Imagine you’ve set up a fantastic website showcasing your business, and you’re using Strong Testimonials to display glowing reviews from satisfied customers. Everything looks great, but you wish you could tweak the design to better match your brand, or maybe add a specific feature that isn’t available out-of-the-box. This is where customization comes in, but often, that means diving into code. This article will guide you through the process of customizing the plugin, and how you can use AI to make it significantly easier.

What is Strong Testimonials?

Strong Testimonials is an easy-to-use WordPress plugin designed to help you collect and display customer testimonials on your website. It allows you to showcase positive feedback, build trust with potential customers, and ultimately, boost your business’s reputation. It’s more than just a display tool; it provides forms for easy testimonial submission, multiple display options like sliders and grids, and even filtering options. With a solid 4.8/5 stars from 607 reviews and over 100K+ active installations, this tool is a popular choice for businesses of all sizes. The plugin allows you to easily create forms to collect feedback and present it in a variety of attractive ways.

For more information about the plugin, visit the official plugin page on WordPress.org.

Why Customize it?

While the default settings of a plugin like this can be great for getting started, they often fall short when it comes to truly reflecting your brand and meeting your specific needs. Think about it: default styles might clash with your website’s design, or you might need to integrate testimonial data with other systems you use. Customization allows you to overcome these limitations and create a seamless, personalized experience for your website visitors.

The benefits of customization are real. A well-integrated testimonial section can significantly boost conversion rates. For example, imagine an e-commerce site that uses customized testimonials to highlight specific product features, complete with customer photos and ratings. Or consider a service-based business that integrates testimonials with their booking system, allowing potential clients to see real-time feedback and easily schedule appointments. These aren’t just hypothetical scenarios; they’re real-world examples of how customization can drive results.

But is customization always worth it? The answer depends on your specific needs and goals. If you’re simply looking for a basic testimonial display, the default settings might suffice. However, if you want to create a truly unique and impactful testimonial section that aligns perfectly with your brand and business objectives, customization is definitely worth considering.

Common Customization Scenarios

Extending Core Functionality

Sometimes, you need the plugin to do more than it initially offers. The core functionality might be excellent, but a specific feature you need is missing. This is where customization comes in.

Through customization, you can add new features, modify existing ones, or even create entirely new modules that seamlessly integrate with the system. For example, you might want to add a “report abuse” button to each testimonial, allowing users to flag inappropriate content. This isn’t a standard feature, but it can be easily implemented through customization.

Imagine a website for a non-profit organization that wants to track the impact of each testimonial. They could customize the plugin to add custom fields for tracking donations or volunteer hours associated with each piece of feedback. AI can significantly speed up the development of these custom fields and the associated reporting functionality.

AI makes implementation easier by generating the necessary code snippets, helping you understand the plugin’s internal structure, and providing suggestions for best practices.

Integrating with Third-Party Services

Your website probably uses a variety of tools and services, from email marketing platforms to CRM systems. Integrating this tool with these other platforms can streamline your workflow and unlock new possibilities. However, out-of-the-box integration isn’t always available.

Customization allows you to connect the plugin with virtually any third-party service. For example, you could integrate it with your email marketing platform to automatically send thank-you emails to customers who submit testimonials. Or, you could connect it with your CRM to store testimonial data alongside customer profiles. This provides a more complete picture of your customer relationships.

Consider a real estate website that wants to automatically post positive testimonials to their Facebook page. They can customize the system to integrate with the Facebook API, automatically sharing new testimonials with their social media audience. AI can help generate the API requests and handle the data formatting required for this integration.

AI assists in this process by providing code examples for API integration, handling data transformation, and suggesting secure authentication methods.

Creating Custom Workflows

Every business has its own unique processes and workflows. The default settings of the system might not perfectly align with your existing operations. This can lead to inefficiencies and bottlenecks.

Customization allows you to tailor the testimonial submission, approval, and display process to match your specific needs. For example, you could create a custom workflow that automatically routes testimonials to different departments for review based on their content. Or, you could implement a multi-step approval process that requires multiple team members to sign off on each testimonial before it’s published.

Think about a law firm that wants to ensure all testimonials comply with legal regulations. They could customize the plugin to add a legal review step to their testimonial approval process, ensuring that all testimonials are reviewed by a legal professional before they are published. AI can help automate parts of this process, such as identifying potentially problematic language in testimonials.

AI can help automate these workflows by providing code for custom event triggers, conditional logic, and automated notifications.

Building Admin Interface Enhancements

The default admin interface might not be the most user-friendly or efficient for your team. It might lack certain features that would make managing testimonials easier.

Customization allows you to improve the admin interface by adding new features, simplifying existing ones, or even creating a completely custom dashboard. For example, you could add a search feature to quickly find specific testimonials, or create custom filters to easily sort and manage testimonials based on various criteria. You might add bulk actions, such as approving or deleting multiple testimonials at once.

Imagine a large organization with multiple departments managing testimonials. They could customize the admin interface to create department-specific dashboards, giving each department access only to the testimonials relevant to them. AI can help generate the code for these custom dashboards and user role permissions.

AI simplifies the creation of custom admin interfaces by providing code snippets for UI elements, handling user authentication and authorization, and suggesting optimal data display formats.

Adding API Endpoints

Sometimes, you need to access testimonial data from external applications or services. The plugin might not offer the necessary API endpoints for this purpose.

Customization allows you to create custom API endpoints that allow external applications to access and manipulate testimonial data. For example, you could create an API endpoint that allows your mobile app to fetch the latest testimonials or create an endpoint that allows a third-party analytics platform to track testimonial performance.

Consider a marketing agency that wants to use testimonial data to create personalized marketing campaigns. They can customize the plugin to create API endpoints that allow them to access testimonial data from their marketing automation platform. AI can help generate the code for these custom API endpoints, including authentication and data validation.

AI facilitates API creation by generating code for request handling, data serialization, and security measures, ensuring your API is both functional and secure.