great testimonials page – it’s short and sweet. By fitting short client quotes in a neat layout, Shoeboxed makes it easy for potential customers to read through a lot of testimonials in just a little bit of time.
7. postmarkapp.com
You may not need to display all of your client testimonials if you are receiving a lot of positive feedback. Rather, you can be more selective in which testimonials you want to display. A good strategy to implement at this point is to feature testimonials that incorporate a realistic client perspective.
For example, Postmark’s testimonial above discusses the realistic way that people ask around for coworkers’ and friends’ recommendations. Potential customers reading this testimonial could think to themselves, “I’ve done that before,” and realistically believe that Postmark is a good company to work with.
8. psd2html.com
PSD2HTML’s testimonials demonstrate why a certain knowledge of color contrast is beneficial when it comes to designing your client reviews page. The navy blue and beige colors of PSD2HTML contrast well together, without hurting site visitors’ eyes. Also, as you may have noticed, these reviews are coming straight from a live feed to Twitter. This feature allows the testimonial to update quickly, keeping them current and further establishing PSD2HTML’s credibility.
9. shopify.com
Shopify’s client testimonials go the simple and elegant route. Using minimal color and focusing more on a few select font sizes, Shopify allows readers to focus all of their attention on the past customers’ words, rather than the design that encapsulates them. To keep the reviews from being too dull, though, they personalize them with pictures of the customers who provided the reviews.
10. studiopress.com
StudioPress, as a designer of themes for the blogging site WordPress, incorporates a more design-oriented atmosphere to its testimonials page. Not only can StudioPress show off its excellent customer reviews, but it can do so in a way that also shows off the site’s designing abilities.
11. picplum.com
PicPlum also incorporates the main service of its website into its client testimonials page. As a photography-centered business that prides itself on the high-quality images it can deliver to individuals and families alike, PicPlum chooses to incorporate high-quality images into its testimonials page. This shows potential customers that not only do past clients like using PicPlum, but also that PicPlum has the skills to deliver what the website promises.
12. mediatemple.net
MediaTemple.net is another great example of how well a minimalist approach to a testimonials page can work. While it seems that these past customers have a lot of good things to say about MediaTemple, the testimonials only snapshot a few lines of the customers’ reviews. However, a “Read Bio” link is included to allow interested readers to learn more about how MediaTemple helped out these past clients.
13. cloudflare.com
CloudFlare.com has a little bit of everything as far as customer reviews go. By implementing a minimalist approach, but also using lengthy quotes and videos of customer reviews, the site portrays a lot of information in an unintimidating way. CloudFlare has also divided the testimonials into categories based on the kinds of services the customers received. This can be a great strategy for websites that offer a wide variety of services.
What Have We Learned from the Examples of Testimonials?
Testimonials are important! By presenting reviews of past customers you show potential customers that others have been grateful for your service in the past. Testimonials can be a great way to present your expertise in your field. If you are a photographer, include high-quality images next to your client reviews. If you are a design firm, include some artistic and intriguing design elements in your testimonials layout. Don’t just view your testimonials page as a place for words. View it as its own sphere of influence.
You can even include the general locations of your previous customers so prospective clients can see how broad your company’s customer base extends. If your business prides itself on being a mom-and-pop shop, include the locations and testimonials of local area residents. If your company is expanding to international locations and you want to attract business from a wide range of geographical areas, include that information too! Potential customers like knowing where your past clients have lived. It helps them feel like they know more about the places you have influenced.
Don’t forget – you should include testimonials throughout your website and not limit them to your testimonials page. Don’t hope prospective customers will see your reviews. Make them see your reviews.
And lastly, always remember to think like your site’s visitors. Would you buy your product if all you had to go off of was your testimonials page and existing customer recommendations? I hope so. If not, consider redesigning how your testimonials are presented, how lengthy the reviews are, and how your testimonials are connected to your social networking sites. If any page on your site is worth the time and money to redesign, it’s this one.
zip 1.19.3
- Fix #80648 Fix for bug 79296 should be based on runtime version (cmb, Remi)
- Fix #80863 ZipArchive::extractTo() ignores references. (cmb)
Another monthly update where I explain what happened with Xdebug development in this past month. These will be published on the first Tuesday after the 5th of each month.
Patreon and GitHub supporters will get it earlier, around the first of each month.
You can become a patron or support me through GitHub Sponsors. I am currently 51% towards my $2,000 per month goal. If you are leading a team or company, then it is also possible to support Xdebug through a subscription.
In May, I worked on Xdebug for about 25 hours, with funding being around 30 hours.
Xdebug 3.1
I'm continuing to track PHP 8.1's development and have now added support for Fibers in the debugger. I have not spend time adding support for the new Enum yet, but that should happen soon. I suspect that more work to make Xdebug PHP 8.1 compatible is going to be required in the future too.
After meeting with a developer of the PHP Debug Adapter for Visual Studio Code, I've started to work on some of the things that he raised. For example, there is now a new protocol feature that makes Xdebug include information about the breakpoint that was hit.
He also raised a bug where Xdebug truncates log messages and with UNC paths. I have fixed the first one, but the second one requires more investigation and a "clever solution".
Xdebug Videos
I have published another videos on how to use Xdebug on my YouTube channel.
I have been working on another animated video where I explain how to activate Xdebug's features with triggers and settings. This should come out in the next few weeks.
If you would like to see a 5 to 10 minute long video on another specific topic, feel free to email me at derick@xdebug.org.
Xdebug Cloud
Xdebug Cloud is continuing to operate as Beta release, and provides an easy way to debug your PHP applications with Xdebug, without having to deal with complexities with regards to networking.
Packages start at £49/month, and revenue will also be used to further the development of Xdebug.
If you want to be kept up to date with Xdebug Cloud, please sign up to the mailinglist, which I will use to send out an update not more than once a month.
Business Supporter Scheme and Funding
In May, no new supporters signed up.
If you, or your company, would also like to support Xdebug, head over to the support page!
Besides business support, I also maintain a Patreon page and a profile on GitHub sponsors.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the WordPress Briefing, the podcast where you can catch quick explanations of some of the ideas behind the WordPress open source project and the community around it, as well as get a small list of big things coming up in the next two weeks. I’m your host, Joseph Haden Chomphosy. Here we go!
Josepha Haden Chomphosy 00:40
For anyone who has ever organized something, whether it’s a social event, a school project, or an annual family gathering, you know that there are many different opinions. The more opinions you have, the more likely people don’t see eye to eye. And before you know it, you’ve got some disagreements. Some things make disagreements worse, like imbalance of information, lack of showing your work, and sometimes just “too many cooks in the kitchen,” to use a regional phrase. Frankly, sometimes it seems like the second you have more than one cook in your kitchen, you’re going to get some disagreements. But I think that’s a healthy thing. WordPress is huge. And there are huge numbers of people contributing to WordPress or any other open source project you want to name. So there’s a lot of stuff available to disagree about. If we never saw anyone pointing out an area that wasn’t quite right, there would probably be something wrong. If you, like me, think that a healthy tension of collaborative disagreement can be useful when approached thoughtfully, then this quick start guide is for you.
Step one, prepare to host a discussion. This is, by the way, just the hardest step out there. You have to take a little time to figure out what problem you’re solving with the solution you’re suggesting, any goals that it relates to, and then figure out what the bare minimum best outcome would be and what the wildest dreams magic wand waving outcome would be. And you have to be honest with yourself.
Step two, host the discussion. The venue will be different for different discussions, but you see a lot of these on team blogs or within the actual tickets where work is being done. Wherever you’re hosting it, state the problem, state your idea for the solution and ask for what you missed. If you’re hosting a discussion in person, like in a town hall format, this can be hard. And generally, hosting discussions in an in-person or voice call or zoom call kind of way is hard. So if you have an opportunity to start doing this in text first and level your way up to in person, that’s my recommendation.
Step three is to summarize the discussion and post a decision if possible. So organizing a big discussion into main points is a really good practice for the people you’re summarizing it for and yourself. It helps you to confirm your understanding, and it also gives you the chance to pair other solutions with the problem and goals you outlined in step one. If a different solution solves the same problem but with less time or effort, it’s worth taking a second look with less time or effort. There’s something that I say to WordPress contributors frequently, and that is there are a lot of yeses. There are a lot of right ways to do things and only a few clear wrong ways to do things. So be open-minded about whether or not someone else’s right way to do things could still achieve the goals you’re trying to accomplish with your solution. A note on step three where I said, “and post the decision if possible.” Sometimes you’re the person to make that decision, but sometimes you are not the person who can give something the green light, and so you’re preparing a recommendation. Whether you’re making a decision or a recommendation, sometimes you may experience a little decision-making paralysis. I know I do. So here are a few of the tools that I use.
If you’re avoiding the decision, use the 10/10/10 rule; it can help you figure out if you’re stuck on a short-term problem. If there are too many good choices, use the Eisenhower Matrix that can help you to prioritize objectively. If there are too many bad choices, use the Maximin strategy. It can help you to identify how to minimize any potential negative impacts.
Okay, so you’ve considered your position. You’ve discussed everything. You summarized the big points. Maybe you also worked your way through to a recommendation or a decision. What about everyone who disagreed with the decision? Or have you made a recommendation, and it wasn’t accepted? How do you deal with that? That’s where “disagree and commit” shows up. This phrase was made popular by the folks over at Amazon, I think. But it first showed up, I believe at Sun Microsystems as this phrase, “agreeing, commit, disagree and commit or get out of the way.”
Josepha Haden Chomphosy 05:34
Disagree and commit as a concept works pretty well when everyone agrees on the vision and the goals, but not necessarily how to get to those goals. We’ve had moments in recent history where folks we’re not able to agree, we’re not able to commit, and so then left the project. I hate when that happens. I want people to thrive in this community for the entire length of their careers. But I also understand that situation shows up in the top five learnings of open source when you no longer have interest in the project and handed it off to a competent successor. So there it is – disagreements in open source in WordPress.
As with so many of the things I discuss on this podcast, this is incredibly complex and nuanced in practice. Taking an argument, distilling facts from feelings, and adjusting frames of reference until the solution is well informed and risk-balanced. That is a skill set unto itself. But one that increases the health of any organization. I’ll share that list of references and general materials in the show notes, including a link explaining each of those decision-making tools that I shared. I’m also going to include the contributor training module on decision-making in the WordPress project. It’s got excellent information. It’s part of a series of modules that I asked team reps to take and sponsored contributors. I don’t require it from anyone, but I do hope that it is useful for you. Also, speaking of useful for you, if you are just here for leadership insights, I included some hot takes after the outro music for you. It’s like an Easter egg, but I just told you about it.
Josepha Haden Chomphosy 07:33
And that brings us to our small list of big things! First off, WordCamp Europe is happening this we; I hope that everybody has an opportunity to attend. If you still haven’t gotten your tickets, they are free, and I think there are still a few left. I will include a link in the show notes as well. There’s going to be a little demo with Matt Mullenweg and Matias Ventura on the WordPress 5.8 release that’s coming up. And then kind of a retrospective discussion between Matt and Brian Krogsgard. I encourage you to join; I think it’s going to be very interesting.
There’s also WordCamp, Japan coming up June 20 through 26th. I mentioned it last time – it has a big section of contributing and contribution time. So if you’re looking to get started, some projects are laid out, and I encourage you to take a look at that as well.
The new thing on this list, and I don’t know how new It is, in general, I hope it’s not too new to you, is that WordPress 5.8 release is reaching its beta one milestone on June 8th, so right in the middle of WordCamp Europe. I encourage every single theme developer, plugin developer that we have, agency owners that we have to really take a look at this release and dig into testing it. It’s a gigantic release. And I have so many questions about what will work and will not work once we get it into a broader testing area. We’ve been doing a lot of testing in the outreach program. But it’s always helpful to get people who are using WordPress daily in their jobs to really give a good solid test to the beta product to the beta package. And put it all through its paces for us.
So, that my friends, is your small list of big things. Thank you for tuning in today for the WordPress Briefing. I’m your host Josepha Haden Chomphosy, and I’ll see you again in a couple of weeks.
Josepha Haden Chomphosy 10:09
Hey there, you must be here because I told you about this totally not hidden easter egg about my hot takes on organizational health; I have three for you. And if you’ve ever worked with me, none of this will surprise you. But if you haven’t worked with me, hopefully, it kind of gives you some idea about how I approach all of this a bit differently. So, number one, critical feedback is the sign of a healthy organization. And I will never be dissuaded from that opinion. A complete lack of dissent doesn’t look like “alignment.” To me, that looks like fear. And it goes against the open source idea that many eyes make all bugs shallow.
Tip number two, a bit of tension is good, a bit of disagreement is good. The same thing that I say about women in tech, we’re not all the same. And if we were, then we wouldn’t need to collaborate anyway. But diversity, whether that’s the diversity of thought or of a person or of experience, just doesn’t happen without some misunderstandings. It’s how we choose to grow through those misunderstandings that make all the difference for the type of organization we are.
And hot take number three, changing your mind isn’t flip-flopping or hypocritical. I think that’s a sign of growth and willingness to hear others. I like to think of my embarrassment at past bad decisions – as the sore muscles of a learning brain. And I, again, probably won’t be dissuaded from that opinion. Although, you know, if I’m sticking true to changing your mind some flip-flopping or hypocritical, maybe I will, but you can always try to, to give me the counter-argument for that, and we’ll see how it goes. Thank you for joining me for my little public easter egg.
WordPress is open source software, maintained by a global network of contributors. There are many examples of how WordPress has changed people’s lives for the better. In this monthly series, we share some of the amazing stories.
This month to coincide with WordCamp Europe, we feature Tijana Andrejic from Belgrade, Serbia, about her journey from fitness trainer to the WordPress world, with the freelance and corporate opportunities it introduced.
As a professional manager with a college degree in Organizational Science and a certified fitness instructor, Tijana is nothing if not driven and goal-oriented.
Following her time as a fitness trainer, Tijana moved to work in IT around 2016. She first explored content creation and design before focusing on SEO and becoming an independent specialist.
Tijana was hired as a Customer Happiness Engineer for a hosting company, where she discovered the benefits of having a team. She realized that having close working relationships with colleagues is helpful for business success and accelerates personal growth.
Tijana hopes that by sharing her story, she can help others who are either starting their career or are moving roles. She describes the opportunities she discovered in the WordPress community as ‘a huge epiphany’, especially in the world of freelancing.
She highlights 5 things that helped her to start a new freelancing career. Let’s dive into them.
What motivates me?
“Why am I doing this?” is the first question that Tijana asks herself before starting anything new. This self-review and honesty, she feels, allows her to determine her priorities. She also benchmarks options around her motivations of wanting a flexible schedule and to grow professionally.
She lists the reasons to make a particular choice, like being a freelancer, to help her choose the right job, pathway, or identify alternatives.
She recommends that others can take a similar approach. If freelancing is still the best solution after examining all their goals and motivations, Tijana believes a good next step would be to learn WordPress-related skills.
Develop WordPress related skills
The next question you may ask: “Why WordPress?”
WordPress is used by more than 40% of websites in some form and offers various roles, many of which are not developer-specific. Tijana highlights a few:
web developer (coding websites, themes, and plugins)
web implementor (creating websites from existing themes without coding)
web designer (designing website mock-ups, editing images, or creating online infographics)
client support professional (helping people with their websites)
website maintenance (WordPress, themes, and plugins are maintained and backed up regularly)
WordPress trainer (helping clients with how to use the platform or teaching other web professionals)
content writer
accessibility specialist (making sure standards are met and suggesting solutions for accessibility barriers)
SEO consultant (improving search outcomes and understanding)
statistics consultant, especially for web shops
WordPress assistant (adding new content and editing existing posts)
website migration specialist (moving websites from one server to another)
web security specialist
Tijana emphasized: “Another reason why WordPress is great for freelancers is the strong community that exists around this content management system (CMS).” WordCamps and Meetups are a way to get useful information and meet people from a large and very diverse community and get answers to many questions straight away.
In the past year, these events have been primarily online. However, the contributors who run them continue to make an effort to provide an experience as close to in-person events as possible. The biggest advantage to online events is that we can attend events from across the world, even if sometimes during these difficult times, it is difficult to get enough time to deeply into this new experience. Since Tijana’s first Meetup, she has attended many WordPress community events and volunteered as a speaker.
Plan in advance
Becoming a freelancer takes time. For Tijana, success came with proper planning and following her plan to ‘acquire or improve relevant skills that will make you stand out in the freelance market.’ She strongly believes that learning and growing as a professional opens more business opportunities.
If you are considering a freelance career, she advises improving relevant skills or developing new skills related to your hobbies as ‘there is nothing better than doing what you love.’ In cases where no previous experience and knowledge can be used, she suggests choosing ‘a job that has a shorter learning curve and builds your knowledge around that.’
Tijana started as a content creator and learned to become an SEO expert. However, she highlights many alternative paths, including starting as a web implementer and moving to train as a developer.
She suggests to others: “It would be a good idea to analyze the market before you jump into the learning process.” She also recommends people check the latest trends and consider the future of the skills they are developing.
Visit the new Learn WordPress.org to see what topics are of interest to you. In this newly established resource, the WordPress community aggregates workshops to support those who want to start and improve their skills, provides lesson plans for professional WordPress trainers and helps you create personal learning to develop key skills. There is also material on helping you be part of and organize events for your local community.
Tijana highlights that there are many places for freelancers to find clients. For example, the WordPress Community has a place where companies and individual site owners publish their job advertisements – Jobs.WordPress.net.
Hurray, it’s time to get a first freelancing job
As a pragmatic person, Tijana recommends: “Save money before quitting your job to become a full-time freelancer. Alternatively, try freelancing for a few hours per week to see if you like it. Although some people do benefit when taking a risk, think twice before you take any irreversible actions.”
She shared some possible next steps:
use a freelancing platform
triple-check your resume
professionally present yourself
fill up your portfolio with examples
use video material
“By using video material, your clients will not see you like a list of skills and previous experiences, but as a real person that has these skills and experiences and that provides a certain service for them.”
She adds: “Have a detailed strategy when choosing your first employer. Choose your first employer wisely, very wisely. I can’t emphasize enough how important this is”.
When Tijana took her first freelancing job, she considered the following:
how was the employer rated by other freelancers who worked for him previously
how does the employer rate other freelancers
how much money had they already spent on the platform
the number of open positions for a specific job and the number of freelancers that have already applied
“The first job is not all about the money. Don’t get greedy on your first job. If you get good recommendations, your second job can pay two to three times more. And your third job can go up to five times more. That was my experience.”
Take responsibility as a freelancer
Tijana reminds us: “Freedom often comes with responsibility; individual responsibility is key when it comes to freelancing.”
She advises others not to take a job if you can not make a deadline and have someone reliable who can help you.
Missing deadlines will cost your client money and affect the review the client will be willing to leave about your job, and this can have a big impact on your future opportunities or freelance jobs.
She adds: “This can start a downward spiral for your career. However, we are all humans, and unpredictable things can happen. If for some reason you are not able to complete your work in a timely manner, let your client know immediately so they can have enough time to hire someone else”.
Tijana emphasizes the importance of making expectations clear before accepting a job, both what the client is expecting and what you can expect from the client.
Lastly, she points out that if you are working from home, your friends and family should treat you the way they would if you were in an office. She advises: “Let them know about your working schedule.”
She hopes that these basic guidelines will be useful in launching freelance careers, as they did her, even though there is no universal recipe for all.
Tijana highlights: “It’s just important to stay focused on your goals and to be open to new opportunities.” Freelancing wasn’t the only way she could have fulfilled her goals, but it was an important part of her path, and it helped her be confident in her abilities to make the next big step in her life.
As a freelancer, she was missing close relationships with colleagues and teamwork, which she has now found in her current firm. Her colleagues describe her as a: “walking-talking bundle of superpowers: sports medicine and fitness professional, SEO expert, blogger, designer and a kitty foster mum”.
If you are considering starting your career as a freelancer, take the courses offered at learn.wordpress.org, reach out to companies that you would be interested in working with, and remember that there are a whole host of opportunities in the WordPress project.
Thanks to Olga Gleckler (@oglekler), Abha Thakor (@webcommsat), Chloé Bringmann (@cbringmann), Surendra Thakor (@sthakor), and Meher Bala (@meher) for working on this story. Josepha Haden (@chanthaboune) and also to Topher DeRosia (@topher1kenobe) who created HeroPress. Thank you to Tijana Andrejic (@andtijana) for sharing her #ContributorStory
This post is based on an article originally published on HeroPress.com. It highlights people in the WordPress community who have overcome barriers and whose stories would otherwise go unheard.
