Why You Can't Trust Testimonials

I tend to be cautious about testimonials ever since I read an article about a fitness model getting caught putting on weight for her BEFORE picture.

Brian

NEVER EVER EVER trust a sales page! Lies and half-truths are rife. Which is a crying shame for those with integrity who are selling worth while products.

But it's like so many areas in life where the minority RUIN it for everyone.

But wait... it says on that testimonial page "lab 88.com..... "is a provider you can trust."

ahaahahahahahahah stop!

This is the equivalent of someone saying "Yeah, one time my cousin's best friend's sister ate a sandwich from Arby's and then she DIED! Arby's is fatal!"

Anecdotal evidence is not really reliable. Interesting, maybe...but not statistically reliable.

I just looked at the older thread on cellu-svelte. Ugh.

It was all the way back in 1892 the Ladies Home Journal banned advertising for patent medicine. The shucksters are still there selling their magic pills...

If it's a US company, I'm surprised the FTC hasn't gone after them. I thought they were going after diet pill companies with a vengeance.

Hey, my site is a little bit different to the diet pills and weight loss books as it is a normal natural health retailer - but I really feel that sites like the one Jim mentions above have created a general mistrust of ALL health sites on the Internet.

We have amazon style comments for all of our products which I hope is a bit more trustworthy - but does anyone have an opinion on what someone like me could do to make the testimonials/comments on my site stand out and separate themselves from the crap you see on the sites in the post above?

Any thoughts would be really appreciated!!!!

Cheers
Ross

Different Nic said:
This is the equivalent of someone saying "Yeah, one time my cousin's best friend's sister ate a sandwich from Arby's and then she DIED! Arby's is fatal!"[...]

In the recent comments, your comment is right after Dr. J's about a weight lifter guy having cardiac arrest in his gym, and it fits perfectly. I just wanted to say that.

I am not surprised that some diet business will do anything just to focus the attention to them. There are lots of businesses that provide the same products and services and each are ready to do serious things to beat the other.

I have a question, if the testimonies of diet pills are fake, then what about the ones advertising excersise routines, such as tae-bo, core rythyms, and hip hop abs? are those fake too?

Just the name Metabo-Speed sounds shonky - like the kind of product Troy McClure would endorse [shudder].

fairycloud9 said:
I have a question, if the testimonies of diet pills are fake, then what about the ones advertising excersise routines, such as tae-bo, core rythyms, and hip hop abs? are those fake too? [...]

Most of them, yes.

Workout dvds cause you to burn calories, and increase your muscle mass, which in turn speeds up your metabolism, which if you eat a decent amount of calories(not to few, or to many) usually results in weight loss, and a reduced risk of things like heart disease, diabetes, strokes, cancer. There are some exercise tapes that I personally did not think were very good workouts but I have tried Tao bo, core secrets, and hip hop abs, and can say they are all good workout outs and very effective. I get picked on for being "too slim" and I "blame" it on running and work out tapes. The firm is also great too. Pills are bs. The only supplement I think is good is whey protein, which really is just the a concentrated form of protein in milk which your body needs to build lean muscle. Basically exercise works, pills are a waste of money, dangerous, and rarely permanently effective.

Emily said:
Workout dvds cause you to burn calories, and increase your muscle mass, which in turn speeds up your metabolism, which if you eat a decent amount of calories(not to few, or to many) usually results in weight loss, and a reduced risk of things like heart disease, diabetes, strokes, cancer. There are some exercise tapes that I personally did not thin[...]

THANKS EMILY, i just bought hip hop abs and im hoping that will help me to get slim, i know i have to eat right too, but i needed a change of pace. The gym was getting too routine for me.

RedPanda said:
Just the name Metabo-Speed sounds shonky - like the kind of product Troy McClure would endorse [shudder].[...]

I'm sure Dr. Nick recommends Metabo-Speed as well.

That is so wrong! Thanks for posting this. I can't believe I believed them!

I certainly don't trust those testimonials. Some of the ads are even obvious that they are paying people to do it because some of them are like reading it from a board or something.

I find it entertaining to look at those ads that have, like 50 different before/after pictures on a whole page. I look carefully at each set and try to guess which ones have been digitally enhanced to be either the "before" or the "after". Makes for an entertaining hour, especially if you do it with a friend over a couple of Mojitos.....

I just can't believe that people really believe in those testimonials... It is sometimes so obvious! America made those testimonials a marketing machine. Money talks. The best way to loose weight is dieting, exercise and mind control.

Okay.....I just wanted to post my 2 cent because I would hate for someone to get screwed like I did. I just paid close to $100.00 for diet pills off of the website edietpillshop.com.......these pills were suppose to stop my hunger and make me very active. I want to eat twice as much now and I am SO tired. I thought I was buying adipex......well.....I got some kind of herbal pill that is making me gain weight. On top of that.....the site WILL NOT give a refund.

Its because testimonials are released by the company only. Its very much possible to create an positive awareness they tend to misguide the user.

That sounds incredibly similar to the numerous FAKE "after pictures" being used on the Kimkins.com Diet Scam site.

http://kimkinsexposed.wordpress.com/fake-success-story-pictures/

Even the "creator" of the Kimkins Diet, Kimmer (aka Heidi Diaz, Heidi Drake, et al) who never really lost the 198 lbs. she claims to have lost in 11 months, uses a "borrowed" picture from a Russian Brides website as her "after picture".

http://www.onewife.com/girl_profile.php?id=16077

Folks, if it SOUNDS too good to be true, it probably IS too good to be true.

We better never put our picture on the net to avoid such thing, and still many people believes in testimonials.

Well to be sure, anybody an publish anything to the Internet. Not that the Internet isn't the greatest source of information... it is. But, you should always get several opinions and forums and review blogs can be a great source of this information... just make sure the forum isn't being manipulated to blster a single product.

yes i agreed what you say.
most of the testimonials is for commecial purpose

I agreed. :)