Reviews vs Testimonials: Difference and Comparison

Both reviews and testimonials help in getting viewpoints and experiences of the customer using the product or the concerned service.

Since both of them serve somewhere and somehow the same purpose, due to which, many-a-times, both the terms are used interchangeably. However, they are not the same. 

Key Takeaways

1. Reviews are customer or expert evaluations of products, services, or experiences, while testimonials are positive statements from satisfied customers endorsing a product or service.
2. Reviews can be positive and negative, providing balanced feedback and opinions, while testimonials are promotional and focus on the positive aspects.
3. Reviews offer an unbiased perspective on third-party websites or publications. At the same time, testimonials are commonly featured on a company’s website or marketing materials to build trust and credibility.

Reviews vs Testimonials

Reviews are evaluations of products or services based on personal experience and can be positive or negative. Testimonial is a statement that expresses an experience about a product, service, or person. Reviews offer objective feedback, while testimonials provide a more subjective endorsement.

Reviews are the personal opinions of anyone regarding a particular service without any connection with that service, intending to institute some changes.

It provides an unmatched platform for anyone who wishes to express their views about the service being good or bad. Reviews can further help the service outcome to get better. 

Testimonials are the personal statements of the past customers who were connected with the particular business, showing their experience,

with the company in the statement but they are filtered into good ones to keep the image of the company.

But most of the times testimonials are good.

 Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	Reviews	Testimonials
Meaning	Reviews are opinions by a third party regarding a product or service.	Testimonials are the personal experiences of the customers of a product or service.
Involvement of Company	There is no direct involvement of the company.	There is the direct involvement of the company.
Quality of Opinion	Reviews can be both positive and negative.	Testimonials are positive.
Platform	Reviews are given on an independent website.	Testimonials are given on the website of the company itself.
Form of Assessment	Reviews can either be in written form with a star rating or number rating.	Testimonials can either be in the form of written statements or videos.

What are Reviews?

Reviews are an evaluation, opinion, or experience by a third party regarding a product or service, which can be both positive and negative.

For example, if a person has seen a movie yesterday and the movie was not good enough to their taste, then they can write a review on the concerned website for movie reviews and can mention all their concerns. 

There is no filtering in reviews due to which viewers can share their honest opinions and as a result, companies are not able to manipulate the comments and they are bound to make the changes suggested by the viewers,

which makes the reviews social proof.

Although reviews are given individually they are combined at the end through the way of ratings so that both the consumer and the company can see the real progress. 

Some common examples of reviews can be Movie reviews, Peer review sites, Blog posts.

There are three types of reviews. Literature reviews are those that summarize the earlier published works such as research papers.

Systematic reviews are reviews that analyze the data collected with the help of analytical methods. Meta-analysis is performed after combining multiple scientific results.

What are Testimonials? 

Testimonials are the statements given by past customers showing their experiences with the company regarding the product or service.

For example, a testimonial will show you how the consumer got accounted with the product, how was the product, and the overall experience of the consumer with the company.

They are positive but even if they’re not, they are filtered into the positive ones to retain the public image of the company as they are gathered, owned, and managed by the company itself.

Therefore, you will never see a negative testimonial on the website of the company.

Testimonials showcase the best image of a company through which more customers can be attracted and more sales can be earned for the service.

They are long and can be seen in the field of advertising and business.

Quote testimonials, Social Media testimonials, Video testimonials, Audio testimonials, Image testimonials are some of the prominent examples of client testimonials.

Testimonials are of two major types.

Peer testimonials are those which are given by a not-so-experienced person about a certain field whereas, Expert testimonials are given by persons who are experts within certain fields, thus having adequate knowledge. 

Main Differences Between Reviews and Testimonials

There are certain differences between reviews and testimonials as mentioned above.

1. Reviews are opinions by a third party regarding a product or service, on the other hand, Testimonials are the personal experiences of a customer of a product or service.
2. For reviews, there is no direct involvement of the company while the company gets involved directly in the case of testimonials.
3. Reviews can be both positive and negative evaluations whereas, testimonials are positive.
4. Reviews are given on an independent website where the concerned service can only reply to the concerns of the viewers while Testimonials are given on the website of the company itself.
5. Reviews can either be in written form with a star rating or number rating however, Testimonials can either be in the form of written statements or videos.

References

1. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-58551-8_7
2. https://heinonline.org/hol-cgi-bin/get_pdf.cgi?handle=hein.journals/lwpra44&section=31