Great quote, wrong buyer
Testimonials From Customers Outside Your Niche
You sell scheduling software to physiotherapy clinics, and your warmest testimonial comes from a dog groomer who found you by accident. The praise is real, but a clinic owner reading it may conclude you are not built for them. An off target quote is not useless; it just needs the right page and the right framing. Answer four questions about one quote to see where it belongs.
- How far the customer is from your buyer
- What the quote actually proves
- Use, reframe, park or replace
Decision helper
Where does this off target quote belong?
Answer for one testimonial. The result suggests where it helps and where it gets in the way.
Your answers stay in your browser.
The problem, solved
Keeping off target praise useful
- Problem 1
We cannot see which quotes are off target
The library mixes your core buyers with everyone who ever signed up, and nobody can tell them apart at a glance.
How StoryProof solves it
Tag each testimonial with the customer’s market, such as “core” or “outside niche”, so whoever builds a page can pick by fit.
- Problem 2
It keeps landing on our niche pages
Someone grabbed the best written quote for the clinic page, and now a dog groomer greets every physiotherapist.
How StoryProof solves it
You choose which approved testimonials appear in each widget, so the niche page shows only niche customers and the broad page can carry the rest.
- Problem 3
Deleting good praise feels wasteful
The customer was generous, and the quote is honest. Throwing it away feels wrong.
How StoryProof solves it
Every plan includes a Wall of Love, a hosted page of approved testimonials, where breadth across markets reads as a strength.
- Problem 4
Our target customers have not spoken yet
The off target quote is your best only because nobody asked the customers who match your buyer.
How StoryProof solves it
Add target market customers as contacts and email them a request; one link lets them reply by video, audio note or in writing.
The same quote, placed two ways
Dropped onto the niche page
- A dog groomer’s quote leads the physiotherapy clinic page
- Attribution says “Pawfect Grooming”, nothing more
- A clinic owner wonders whether the product is for them
Placed and framed with intent
- The quote sits on the reminders feature page
- A headline names the shared problem: “No more missed appointments”
- The clinic page shows two clinic customers instead
In StoryProof
Sort and replace in StoryProof
- 1
Tag by market
Mark each testimonial as core or outside your niche, and with the market it comes from.
- 2
Clean the niche widgets
For each niche page, choose only testimonials tagged with that market.
- 3
Give off target quotes a home
Use the helper result: a broad page, a feature page with a framing headline, or the Wall of Love.
- 4
Ask your core customers
Send requests to customers who match your buyer, starting with the pages that have none.
What happens next: Run the helper again when you change your target market. Yesterday’s off target customer may be tomorrow’s core segment.
Before you start
What StoryProof will not decide
What this does not cover, and what to check on your side. Better to know now than after launch.
- 01
It does not know your niche
StoryProof does not classify customers by market. Your tags carry that judgement.
- 02
No automatic headlines
Framing a quote around a shared problem is copy you write next to it on your page.
- 03
Do not edit the quote to fit
Changing a groomer’s words to sound like a clinic misleads readers. Frame it; do not rewrite it.
- 04
A wrong fit can signal a new market
If off target customers keep arriving and praising you, that is a market question for your team, not a testimonial problem.
FAQ
Questions people ask
Short answers to what usually comes up next.
Is it dishonest to use a testimonial from outside our target market?
No, as long as the attribution is accurate. It only misleads if it is presented as coming from the kind of customer the page is aimed at.
Should we hide the customer’s industry?
No. Hiding it to make the quote fit is the misleading version. Show who they are and frame what they praise.
Can an off target quote go on our homepage?
Often yes, if it praises something every buyer values, like support or reliability, and your target customers also appear nearby.
What if all our testimonials are off target?
That is a collection gap. Use the best of them on broad pages for now and make requests to on target customers your priority.
Still have a question? Ask the StoryProof team or book a demo.
Put every testimonial where it helps most
Tag by market, choose what each widget shows and ask your core customers. No credit card needed to start.
Last updated 2026-11-12.