What’s the most important thing on a website?

When people first come to your website, what do you think are the most important things they look for?

A call-to-action?

Your services?

A detailed “About” page?

All those things are important, of course. A productive website is a harmonious balance between many different elements.

Like all things in life, there isn’t a one size fits all answer. People are coming to your website for their own specific reason and each individual prioritizes different things. The element that persuades one person is going to be different than the element that persuades another.

But across all of the different elements that can go on a website, there are fundamental constants that universally work.

Let’s call these fundamental elements Key Ingredients.

One of the Key Ingredients on a persuasive website are testimonials.

Why are testimonials so essential in the persuasion process?

1 - Social proof. Sales messages are easier to believe when somebody other than the business owner vouches for the business.

Testimonials show your visitors that other people are using your service and have been so happy with the results that they were willing to go out of their way to publicly proclaim their satisfaction.

2 – Persuade using emotion. There are tons of neurological studies which all confirm that people rely on emotions – not logic – to make decisions.

Websites that connect on an emotional level are more persuasive. What better way to invoke emotion than to show how excited and happy your clients are?

3 – Overcome Objections. It’s natural and should be expected that buyers build objections to any marketing pitch.

Testimonials can address the common objections of your service by showing buyers that, yes, this service does work for people just like them.

The Takeaway: Testimonials are a crucial element in persuasive websites. The psychology of testimonials is deep and powerful because they provide social proof, emotion and certainty to the buying process.