How to ask for a customer testimonial — and why you should

In a virtual environment where trust is essential but elusive, real reviews from real people are invaluable tools for fostering credibility and brand confidence. Customer testimonials are powerful narratives that reflect a user’s experience with your brand. They infuse a personal touch into your online reputation that potential customers can connect with.

But asking for testimonials and effectively collating this social proof presents unique challenges, like ineffective feedback forums and choosing where to share your testimonials. Read on to learn how to get started.

Why testimonials are important in digital marketing

We covered what a customer testimonial is — here’s why they’re important. If you were running a brick-and-mortar store, potential customers could drive down, browse, interact with your staff, speak to fellow customers, and examine your products in person before deciding to purchase. But these interactions aren’t possible for companies that only sell online. Potential clients can reach out to your sales team or request a product demo, but it’s not easy for them to connect with past customers. 

This disconnect is where client testimonials become valuable. Here are some ways reviews are a game-changer for your online marketing strategies.

Build trust

In place of face-to-face conversations, testimonials act as compelling endorsements that vouch for the credibility and reliability of your brand. These endorsements, in turn, foster a sense of trust in your product or service and build an online community of users who promote this trust.

Say a potential customer is on the fence about purchasing a subscription to your project management software. They’ll likely look online to find out what others say about your product. If they immediately find testimonials from users who enjoy it, they’ll feel more confident about trusting your brand. This phenomenon is known as social proof — evidence that someone else has purchased and benefited from the same product or service.

Improve your online presence

Client testimonials play a pivotal role in shaping and elevating your online presence. A BrightLocal study found that 98% of consumers read reviews — these reviews are just another chance to get people learning and talking about your product or service. And these testimonials often tell readers more about your offering than a website or social post can. This content builds on branding information you’ve already put out there to increase overall brand awareness and recognition.

Identify improvement areas

Thus far, we’ve focused on positive customer testimonials. But less-than-stellar reviews are just as valuable — if not more so. These testimonials offer valuable insights into your company’s improvement areas. By implementing these fixes, you directly meet customer pain points and reduce user friction. 

You can create a blog post or case study highlighting how you’ve made improvements based on customer feedback. This strategy simultaneously shows customers you care about their user experience and value their feedback. And these responses could make them more willing to offer feedback in the future.

Common types of website testimonials

Each of the following testimonial types serves a unique purpose and provides distinct insights into your brand’s impact on customers. Your testimonials might range from success stories that narrate transformative experiences to feature-specific reviews that zoom in on particular aspects.

Here are the most common types and how you might leverage the insights each offers.

Quote testimonials

Quote testimonials are concise, written snippets that capture a customer’s experience. You can use these quote testimonials across your website, your marketing material, and even within product descriptions. They serve as quick, digestible affirmations potential customers can easily absorb.

Video testimonials

Testimonial videos add a human touch by enabling customers to express their experiences verbally. These videos create a stronger emotional connection and give potential customers a real person to relate to and trust. 

But while testimonial videos are powerful, they have a higher overhead to solicit, produce, and present. Keep these costs in mind when deciding what type of testimonial to use. The video format makes excellent content for landing pages, social media channels, and video ads.

Case study testimonials

Case study testimonials provide an in-depth exploration of success stories. These reviews dive deep into the customer’s journey, detailing their challenges, how your solution addressed them, and the positive outcomes. Case study testimonials are ideal for showcasing the transformative power of your products or services.

Say you run a branding company where people can only purchase merchandise online. You can include a case study testimonial outlining how a customer placed a bulk order for a corporate event while praising the material quality and designs.

This long-form testimonial type requires more reader time and attention, so you might place these on a dedicated testimonials page, unpack them in a blog post, or turn them into video testimonials. For example, you can ask the customer to record a 30-second video of them wearing your merchandise while discussing their positive experience. 

Social media testimonials

Social media testimonials can take the form of comments, reels, tweets, or posts on platforms like Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and Facebook. These reviews are authentic, real-time endorsements that contribute to your brand’s online presence — and they’re particularly powerful because they enable you to reach your customer’s community. 

Consider including social media testimonials by reposting them on your company’s social media page or including them on your website.

How to highlight testimonials

Once you’ve gathered user testimonials, it’s important to help potential customers find them. Here are some strategic ideas on where to place testimonials on your website.

Homepage

Your homepage is the digital front door to your business, making it a prime location for testimonials. Visitors often land on the home page first; a well-placed testimonial can create an immediate positive impression. 

Consider incorporating a dynamic testimonial section that rotates through a selection of quotes to create a stream of positive reinforcement. Or, use a carefully placed video testimonial.

Product description

Embedding testimonials within product descriptions offers potential customers real insights into the benefits and satisfaction levels specific products bring. This strategic placement can influence purchasing decisions by providing social proof while customers actively consider a product. You might preface your testimonials with the words, “Don’t just take our word for it. Read what our customers are saying.”

Product review

Besides including quote testimonials in product descriptions, try providing a place for customers to leave reviews on every product page. This approach encourages happy customers to share their enthusiasm for your product or service.

Testimonials page

A dedicated testimonials page offers a centralized location to showcase all your customer reviews. These hubs are especially effective when your testimonials are long-form, like case studies.

How to solicit testimonials: 4 steps

While every business and customer interaction is unique, check out these four steps to help you ask for customer testimonials.

1. Define the type of testimonial you’re looking for

Start by setting a goal for what you want to achieve with testimonials. You might wish to highlight customer experiences or emphasize the environmental impact of your services. Then, use this information to determine if you need a quote, case study, social media, or video testimonial.

2. Create a testimonial process

Like any other user flow on your platform, you’ll want to create a testimonial process that minimizes user friction. Make it convenient for customers to share their experiences so they’re motivated to complete the process. You can minimize the number of steps customers need to leave their testimonials or use authentication methods that can verify a user is a real person without asking them to go through a lengthy signup process. By creating user-friendly flows, you invite customers to participate.

3. Set up a way to collect testimonials

Another way to reduce user friction in the testimonial process is to give customers options for how to share their testimonials. Tailor your collection process based on the preferences and engagement patterns of your community of users.

For instance, you could send personalized requests via an email campaign or offer options like in-person interviews and phone conversations. If many of your users frequent social media, you could also create a hashtag customers can use to leave reviews. And you might set up a dedicated online forum to collect feedback.

4. Define touchpoints

Identify strategic touchpoints in the customer journey when it makes sense to request testimonials. These touchpoints could be after a successful purchase, project completion, or a positive customer service interaction. 

Selecting opportune moments increases the likelihood of capturing real, positive feedback. If you prompt a new customer to provide a quote testimonial three months post-purchase, they might not be interested in giving feedback anymore. By contacting them a couple of days after purchase, when the new product or service is fresh in their mind, you increase the chance of getting an enthusiastic and accurate review. 

Crafting credibility with Webflow

User testimonials empower your brand to reach your target audience via your existing customer base. Leveraging user feedback provides an organic way to grow your personal brand reputation and trust.

But having client testimonials isn’t enough. You need a great way to display them. That’s where Webflow comes in. Our powerful visual development platform helps you build impressive home pages, about us pages, and product pages so you can showcase user testimonials strategically throughout your site. Get started with Webflow Enterprise.