Your testimonials are not working

Look at the testimonials on your website. Odds are good at least one reads roughly:

"Great service, very professional, would recommend!" - Sarah M.

Nobody believes that. Not one person has ever read that and been moved. You do not believe it and it is on your own site.

Here is the problem. That quote could be about anything. It could be a dentist, a roofer, a marina. It contains no information, so it carries no weight, and its only effect is to signal that you are the kind of business that puts filler on its website.

A testimonial does work when it is specific enough that it could only be about you.

"We had water coming through the ceiling at nine at night. Somebody answered the phone, which had not happened at the last two places I called, and there was a van here before eleven."

That one is doing something. It names a fear the reader has. It describes a moment. It contains a detail, the phone being answered at night, that the reader can imagine needing.

You cannot write these. That is the point. They come from asking better questions.

Do not ask a client for a testimonial. You will get five stars and an adjective. Ask them: what was going on when you called? What were you worried about? What surprised you? Then write up what they said, send it back, and ask if you got it right.

Use their full name and their business. Initials read as invented, because invented ones use initials.

Three real ones beat twenty of the other kind. And if you cannot get three real ones, that is worth knowing too, and no amount of "Great service!" will paper over it.