Humans are social creatures. We often make purchasing decisions based on the opinions and insights of other consumers — hence why the influencer industry has taken off and nearly replaced celebrity endorsements.
So when it comes to our small (but mighty!) businesses, it’s important for us to consider this side of sales psychology. If consumers make choices based on other people’s opinions, then we want to clearly share the positive opinions and experiences of our past clients and customers.
These glowing reviews are known as testimonials, and when it comes to generating word-of-mouth referrals and increasing the likelihood of converting a website or shop viewer into a client or customer, high-quality testimonials are key.
What makes a testimonial high-quality? This isn’t black-and-white, but in my opinion, a testimonial needs a few things to be considered high quality: Detail (we need to know why someone loved their experience, what they enjoyed about it, etc.), outcome (we need to know what direct benefit someone experienced as a result of working with someone), and preferably a name (when testimonials lack a name or face, people struggle to trust them).
But gathering testimonials can feel tricky and overwhelming. Sometimes it’s hard to know what to ask or how to ask it. Sometimes it’s hard just to get someone to actually send us their testimonial, and no one wants to feel like they’re annoying someone with a million follow-ups.
Trust me, I get it! But we’re about to solve both of these problems for you at once. If you’re struggling with testimonials for your brand or business, keep reading, and I’ll help you figure it all out.
Testimonials vs Reviews
Before we start, it’s important to distinguish between testimonials and reviews. A testimonial is a glowing endorsement of a person, product, or service. It’s detailed, specific, and aimed at converting other people into customers and clients.
A review is more informal and provides a more general overview of the customer or client experience. It’s sort of like a cliff notes version of how their experience went down (and not necessarily positive).
Both can be incredibly useful as business owners, but when it comes to sales and marketing, what you are most likely looking for are testimonials. And when it comes to improving your client experience or getting a better idea of what it’s like to be on the receiving end of your services, reviews are what you need.
Below you’ll find a bunch of questions you can ask the next time you’re collecting testimonials. Obviously, you wouldn’t want to ask all of them. But you’ll want to choose a few that make the most sense for you and paint a full picture. Any questions with an asterisk are ones I suggest always asking.
1. What’s your name, job title, and do you give permission for us to use your name and job title in any publication of your testimonial (including for marketing purposes)?*
2. How did you first hear about us?
3. When did you first discover us?
4. What problem(s) were you trying to solve with our product or service?
5. What outcome were you hoping to achieve?
6. How did you research possible solutions?
7. What made our product or service stand out from other brands?
8. What’s one thing you think others should know about our product or service before purchasing?*
9. Would you use our service again? Or, will you continue using our product?
10. Was our product or service worth your investment?
11. How often do you use our product or service?
12. How easy or difficult was it to complete your purchase?
13. What almost made you not purchase our product or service?
14. What ended up selling you on our product and service?*
15. What have you been able to achieve during and/or after buying our product or service?*
Want to make this even easier with my top must-ask questions and prompts for receiving high-quality, high-converting testimonials all in one place? Plus, two copy-and-paste email templates you can use to ask clients and customers for testimonials. I got you!
Testimonials That Convert is my bestselling resource for good reason — and tbh, I use it all the time in my own biz (along with hundreds of other business owners). Get it here.
16. What made you the happiest after becoming a client/customer?
17. What has exceeded your expectations?*
18. What surprised you the most?
19. What’s been your favorite thing about our product or service?
20. Would you recommend our product or service to others, and what would you say to them?
21. What would you tell someone who’s thinking about buying our product or service?
22. Was there anything we could have done differently to improve your experience?
23. What’s one word you would use to describe our product or service? Our business?
24. What was one unexpected benefit of our product or service?
25. What has been your biggest win since we completed your project or you bought our product?
26. On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our product or service to others?
27. Did you face unexpected challenges with our product or service? If so, how would you describe the help we provided?
28. What’s one story of success that wouldn’t have been possible without our product or service?
29. If you could do it all over again, would you still choose us? Why or why not?
30. Is there anything else that you’d like to comment on or say about our product or service?
Pro Tips on Asking for Testimonials
1. Ask at the Right Time(s)
Here’s the thing about asking for testimonials, if you wait too long after a project or purchase, consumers have already moved on and are less likely to take the time to give you a testimonial. If you’re a service provider, your best bet is to ask for feedback and testimonials within 24 hours of closing out the project. If your process ends with a client call, you can let them know your feedback form is on the way (upping the odds they complete it).
While there is no “perfect time” to ask for a testimonial, the closer the request is to the completion of the project is probably best. This allows you to capitalize on their excitement while their experience is fresh in their minds.
2. Make It Easy
If you think about it, leaving a testimonial really only benefits you, the business owner, not your consumer. So because this is a one-way street, we want to make it super easy to do.
With this in mind, consider using a form directly in your CRM or linking to your Google or Yelp pages. You can also provide prompts (not just questions). Prompts give your people a starting point when leaving a testimonial and act as sort of an “idea generator,” which can be especially helpful for anyone who feels like they “don’t know what to say.”
If you’re not sure which prompts to use or how to make this process as simple as possible for your people, Testimonials That Convert is a resource you’ll 100% want in your toolbox. Not only does include feedback questions you won’t find here, but it also includes tons of helpful prompts and email templates — simplifying the process from start to finish.
3. Offer an Incentive
People are more likely to leave a testimonial or review if you provide an incentive. This could be something as simple as a percentage off their next purchase, or even an affiliate link to use should they choose to promote your business.
You don’t need to think too hard about this one, just consider a simple way you can make your people feel appreciated for leaving their kind words.
4. Follow-Up
This might be the most important step of all — follow up with your consumers! People have a lot on their plates, and leaving you a testimonial probably isn’t at the top of their list. So if you don’t immediately hear back, don’t get discouraged. Simply follow up with a gentle nudge and a personalized message about why their feedback matters to you.
If this makes you feel uncomfortable, or you’re not sure what to say, Testimonials That Convert has a pre-written follow-up email you can steal (taking the pressure off of you to “get it right”).
And because it wouldn’t make sense not to, I’m sharing a testimonial for Testimonials That Convert so you can make a confident and informed buying decision.
“Holy Shit! The Testimonials That Convert is a MUST BUY! I didn’t really know how I could improve the way that I get feedback from clients, but I knew that Kaili would deliver. And it is AMAZING! I am honestly so impressed. It has increased the number of clients who are leaving feedback. She gives you fill-in-the-blank questions that are GOLDEN! Since she makes the questions so powerful, you don’t have to ask as many questions, so a lot more of our clients have been actually giving us testimonials. It takes them about 5 minutes to fill out and nearly every review is now usable for our website and or Instagram. I LOVE THIS PRODUCT!” — Liz, Accountant
