How to add customer testimonials in WordPress: a complete guide to Advanced Testimonial
Summary. Social proof sells, but most WordPress testimonial plugins are either too basic — one boring layout — or bloated page-builder addons you do not need. I built Advanced Testimonial to be the focused middle ground: a set of display layouts and card styles, a front-end submission form, and Schema.org markup for star ratings in Google, all in one lightweight plugin.
The problem
Testimonials are one of the highest-converting elements you can put on a page, but most WordPress solutions force a trade-off.
Basic plugins give you one static layout with no way to collect new reviews. All-in-one page-builder addon packs give you a testimonial widget buried inside dozens of others you will never touch, adding weight to every page on your site.
The solution
Advanced Testimonial is a plugin built only for testimonials. Reviews get a proper post type with Groups, and each review carries its own fields — rating, company, verified badge, video.
Several display layouts and card styles can be mixed freely, and the plugin ships with built-in Schema.org review markup, so Google can show star ratings as a rich snippet next to your search result.
Requirements
- WordPress 6.5 or later
- PHP 7.4 or later
- No page builder required. The shortcode and block editor work out of the box, and an Elementor widget is added automatically if Elementor is active.
Step-by-step installation
- In your WordPress dashboard, go to Plugins → Add New and search for Advanced Testimonial.
- Click Install Now, then Activate.
- A new Testimonials menu appears in your dashboard sidebar.
- Add your first testimonial, or open Testimonials → Settings → Tools and use the one-click starter demo to see it working immediately.
Displaying testimonials
Use the shortcode anywhere:
[advanced_testimonial layout="grid" columns="3" group="clients" limit="9" order="desc"]Or add the Advanced Testimonial block in the editor — it has the same controls with a live preview.
The available layouts are grid, list, card, carousel, marquee, masonry and spotlight. Card styles — classic, modern, minimal, bubble, bold, glass, gradient, outline and retro — are picked with the style attribute, and you can use a different style per block if you like.
Collecting testimonials from visitors
Add this to any page and visitors can submit their own testimonial directly from your site:
[at_form title="Leave a review" group="clients"]Submissions arrive as Pending, so you review them before they go live. Spam protection is built in — nonce, honeypot and rate limiting — and the defaults are safe.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Forgetting to group testimonials. If you plan to show different sets on different pages — per service or per product — set up Groups under Testimonials → Groups before you start adding reviews. Reorganising later is more work than doing it first.
- Not checking the submission form settings. The defaults are safe, but if unexpected spam gets through, look at Settings → Submission Form.
- Assuming Elementor is required. It is not. The shortcode and the block work on any theme.
FAQ
- Do I need Elementor to use this plugin?
- No. The shortcode and Gutenberg block work with any theme. If Elementor is active, a widget appears automatically.
- Can testimonials include video?
- Yes. Paste a YouTube, Vimeo, or self-hosted MP4 URL on any testimonial and it opens in a lightbox on click.
- Will it slow down my site?
- No. CSS and JavaScript load only on pages that actually display testimonials, and there is no jQuery.
- Will my testimonials be deleted if I uninstall the plugin?
- No, not by default. You have to explicitly opt in under Settings → Advanced first.
Conclusion
If you need real, manageable testimonials rather than a giant addon pack, Advanced Testimonial gives you the layouts, the styles, and a form to collect new reviews — without adding weight to pages that do not need it.
Download on WordPress.org Source on GitHub Browse the demos