We in the direct marketing world understand the power of the user testimonial. Google has very moving, effective testimonials posted online. Cue the Maxwell House commercial music: “My sister-in-law found her mother after 34 years of searching by using Google. I just thought you’d like to know you helped us find our mom!”
Didn’t you just get chills reading that? I did. The first time I read it. Unfortunately, I’ve read it one too many times. If I’m not mistaken, the same two testimonials have been posted there for months … Now, to be fair, those testimonials live on the pages of the search engine’s site designed specifically for press, not visibly upfront on the search engine’s corporate site. Still, there is a link below the two testimonials that jumps to many more examples. When you click on that link, there are tons of interesting comments from consumers and business people alike, singing the praises of the search leader. Heck, there’s even a guy named Damian who writes that Google helped save his Labrador, Ben, along with a picture of the cute doggie swimming.
We media people are a jaded bunch. Our eyes glaze over pretty quickly. If you are going to put the testimonials on a landing page dedicated to journalists, at least mix it up. Cycle through them and get the dog story up front. Who knows? Some enterprising reporter may want to write a story about it.
