Why this matters more than it looks
A homepage is written by people who know the business from the inside. Reviews are written by people who only know what happened to them. That outside view is what the resonance reading on the Promise Index measures: whether the market describes your promise back to you, in its own words, without being prompted.
A gap between the two is not a failure. It is one of the most useful findings a small business can get, because it is free, already public, and points straight at a fix.
The 10-minute review read
- Write down your promise. Copy your homepage headline and, if you have one, your one-sentence brand promise. (No promise yet? See how to write a brand promise statement.)
- Collect arm's-length reviews. Twenty or thirty recent ones from places customers post on their own: Google, Yelp, G2, app stores, marketplaces. Leave out the testimonials you picked for your own site for now.
- Copy phrases verbatim. For each review, copy the words the customer used for what they valued. Not your summary of it. Their words.
- Tally the repeats. Group similar phrases and count. Usually one or two benefits come up far more than the rest.
- Put the top phrase next to your headline. Read them side by side. Do they describe the same business?
How to read what you find
The resonance reading uses four bands. Only arm's-length, verbatim evidence counts.
| Band | What the reviews show | What it usually means |
|---|---|---|
| Silent | No customer mentions the thing you promise, or there are few reviews at all. | Normal for a young business. The promise has not reached the market yet. |
| Parroted | Customers repeat your tagline or marketing phrases back, often in prompted testimonials. | The words travelled, but it is not yet clear the experience did. |
| Adopted | Customers describe your promise in their own words, without your phrasing. | The promise is landing. This is real evidence of belief. |
| Championed | Customers use the promise to recommend you to someone else. | The market is doing your positioning for you. Protect it. |
Three ways reviews and homepages disagree
1. Reviews praise something the homepage never mentions
This is the most common pattern and the best one to find. Customers keep coming back to one specific thing, such as how you explain things, how quickly you respond, or one feature, and the homepage leads with something else. Your customers are telling you your real promise. If it is something you deliver on purpose and want to be known for, move it up: into the headline, the first screen and your bios.
2. Reviews only praise generic things
"Friendly." "Professional." "Great service." Nice to read, hard to use. Generic praise usually means the promise is generic too, so customers have nothing specific to repeat. Run the swap test on your headline. Then look for the rare review that does say something specific. That one is often worth more than the other twenty.
3. Reviews contradict a claim
The homepage says "same-day" and the reviews mention waiting a week. This is not a copy problem. Rewriting the headline will not fix it, and promoting a claim customers dispute makes things worse. Fix the delivery, or change the claim to one you keep, and then let new reviews catch up.
Change the copy or change the business?
- Change the copy when reviews consistently praise something real that the homepage hides or undersells.
- Change the delivery when reviews contradict a promise you still want to make.
- Change the promise when reviews praise something you are proud of and the old promise was never what customers bought.
Whatever you change, change it everywhere a buyer looks, not just the homepage. A new headline that never reaches your Google Business Profile or LinkedIn creates a new mismatch. That is the consistency reading, and it is covered in why your website isn't converting.
An illustration (made-up company, not a client)
A small accounting firm's homepage says: "Comprehensive financial solutions for businesses of every size." Its reviews keep saying versions of "she explained my taxes so I finally understood them" and "no jargon, ever." The customers are describing a promise about clarity, which the homepage does not mention. A rewrite might lead with: "Accounting for owners who want to understand their numbers, explained without jargon." That line comes from the reviews, passes the swap test against firms that do not work that way, and the existing reviews already back it up.
What does not count as resonance
- Reach. Followers, impressions and likes show that people saw something, not that they believe it.
- Testimonials you shaped. Quotes you requested, edited or selected are useful on the page, but they are weak evidence of what the market believes.
- Your team's words. Employees and partners describing you is not the market describing you.
Keep reading
- Free market fit self-score
- The swap test for your homepage headline
- How to write a brand promise statement
- Why your website isn't converting
- How to measure market fit for a small business
- Sample Market Fit Read (fictional company)
Questions
What does it mean when reviews don't match my homepage?
It usually means the promise customers experience is different from the one you wrote. Either reviews praise something the homepage never mentions, praise only generic things, or contradict a claim. Each pattern points to a different fix.
Which reviews count as evidence?
Arm's-length ones: reviews on Google, Yelp, G2, app stores or marketplaces, and unprompted mentions on social or in forums. Testimonials you requested, edited or chose for your own site are weaker evidence because you shaped them.
How many reviews do I need?
Use what you have. Twenty or thirty recent reviews are usually enough to see repeated phrases. If you have only a handful, read them anyway, and treat the result as a hint rather than a verdict.
Should I change my homepage to match my reviews?
Often, yes, when reviews consistently praise a specific thing you actually deliver and want to be known for. If reviews contradict a claim, fix the delivery first. Rewriting copy will not fix a broken promise.
I have almost no reviews. Is that bad?
Not for a young business. A Silent resonance reading early on is on schedule. The job then is to make the promise clear and visible so that, when reviews do come, there is something specific for customers to repeat.
Do follower counts or likes count as resonance?
No. Reach shows that people saw something, not that they believe it. Resonance only counts customers describing your promise in their own words.