Guide on How to Ask for Testimonials from your Customers

Does the idea of asking your customers for reviews or testimonials make you sweat? 

Sure, you know you need them. Testimonials and reviews let other people in your target audience know that you’re legit. That they can trust you—and whatever you’re selling. 

The good news is that there’s more than one way to get these important snippets of social proof. You don’t have to call each customer or client on the phone and beg for a review. 

We promise. 

No matter how comfortable (or not) you are with this type of outreach, there’s a review collection tip in this post that’s perfect for you.

Customer testimonials are statements or reviews from customers who have used a product or service, sharing their experiences and opinions about it. They can take many forms, such as written reviews, video testimonials, social media posts, or ratings and comments on a website.

How to Ask For Testimonials 

A whopping 97% of customers check for reviews and testimonials before they make a purchasing decision. 

And they want those reviews to be genuine, not forced or bought—which is fraudulent, anyway. Nothing erodes trust faster than fake reviews. 

It’s even okay if you have a few negative or low-star reviews in the mix. People get suspicious if you only have five-star ratings and glowing reviews. 

So how can you get good, honest testimonials that build consumer trust? 

Let’s count the ways. 

1. Decide Which Channels to Use 

From Yelp and Google to Capterra and Facebook, there are about a million places where your customers can leave reviews. Okay, maybe less than that. But still—it’s a lot. 

When you reach out to a customer, you’ll want to ask them to leave a review on one or more of these channels. 

So which ones should you pick? 

Here’s a quick guide: 

As you get more comfortable with collecting honest reviews, you can expand your efforts. But keep in mind that part of having reviews is being willing to manage them. 

And that can be overwhelming. So start slow and steady. 

2. Manage Your Reviews

If you’re just starting out, you probably don’t have any reviews to manage yet. But if you’re late to the reviewing game, take a look at your business profiles to find out if you have any positive or negative reviews. 

Responding to these reviews in the right way makes a huge difference in how willing your customers are to leave reviews in the future. 

This is where we arrive at the Cardinal Rule of Review Management: 

Never, ever, ever get defensive or mean when you respond to bad reviews. 

Leaving a snarky or defensive review can do three things, and none of them are good:

So if you get a negative review, take a deep breath. Validate the person’s pain or negative experience with a genuine apology. Promise them you will make every effort to make things right. Offer contact information so they can reach you by phone or email or chat—or, best of all, all three. Many of the best VoIP systems offer communication options beyond just voice calling and allow you to integrate with other communication tools, allowing you to manage your customer interactions from one streamlined platform.

Once you follow up with your customers, make sure you make good on your promises.  

Who knows? You may make the customer so happy with your efforts that they update their negative review with a positive one. You can’t demand this, of course, but there’s a great chance it’ll happen organically. 

It’s also important to acknowledge good reviews with a short, personal message to say thank you. Customers will feel seen and appreciated, and they’ll be more likely to come back. 

Providing top-notch customer service will always help your business—and help you meet your goal of bringing in honest reviews.

3. Draft a Review Request Template

The easiest way to ask for a testimonial or review from each of your customers is to draft a review request template that you can personalize with the client or customer’s name. 

Your review request should:

With these key ingredients, your template is sure to convert customers. Especially if you include that discount code. 

A discount code does double duty: it offers an incentive for a customer to complete a review, and it increases the likelihood that the customer will shop your brand again. 

4. Send Review Requests at the Right Time

Common sense says you should send reviews right after the customer purchases or receives the product, right? Right…?!

Not so fast. 

A 2023 study in the Harvard Business Review found that customers were less likely to respond to review requests sent the day after a purchase. Instead, requests sent 13 days after the purchase performed the best.

This doesn’t mean the 13-day rule is ideal for everyone. But it does suggest that customers and clients need time to interact with the product or service on their own before you jump in with a review request. 

The Harvard researchers suggest this approach: 

The last thing you want to do is bug your customers for a review before they’ve even had a chance to see whether they like your product or not. 

Take shipping times into account, too. Let’s say that most of the time, your products reach your customers within 5 business days. You’ve figured out that people usually post reviews about 10 days after they receive their product. So that’s when you send your review requests. 

But let’s say that you ship to Alaska and Hawaii, too. It takes much longer, however, with an average shipping speed of about 25 days. 

If you send a review request to an Alaska or Hawaii customer 15 days after their purchase, they probably won’t have their product yet. They might be eagerly anticipating the product and counting the days until it arrives. 

Your review request will seem almost like a mockery, even if you don’t mean it that way. Your customer might feel frustrated that you expect them to review a product they haven’t even received yet. 

So be careful to time your reviews thoughtfully. This could mean all the difference between a positive review, a negative review, or no review at all. 

5. Use Your Reviews and Testimonials to Attract More Customers

Once you start raking in testimonials and reviews, it’s time to put them to work. 

One of the best places to put your testimonials? Your website’s homepage. 

You can also build a Wall of Love like we did for Dorik. It’s a place where you can showcase all the best reviews of your product or service. 

You can also highlight testimonials as part of your go-to-market strategy. Or put them on your ads, your social media pages, your email newsletters, and even your review requests. 

And keep in mind that testimonials don’t solely have to be walls of text. Video testimonials are a great way to catch a potential customer’s attention and add credibility to your brand. A really good video testimonial will show a customer explaining a problem they had and how your product or service helped them to solve it.

When your potential customers see that other people have given you great reviews, they’ll be more likely to take a chance on you. 

And that’s what testimonials and reviews are all about. 

Connecting With Customers

Asking for testimonials might be stressful at first, but most customers expect it. It’s only a matter of whether they’ll respond to your request. 

Now that you know how to craft a great review request, you’ll start seeing the feedback roll in. 

When you get negative feedback, you can see it as an opportunity. You can connect with your customer, take their critiques to heart, and improve your product. 

And when you get positive feedback, you’ll know you’re doing something right. 

So don’t be afraid to see what people have to say. Either way, it’s a win-win.