why I don’t like sharing testimonials in emails

Happy Monday!

Got the following question from a client last week:

As you can see…

She was asking whether it’s okay to just copy and paste testimonials into an email.

Which is a great question.

And my answer may surprise you.

Contrary to mainstream marketing wisdom, I don’t like sharing testimonials in emails.

(heresy, I know! 😂)

But here’s why:

Testimonials are a sales device.

You deploy them to counter the “will this work for me?” objection in readers’ minds.

And readers know that.

So testimonials can inadvertently activate sales resistance…

Because it makes readers feel like they’re being sold to.

Which is (somewhat) antithetical to the Email Storyselling approach.

It also detracts from the casual vibe of a plain text email.

So… what to do?

Tell a story instead.

This is how you can illustrate the lesson (and reason to buy) versus just stating it directly.

It’s an indirect way to make your case.

And often, a more persuasive one.

Because it’s less likely to activate that sales resistance.

It all comes back to the golden rule of writing, which is:

Show, don’t tell.

Now, this doesn’t mean you can’t use comments, replies, DMs, emails, or testimonials from other people in your emails.

Just use them to SET UP your story instead of trying to get them to do all the heavy lifting for you.

Kinda like I’ve done here ;)

Jim Hamilton

P.S:

This isn’t a blanket rejection of social proof.

Being able to showcase other people’s feedback and results is crucial.

That’s why I use lots of testimonials and case studies on my sales pages.

Just not in my emails.