Reviews vs. Testimonials - What's the Difference?

The terms reviews and testimonials get thrown around a lot, often used interchangeably, which can definitely be confusing. But for businesses trying to build a strong online presence, understanding the distinction is key. Let's break down the difference and show you why both are crucial for your marketing strategy.

What's a Testimonial?

Think of a testimonial as a positive comment from a customer, that you own and control. It's a piece of customer-generated content you can use to market your business. When a customer fills out a survey and gives you permission to use their feedback, you can then feature that glowing comment wherever and however you see fit.

You can use testimonials to build trust and show off your great service. Here's how you might use them:

• Add them to a dedicated page on your website using our Testimonial Publisher Widgets.
• Share them on your social media channels like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
• Feature them in your newsletters, office signage, or other marketing materials.

The power of a testimonial lies in your ability to choose the best ones and showcase them strategically. They're a fantastic way to engage potential customers and build credibility.

What's an Online Review?

An online review is a comment someone posts about your business on a third-party website, like Google or Facebook. The biggest difference here is that you don't control the content or where it's posted.

With an online review, a customer is sharing their experience with the world, intending to help others make a decision. The collection of these reviews on platforms like Google, Yelp, or TripAdvisor creates an "online persona" for your business that can heavily influence new customers. That's why having a solid review strategy is so important.

Here's why reviews are so valuable:

• They boost your SEO. Google, in particular, loves fresh reviews. Having them helps your business rank higher in local search results.
• They build trust and social proof. Prospective customers tend to trust what other consumers say more than what a business says about itself.

A word of caution: never try to write reviews for your own business or ask employees or family members to do so. Review platforms are smart and have ways to catch this, and it can seriously hurt your reputation if you get caught.

Reviews and Testimonials inside LoyaltyLoop

In the process of gathering feedback from your customers, your LoyaltyLoop survey collects comments from them. The survey explicitly asks the customer if they grant you permission to use their comments and media in your marketing. For subscribers of the Promoter and Premier plans, when the customer grants you permission, these comments become Testimonials and are available in LoyaltyLoop for you to publish to your website and social channels.

All review platforms require a rating, but most provide the option to post a comment. However, Google favors reviews with comments and not just a rating. Hence, reviews with comments give you more local SEO bang for your buck. It behooves you to do your best to get customers to post a Google review with a comment. But how do you do that?

LoyaltyLoop makes it easy. If the customer gave a comment in their survey response, LoyaltyLoop presents that comment to the customer at the time of review solicitation. The comment is copied to their clipboard, allowing the customer to easily paste it as their Google review. This is why sometimes inside your LoyaltyLoop account, you'll see a Google review that is also a Testimonial and also comment to the survey.

By understanding the unique roles of both testimonials and reviews, you can leverage them to build a powerful online reputation.

Just for fun, we asked Google Gemini the question below. It provided greater detail relative to how Google favors certain reviews over others. Remember, even Google Gemini warns that its response may contain errors. But here's what Google Gemini said: