Build Perfect Testimonials

You know you should be gathering testimonials from your past clients, but you don’t know how to ask for them. Here’s a two-step template you can use to politely reach out to without feeling like a pest. It’s followed by the process I use to ensure I ask and get them posted.

With many thanks to Jonathan Stark for his contributions.

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First Email

First, send a message to all your past clients asking if they’d be open to the idea of providing feedback on your work together. Here’s an actual example of one I sent:

Subj = "I have a quick favor to ask"

Hi First_Name!

It’s been a while since we’ve connected – I hope this message finds you well.

Hey, I’ve got a favor to ask...

I’m planning to revamp my website and toward that end, I am collecting feedback from past clients. It’s totally okay to say no, but do you think you’d have time to answer a few questions based on the work we did together?

If so, just shoot back a yes/thumbs up and I’ll forward the questions.

Warmly,

—G

NOTE: Obviously, you would want to personalize each of your messages to suit the timing and your relationship with the client.

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Second Email

For each “yes” that you get back, reply with the following list of six questions.

Here’s an example:

Awesome, thanks!

You can write anything you want, but here are some questions to get you started:

  1. What was the obstacle that would have prevented you from buying this product/service?

  2. What did you find as a result of buying this product/service?

  3. What specific feature did you like most about this product/service?

  4. What would be three other benefits of this product/service?

  5. Would you recommend this product/service? If so, why?

  6. Is there anything you’d like to add?

Thanks again!

Warmly,

—G

NOTE: This list of questions is from The Brain Audit by the handsome and talented Sean D’Souza. It’s a very useful book and I highly recommend you grab a copy.

PRO TIPS

Do NOT send the list of questions in the first email. You want to get their permission first, and then send the questions. Sending the questions first is a bigger ask and is more likely to get you moved to the “maybe someday I’ll reply to this (but probably not)” pile in their inbox.

  • Do NOT send your clients a form for them to fill out in the second email. Doing so is too impersonal and limiting. Just include the questions in your email.

Customize the tone of each message to suit your personal style, professional image, and relationship with the client. BUT don’t:

  • Don’t mess with the structure

  • Don’t make the messages longer

  • Don’t adopt an apologetic tone

Once they provide the answers to the questions, be sure to thank them for their time.

If you want to publish the testimonial on your site, make sure you have permission to do so.

Example DMs I exchanged with a client

First DM

Hi Name!

I hope you're doing well in the final sprint of tax season (and you're avoiding the worst of the scary midwest storms).

Any chance I could trouble you for a testimonial for the <thing>?

If so, gimme a 👍 or Yep and I'll send you a few questions you can riff on.

It can be super short and I can ChatGPT-tidy it.

Cheers,

G

Response: “Absolutely!”

Second DM

TY so much!

Here are the questions; you can riff on these questions and I can lightly ChatGPT for clarity and grammar.

Prompt questions if they help:

  1. What was the obstacle that would have prevented you from "buying" the <thing>?

  2. What results did you get out of the <thing>?

  3. What did you like most about the <thing>?

  4. What were three other benefits of the <thing>?

  5. Would you recommend the <thing>? If so, why?

  6. Is there anything you’d like to add?

TY again, it's a huge help. 🙏

Response: Radio silence for a month, so…

Friendly reminder, 1 month later

Me again - giving you a friendly nudge! ❤️ make it easy. 60 seconds max. 🙏

Response received 3 hours later: (truncated)

Obstacle - coordinating in the schedule..

Result - connection with others…

Most - Geraldine saw what I needed…

Recommend - you can make a lot of progress…

Other benefits - it opened my eyes to different ways…

I plugged the response into ChatGPT and asked it to tidy it, polish, and shorten while remaining true to the essence of what was expressed.

My Thank You

You're the best! Thank you so much!! 🙏

…

That’s it. Polish and post to website.

Compelling testimonials are powerful.

  1. Your buyer reads words they understand, because they were written by your buyers :) so it takes some pressure off you having to “find all the right words” for your website.

  2. Your buyer sees people like them, who have bought from you. And they think, “People like me buy from this person. So it’s safe for me to buy from this person.”

  3. Testimonials are like killer back-up singers. Think: Ladysmith Black Mambazo behind Paul Simon on Graceland, or Darlene Love behind Mick Jagger. Those songs would not be the same without back-up. The back-up almost makes the song.

Create a Process for Gathering and Posting Testimonials

You’ll want a simple process to make sure you capture testimonials on the regular, and get them posted to your website. Without a simple, doable process, the moment to ask for a testimonial will pass, or the received testimonial will vanish in your inbox.

Here is my process and set up for making sure mine get posted monthly:

  1. Create a TextExpander with the two segments of text above. That way, you’re only keystrokes away from responding to an opportunity to ask.

  2. Create two Labels in Gmail: mine are “Testimonials - Unposted” and “Testimonials - Posted.”

  3. Create a Google Doc SOP: Build Perfect Testimonials. TEMPLATE HERE

  4. Create a recurring event in Tasks. Set to Recurring Monthly and include a link to the SOP in the description field.

You’re on your way!