Testimonials are essential in building trust with potential customers. Before people buy a product or a service, they want to be sure that they’re making the right choice. A good number of positive testimonials might be the last push needed to convert hesitant buyers into loyal customers.
If you’re considering adding testimonial content on your site, you’ll be glad to know that it’s easily done in WordPress using free or premium plugins. Most plugins use shortcodes to insert the content into any part of your site, so no actual coding is required. Some premium plugins even have visual editors that let you preview testimonials before publishing.
There are many plugins for this task, but we’ve rounded out the ten best WordPress testimonial plugins for crafting the perfect testimony page to support your product or service.
If you need to start collecting and displaying testimonials. Here are the best WordPress plugins to help you do just that.
Easy Testimonials
Easy Testimonial is an easy-to-use plugin that allows users to add Testimonials to the sidebar, as a widget, or to embed testimonials into a Page or Post using the shortcode. Easy Testimonials allows you to insert a list of all Testimonials, output a Random Testimonial, or display a slideshow of Testimonials anywhere on your website. Testimonials support images, making it simple to add a photo of the testimonial author. Easy Testimonials uses schema.org compliant JSON-LD markup so that your testimonials appear correctly in search results.
One of the best features of this plugin is the ability to control how the testimonials display. There are over 30 different display styles you can choose from, so you can customize the look without having to learn CSS. There’s also a field in the settings menu to enter custom CSS if you want to fine-tune the display further.
The plugin is pretty self-explanatory and simple to use, but it also has extensive documentation if you get stuck. Many of the reviews also note that the developer is quick to help out with any issues. There’s also a Pro version that lets you collect testimonials on your website front end with a form, among other premium features. But the free version has plenty of features already.
Strong Testimonials
Strong Testimonials is a free full-featured WordPress testimonial plugin that works out of the box. It supports shortcode and widget displays, with the ability to filter testimonials by categories. When displaying several testimonials, you can add pagination with a specified number of items per page. You can choose to show the full text for each testimonial or show an excerpt with a customizable “Read More” link.
Not only does this plugin provide the basic display functions found in most plugins, but it also enables users to create a testimonial submission form – a feature that’s mostly available for an upgrade with other plugins. On top of the default shortcode display option, you can also create slideshows for any number of testimonials (chosen by you or randomly). Multiple slideshows can be used on the same page, and you can customize the transition interval and speed.
Testimonial Rotator
Testimonial Rotator is a free option that adds a “Testimonial” custom post type which you can use to display testimonials on your frontend.
The plugin’s author has taken an interesting approach to monetization – rather than locking away features behind a pro version, he sells premium themes to change your testimonials’ appearance.
You can display testimonial rotators according to different animations and transition speeds. And if you want your testimonial content to change, you just need to tick a box to randomize testimonials.
If you want to display star ratings, you can easily add them with proper schema markup to get rich snippets.
You can create multiple rotators which are connected to different testimonials, which essentially lets you engage in page or category level targeting. Once created, you can insert rotators via either a widget or a shortcode.
As for those themes I mentioned, the plugin ships with two free themes. After that, you can either create your own theme following their guide or purchase one of the premium themes. Note – creating your own theme requires coding knowledge. There’s no WYSIWYG editor.
Testimonials Widget
Testimonials Widget is one of the most popular testimonial plugins, and when you look at all the included features, it’s easy to see why.
With this plugin, you’re not just limited to testimonials, you can also use it to display portfolio projects and reviews. Each testimonial can include videos as well as images and text and supports categories and tags, and review schema for rich snippets. Once created, the plugin lets you display each of these via shortcodes, widgets, or functions in your theme files.
The testimonials display with basic styling and minimal options to change the look, so if you want more display options, you’ll have to know at least a little CSS to really customize how things get displayed.
There’s also a premium version available that includes both support from the developer and a lot more features. Note: although the free version doesn’t include direct support, it’s worth mention that there’s an available knowledge base that provides a certain level of community support.
GS Testimonial Slider
GS Testimonial Slider is a WordPress plugin which creates custom post type to add client’s testimonials/recommendations to display anywhere of your site using a shortcode. GS Testimonial plugin is simple but flexible & powerful. Built-in designs are available out of the box, but you can customize design elements from the back-end if you want.
Custom post types are supported and each testimonial can display an image, with an option to adjust height and width (available in the Pro version). Upgrading also activates more transition styles, themes, and image shapes. You can also control slider behavior like speed, pausing on hover and toggling the navigation arrows.
Testimonial Basics
Testimonial Basics keeps everything simple and to the point, without over-complicating something as basic as adding a testimonial. But even though it is simple, it does not lack by any means. The plugin is filled with styling options and different fonts(nine to be exact) to help you customize the appearance of the testimonials. The plugin provides the testimonials to support a five-star rating system as well as Gravatars. This means that you don’t have to go through any hassle of uploading an image, granted the person who has written the testimonial has a Gravatar.
Other than this, there are also input forms that you can use either as widgets or shortcodes to get testimonials from customers directly on your website. Then you can immediately display it with the help of another shortcode or widget. Everything is that easy and intuitive. Overall, the plugin is an ideal choice for people who don’t wish to spend time on configuring their testimonials.
Conclusion
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with which plugins would be perfect for your testimonial content, but with this roundup, you should know which ones are important to you and your audience. Whether you’re looking for basic functionality or advanced customizations, there is at least one plugin in this list to suit your purpose. The choice comes down to whether or not to go with a free or premium plugin for creating a testimonial page for your site.
Research has shown us that displaying testimonials from past customers on your site can create more trust in prospective clients. If you apply the tips for effective testimonials, you will be making their decision process even easier.
From the list we provided, you should be able to find the perfect testimonials plugin for your WordPress website. Start talking to your past clients and getting those quotes to add to your website now!
As we said, there are a large number of plugins for testimonials available. We couldn’t possibly cover all of them, but we did our utmost to list all of the best above.