How to Ask for a Testimonial With Confidence

As a small business owner, you know trust is crucial for attracting new customers, building relationships, and growing your business. And one of the most effective ways to build this trust is through customer testimonials.

Client testimonials show potential customers that you have a proven track record of delivering value and building positive relationships with clients. In today’s digital age, customers actively seek testimonials as social proof when making a purchase. In fact, 77% of shoppers look for websites with ratings and online reviews.

But asking for a testimonial? That can feel a little awkward.

You may fear rejection, feel like you’re imposing yourself on the customer, or be unsure about how and what to ask.

Look, we get it, nobody wants to feel uncomfortable. But with the right approach, requesting testimonials doesn’t have to feel this way.

Here are 5 simple tips for how to ask for a testimonial in a way that feels natural, respectful, and without awkwardness.

Ready? Let’s jump in.

5 Simple Tips for Asking for Customer Testimonials

Asking for testimonials doesn’t have to be complicated. With these 5 straightforward strategies, you can request feedback in a way that feels natural and gets results. The key is approaching testimonial requests strategically, making the process easy for your clients while maximizing the value you get from their feedback.

These tips will help you overcome the awkwardness and turn testimonial gathering into a regular business practice.

1. Perfect Your Timing

It doesn’t make sense to ask for a client testimonial early in a business relationship when you’ve just begun working together and haven’t delivered much. Similarly, if there have been some initial hiccups, consider waiting until you’ve resolved the issues and the client is happy and more likely to give you a positive testimonial.

Timing also matters with past clients. Reaching out years after working together may not yield the best results as they may have forgotten certain key details.

So when is the best time?

Usually, at the end of a project or milestone when the client is most enthusiastic about the results. This is when they’re most likely to give you positive feedback.

Consider conducting an exit interview or sending a brief survey to gather feedback in a non-intrusive way. A simple follow-up after project completion can prompt the client to reflect on how well the work aligned with their expectations.

Make it easy for clients to share their feedback by using online tools like:

• LocalReviews: Collect, review, and respond to client feedback in one place. Simply send your review survey via text or email, and once clients submit their feedback, it will populate your website or social media. You can monitor all reviews from one dashboard and respond to questions and comments.
• Google Forms: A free tool to collect testimonials through surveys. You can create basic surveys online and have them populate in Google Sheets for quick review.
• Survey Monkey: A powerful tool for creating and distributing surveys to collect customer testimonials. It offers more features than Google Forms, making it ideal for creating more professional and customized surveys to solicit customer feedback.

2. Simplify With Guiding Questions

Clients are busy and often won’t prioritize writing a testimonial. It requires mental effort and time, which makes it easy for them to put it off or forget.

To improve your chances of receiving a client testimonial, streamline the process: Provide specific questions to guide their thoughts and help them focus on the key points you wish to highlight. You can even ask them if they would be comfortable with you writing the testimonial—they just have to approve it.

Here’s an example of a testimonial request email with those questions to get them started:

Subject: Testimonial request

Hi [Client’s Name],

How are things going?

Thank you for trusting me with [product or service, e.g., writing the copy for your website, designing your website, landscaping your garden, etc.].

It’s been an absolute pleasure working with you, and I’m thrilled with how things turned out.

If you’re happy with the results, would you mind sharing a short testimonial about your experience working with me? To make things easier, here are a few questions to get the creative juices flowing:

• What problem were you facing before working with me?
• How did my service help solve that problem?
• What specific results have you seen since using our service?
• What was it like working with me?

Feel free to answer any or all of these, and if you’d like, you can share any other thoughts that come to mind.

If you’re pressed for time or would rather not write the testimonial yourself, I’d be happy to use your responses to create a draft for you. Once I’ve written it, I’ll send it back for your approval to ensure it perfectly reflects your experience.

Thank you so much, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Best,

[Your Name]

Pro tip: This testimonial request template serves as inspiration—use it as a starting point to create something of your own for each client you send a testimonial request to.

3. Leverage Organic Feedback

It’s not uncommon for clients to send unsolicited positive feedback via email, social media, Google reviews, or even through casual conversation.

When clients express their satisfaction or share their positive experiences with your service or product, why not take advantage of this content? You can repurpose their kind words and turn their positive feedback into a quality testimonial on your website.

Here’s how you can turn unsolicited feedback into a meaningful client testimonial:

1. Contact clients for permission. Politely ask if you can use their words for a testimonial and be clear about where you’ll use them: on a dedicated testimonial page on your website, social media platforms, or marketing materials. If they agree, include their name, business, and a link to their website or social media. This enhances authenticity and can act as a mutually beneficial promotion.
2. Ask for specifics. If your client’s positive feedback is general, follow up with a few extra questions. For example, if the client says, “I’m delighted with the results,” ask them to elaborate: “Could you share more details about what results our service helped you achieve?” This extra information will make the client testimonial more impactful and relevant to potential clients.

4. Capture Video Testimonials Naturally

Client meetings are often a chance to discuss past and future projects. This is a great time to take a moment and grab a quick video testimonial of your client sharing what they love about working with you.

Don’t make it the entire point of the meeting. Instead, after a client has praised you for being amazing (which they will, ’cause you are), ask if they wouldn’t mind repeating that on camera.

Explain that it’s for a video testimonial you’d like to put on your site or YouTube. If they agree, recreate the moment of them talking about how amazing you are.

For bonus points, transcribe the video and use excerpts for your dedicated testimonial page or major landing pages.

5. Propose a Testimonial Exchange

If you’ve had a good experience with another business, offer to write them a positive testimonial in return for one. This helps build a mutually beneficial relationship and makes the entire request feel like a fair exchange.

Ask for testimonials only from companies that have actually used your services. Asking companies that haven’t worked with you for one is awkward and ethically questionable.

Pro tip: Don’t make it awkward when reaching out by saying you’ll only leave a review if they do. Instead, highlight that you’ve already written one for them and encourage them to do the same. You can even offer to write the review and ask them to post it, which makes it easier for both parties.

6. Lead With Appreciation

“Asking for a testimonial is only awkward when the requesting party makes it awkward,” says Lorrie Thomas Ross, author of The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course: Online Marketing.

A great way to eliminate any lingering awkwardness is to start with a compliment. This not only increases the likelihood that they will provide you with a testimonial, but it also conveys your gratitude.

For example, you could say, “Your opinion means the world to me. Would you mind sharing your thoughts about the work I did for you?”

If they provide feedback, reply with a thank you, request any extra information, and ask permission to display the feedback on your website.

Bonus Tip: Enhance Requests with AI

Generative AI tools like ChatGpt and Claude.ai can help improve testimonial requests over email. The key lies in proper prompting: Give the AI the details about the service you provided, the tone of the email, and the desired outcome.

For example, ChatGPT generated a testimonial request email based on these prompts:

I’m a graphic designer. Please write a testimonial request email to a client I recently completed a website for. Details to consider:

• They mentioned they’re satisfied customers.
• The tone should be conversational and professional.
• Include a few specific questions to help them craft the testimonial.
• Mention they can simply answer the questions, and I will create a testimonial that I’ll send for approval if that’s easier.

ChatGPT testimonial email request

Note: This should serve as a starting point for creating your own testimonial request email. While AI is a great tool for generating ideas, it’s crucial to personalize the tone, structure, and questions to align with your style and specific situation.

Ask for Client Testimonials With Confidence

Written or video testimonials are a great way to build trust, showcase value, and grow your business. While asking for them can feel uncomfortable, the key is to take the right approach, from timing your request and making it easy for clients to respond to offering a testimonial swap and using the power of AI.

If you do that, you’ll not only simplify the process of asking for testimonials but also attract more clients and grow your business.

This article was updated in March 2025.