How to gather effective testimonials from clients for your website

Testimonials from your client can serve you at every stage of the customer journey. They can help you showcase what it is you do, demonstrate to a potential client how you can help them, and convert a ditherer to a decision-maker when they read through a review from someone who they can relate to. They’re powerful social proof, and I feel pretty confident in saying that we all know that we need them!

But how do you go about getting testimonials from clients?

How to get testimonials from clients

1. Request testimonials from a variety of different client types
2. Choose your timing wisely
3. Be specific in your review request
4. Ask how the client felt before you worked with them
5. Ask how they felt during the project or service
6. Ask how they felt after you’d worked together
7. Find out how they’d describe your work or product to another customer

Request testimonials from a variety of different client types

Whenever I’m starting to gather a new batch of testimonials from my clients, I like to work backwards. I want to use my testimonials to showcase the range of different people I work with so that when my dream client arrives on my website I can show them “hey look, I helped this person just like you!”.

And you know what that means? It all starts by being really clear on who your ideal client is. Your perfect testimonial is from the client who embodies your dream customer type. It covers all the key points that your ideal customer will be looking for in a service or product like your own, whilst also speaking to the type of work that you enjoy doing the most.

Take some time to sketch out your dream client and your dream project. Those are the people you want to approach.

And remember, you don’t have to use every testimonial that comes back to you if it doesn’t feel like the right fit. But they are always good to have on hand for future reference.

Choose your timing wisely

To get the best quality testimonials from your clients, you’re going to want to choose your timing wisely. If you’re a product-based business, this means allowing your customer time to use and enjoy your product before asking for a review. If you’re service-based, it means giving your clients enough time to experience all the wonderful benefits of your service.

If your clients don’t have enough time to see the change brought about by your work, you’re going to receive a testimonial that doesn’t really mean much to anyone. As they say, timing is everything!

Be specific in your review request

If I had an Instagram follower for every email I’ve received asking for a “quick review”, I’d be raking in the sponsored posts faster than Kylie Jenner. Okay okay, perhaps that’s a mild exaggeration. But still, it saddens me each time I see a business asking for a testimonial without any guidance for the customer to follow.

Because if you send a general request, you’re going to get a generic review back. The client will likely say that they liked the work/product, but they won’t go into much detail beyond that. There’s no transformational story, no information that’s going to make your next potential customer sit up and say “ooh, that sounds good”. We need those details.

Ask how the client felt before you worked with them

Your first step to getting the details that are going to pull at the emotions of your dream clients is finding out how they felt before you worked with them. We want to know what it was that drew them to your product or service.

How did they feel about the project? Did they have any apprehensions before they made their booking/purchase? This is as much of a learning exercise as it is a marketing one. We want to know why your clients come to work with you, so that you can do more of it!

Ask how they felt during the project or service

This second question is all about the experience itself. What made the customer experience special for them? Was there anything that stood out?

This question can bring up some USPs (unique selling propositions) that you might not even realise that you have! It’s what will draw people to work with you over somebody else who’s offering a very similar product.

Ask how they felt after you’d worked together

Finally, we talk about the results! What were the outcomes of your work together? Perhaps your client can share some data that you can add into the review, or maybe they have some anecdotes that illustrate the results of using your products.

When you piece these three questions together…

• How the client felt before working with you
• How they felt whilst working with you
• How they felt after working with you

…you’re able to build a really transformational story, as you take each reader on a journey through your testimonials. Think of it as showing the “before” and “after” that we all remember from weekly magazines, just with a little more love!

Find out how they’d describe your work or product to another customer

This is my favourite question in my testimonial request form, simply because it always creates a brilliant quotable. This is where the magic words come in as we get to learn how your clients refer to your work and what terminology they use to describe you.

Pay special attention to these words, if they’re different to the ones you’re using on your website you might want to consider editing your website copy a little. After all, we want you to be speaking your customer’s language!

Once you’ve gathered testimonials from your clients, it’s time to bring everything together. Yes, a little editing is involved! Contrary to popular belief, it’s totally fine to edit the testimonials you receive from clients. You should never change the message itself, but you can improve the flow, take certain snippets out to feature in key areas on your website, and correct any grammatical errors.

Now, it’s over to you. It’s time to gather some powerful testimonials from your clients!