Be careful with your testimonials
March 11, 2009 – 3:28 am
Naturally, most marketers and companies are happy to receive testimonials from their customers, positive ones as well as negative ones. The positive testimonials often get published on the company’s website, while the negative comments are used to improve products and services.
Today I noticed a testimonial on a website, written by none other than me.
The problem is I have never heard of the company in question, nor have I ordered anything from them. Never. Never have, never will. Not in a million years.
They export car parts (if I’ve understood it correctly) and stuff like that which I never use since I don’t have a car. Or even a license. Never had any need for it.
If I was a vengeful person, I would now ask the company for compensation for using my name – and if I weren’t compensated I’d immediately start a slander-campaign. That type of campaign can be pretty easily set up and get rolling, and can be devastating for a small to medium sized business. Imagine someone searching for your business on big G, only to find the first two pages of the results filled with forum posts, blogs and sites claiming your business was a fraud and used misleading information?
Not a dream situation.
But I’m not a vengeful person, so I’m simply going to ask them to remove my “testimonial” or atleast have the decency to sign with their own names.
The moral if this post is “never use false testimonials”. I’ve told you what vengeful persons can do if they find out their names have been used in places they don’t want to be associated with. I’m the only person in the world with my name (I promise you, it’s not a guess), which is the only reason I found out about it.
Truth in advertising! Remember that phrase 
(Yes, I know I haven’t posted anything or been in touch lately, I’m re-organizing and re-structuring my business. There will be more reviews on a more consistent basis in the near future, since BjornSays is an important piece in my online puzzle. Stay tuned )
