Should You Publish Real Names When Customers Sing Your Praise?

Testimonials—endorsements from respected companies or business leaders—can facilitate selling your products or services. But getting the testimonial is merely the tip of the iceberg. Next, you must decide how to identify your satisfied customers. There are strong opinions and arguments for three strategies: 

1. Name and title ("Allen Johnson, CEO, Johnson Furniture")
2. Complete anonymity
3. Position and industry ("CEO, Furniture Manufacturer")
   

In the last two cases you can note that more complete information is available on request.

If a client has agreed you may use his or her name, what are the pros and cons of doing so?

Upside: Explicitly naming the sources of testimonials provides maximum credibility. In the 1960s, Champion built an advertising campaign based on the fact that Rolls-Royce Motor Cars used its spark plugs. The logic was simple: If it’s good enough for a Rolls-Royce ...

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