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  1. #1

    Paying for testimonials... unethical?

    This has come up in a discussion here at work and I wanted to get some opinions.

    Do you feel it is unethical to pay for testimonials?

    More specifically, our situation...

    I work for a tech company who's primary focus is onsite IT support, though we have a 5 person team for the web development side, so we do that as well as web hosting.

    On our site we have testimonials of course, but people are given "coupons" for submitting them. Also, we have a sales associate who is following up with customers to see how they liked the service - it is during this phone call that he is offering the "coupons" and encouraging them to write a testimonial.

    What brought this to our attention primarily was that we just received a testimonial in which the customer started off the testimonial by saying... "Well, I have never done this before, but if it get's me "coupons", then I'll give it a try".

    Myself and a co-worker feel this is very unethical and have brought it to the attention of the owner, who informed us that it was his idea and he disagreed that it was unethical. He claims we are paying for their time.




    My question(s) is this - what is your take on this both ethically as well as legally.

    Thanks,
    Something witty here...

  2. #2
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    Offering a monetary incentive in return for a testimonial is unethical in my opinion. That monetary incentive could be interpreted as the company "buying" the praise or influencing the testimonial to their favor.

    Asking for a testimonial is a different beast. I personally do not like that method either, however it does bypass the issue of the person getting a reward for the testimonial.

  3. #3
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    I think it is wrong as well. If someone likes your service, they will contact you & let you know. All our clients have told us they would always give us a great reference.

    I can see though where the owner gets his idea - time is money. But usually it only takes 5 minutes to say something good about a company. Just look thru this forum & others - look at the complaints. How long do you think that took them. And you do not see many compliments. Most people do like to complain more than give someone a compliment.

    If you are paying someone though, it should at least state it was a paid endorsement.

  4. #4
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    I would certainly agree that paying (in any way) for a testimonial is unethical, and essentially invalidates it altogether.

    Your boss should rethink the matter.

    Vito
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  5. #5
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    I dont think its unethical for you to offer an incentive to your customers to say fill out a customer survey regarding the service they receive from you., something like enter them into a draw for a PDA or a free years hosting.

    I wouldnt agree with rewarding customers who only say nice things about your company,just to get the reward.

  6. #6
    I believe a much better approach would be to send out surveys to random customers and offer a coupon to any that fill out the survey. I this way you will get good and bad feedback. Any that leave good feedback can be asked if their feedback can be used as a testimonial. Bad feedback can be followed up on and used for process improvement.
    Matt Wade
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  7. #7
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    Paying for someone to do a testimonial, is unethical. If someone is getting paid for it, then they are not writing a testimonial.

  8. #8
    Thanks for the feedback everyone, I appreciate it.

    It's looking like you are agreeing with us on this one. Of course, an army of people could argue with him (our boss) about this, but he's the kind of guy who is never wrong, if you know what I mean.


    Anyone else have an opinion on the matter?

    Thanks in advance,
    Something witty here...

  9. #9
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    In general, it might be a good idea to offer a coupon or some incentive, if you want to encourage your customers to fill out a survey or something of that sort. However, that information should be used for internal use (e.g. how to make the service better).

    However, bribing a client to write something nice about your company seems to be going a bit overboard. Of course, if you're willing to put up a note on your testimonials page saying: "These testimonials have been written by our clients that received XXX compensation for their time", then go right ahead - your visitors will be aware of what's going on.

    Other than that, it seems a bit misleading. However, business is business, so it's definitely clear where the owner is coming from.

    Boris
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  10. #10
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    If you offer an incentive it will certainly increase the likelihood of a client providing a testimonial. However, it is more likely to be false and just submitted to get the $$ so not to be taken as face value.

  11. #11
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    If you really want testimonials, I think the least aggressive way of doing it, would be to send an email to all clients, telling them that you wish to add testimonials to the site, and anyone who is pleased with the service, to send one in.

  12. #12
    Thanks everyone - nice to see other people's opinions - make sure I wasn't just losing it or something. He (our boss) is pretty unethical in general, so this was not a suprise, but I really wanted to see what people thought on this specifically as it seemed it could be borderline to some.

    Thanks again
    Something witty here...

  13. #13
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    Send your boss a link to this thread.

    Vito
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  14. #14
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    On the bright side, it beats faking the testimonials.

    I have seen so many fake testimonials that I just don't give them that much weight anymore. I guess the best testimonials are the ones that are posted outside the site. I guess that gives it at least a higher level of authenticity.

  15. #15
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    You should have started a poll rather a thread
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  16. #16
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    They're not paying for testimonials. They're just giving people an incentive to write one (people are lazy, they need incentives). I see nothing wrong with that.

    Andrew
    NetHosted - UK based hosting solutions.

  17. #17
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    It really depends on how you present the testimonial. I'll give you an example of what i'm going to do when i'm open for business. I will notify my customers they can get 1 month free hosting if they are to write out a testimonial. I know most sites will post only good testimonials on their websites but for the clients who have bad testimonials i'll post it up and still give them a free month, but I will try and improve the service I provide for them.
    Kerry Jones

  18. #18
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    Fatafati! Kerry good to know honest people are around
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  19. #19
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    Originally posted by dualnic
    Fatafati!
    OK, you got me curious. What the heck does that mean??

    Vito
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  20. #20
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    Vito,

    I think hes trying to say good or great.

    Its the truth most companies will go out to an extent of making their company look like the best hosting company in the world, but we all know no host is perfect. I want to show people i'm not a "fake" or "poser" by posting up good testimonials. I want to show people online that i'm the real mcoy and that no matter if the testimonial is good or bad it still goes up.
    Kerry Jones

  21. #21
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    Originally posted by vito
    OK, you got me curious. What the heck does that mean??

    Vito
    Fatafati = WOW

    its a bangla word

    Kerry you should try to copyright this idea! cause I'm thinking
    about using it too
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  22. #22
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    Is that just slang English or a derivative of another language?

    And yes, Kerry, that would indeed be an innovative approach - if you actually posted good and bad reviews. Very progressive thinking.

    Either way, I think that if a testimonial doesn't have a real person's name and a link to the person's web site, it will always be subject to a challenge of authenticity.

    Vito
    DemoDemo.com - Flash tutorials since 2002
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  23. #23
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    if it was possible I wouldn't, because i'm here for several reasons to show customers honesty, intergrity, and responsiblity for what a webhost does. I want other web host to follow in my steps to post testimonials that are both good and bad and to guide those who commit fraudlent activities to become legitimate. My other goal is to show people you can still run a funny host and still be popular.

    Vito,

    I believe its the right approach to take to help a company grow. If you look at websites that have quick rich schemes you will notice they all have good testimonials and other things that will make you say "wow, they are good" or the comment "Its gotta be too good to be true". I believe if they see both negative and postive comments it will let them know your not perfect and willing to admit it.
    Last edited by Kerry Jones; 08-17-2004 at 09:50 PM.
    Kerry Jones

  24. #24
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    Vito, its not slang.
    its taken from Bangla language.

    I'm a bangalee.
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  25. #25
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    hmmm... it seems that the owner of this company is going for quantity rather then quality in this case...

    doesn't bribing people for testimonials defeat the purpose on one level?
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