Collecting clients’ testimonials is crucial for every company. And it’s especially important for businesses whose success largely depends on building relationships with people.

Customer testimonials are the most effective form of content. 84 percent of people trust consumer reviews as much as personal recommendations and spend 31 percent more with businesses that have good client testimonials.

But getting meaningful testimonials is difficult. To address this, here’s a list of 25+ powerful questions to collect high-quality customer feedback.

What exactly should you ask to gather customers’ opinion (and why)

The main business goal of testimonials is getting more clients. In other words, text and video testimonials help you get the most out of your website traffic and convert more website visitors into paying clients.

But  not every testimonial is effective . The truly effective text or video testimonial is a short success story which consists of a few required elements:

1. It describes the past when your clients had some problems they were not able to resolve on their own.
2. Eventually, your clients found the solution (you and your services).
3. And last but not least: every good testimonial should describe how exactly your services have solved clients’ issues and what benefits clients have received (2x growth in revenue, 3x operational processes improvements). The testimonial should be as specific and persuasive as possible.

The  quality of customers’ testimonials relies on the quality of your questions . Here are some question suggestions to help you compile a survey and tell a short, yet powerful success story in the form of a testimonial:

• What were your biggest challenges you were facing towards achieving growth? How did it hurt your business?
• How did you need to transform your business?
• How did you find my services? Why did you decide to hire my company?
• How did my services change your life or business? Which specific business metrics improved (and how much)?
• What part of the service makes you happy?
• What did you enjoy most about your experience?
• What makes our company stand out from the competition?
• Would you recommend my company? Why?

Except telling a success story and actually getting a testimonial, there are a few other goals you may want to reach: to get more information about your clients, to learn more about the competition, to get valuable feedback on your new website design, etc.

To make your life easier, here are the questions grouped by purpose:

1. Questions to ask if you want to understand the overall clients’ experience

These questions will give you essential information about the most valuable parts of your services.

• From one (unhappy) to ten (very happy), how would you rate your overall satisfaction with my services?

Sometimes the numbers can speak for themselves. The 0-10 scale helps clients in filling up the survey faster and gives you quick results. It’s also a good idea to supply the scale with open answers to leave room for feedback of any type.

• What, if any, part of services am I missing?

2. Questions to ask if you want to understand how loyal your clients are

Client loyalty is a major business asset. Every company should do its best to turn prospects into loyal clients and, as a result, increase the number of referrals.

•  What can I do for you right now for free to make you never hire another agency (coach, company, etc.)?
• What would you like to see me keep (and/or stop) doing?
• What is the one thing I could add to my services that will help improve your efficiency?
• What are your pain points with my services and how do you think I could fix them?
• How dissatisfied will you be if I shut down my service?
• Would you renew at the end of the contract based on what you feel about the service that you consume?
• Would you trust me to help a friend?

One of the most evident outcomes of having loyal clients is a recommendation. If clients really trust you, they recommend your services to others – especially friends and family.

3. Questions to ask if you want to learn more about how appealing your website is

Having a new website, it’s a good idea to collect feedback about it. In this case, try to avoid general questions and rather ask about specific website elements.

• What task did you want to accomplish on my website?

(This question may give you a valuable suggestion for new content or website structure)

• Were you able to find the information you were looking for?
• Did you find the content valuable?

(It is a simple indicator if your content is useful for the prospects and customers)

• How visually appealing is my website?
• How easy is it to navigate my website?

4. Questions to ask if you want to learn more about your competition

Knowing about your strengths and weaknesses is important. And it’s also essential to know what your prospects and customers think about you and your business rivals.

• Who can I learn from?
• What would you use as an alternative if my services were no longer available?
• What makes our company stand out from the competition?
• Compared to the market, is the quality of my services better, worse or about the same?
• Compared to the market, are my prices higher, lower or about the same?

(Everyone is influenced by the price point. Be sure to ask if your clients feel the price point is fair. This information can help you develop great strategies for acquiring new clients)

Best practices while asking for testimonials

Clients don’t hurry up to provide you with meaningful testimonials. In order to increase your chances to get answers on the above-mentioned questions, a few best practices when asking for feedback:

– Seek testimonials during or right after your collaboration with a client

You have the best chances to get quality feedback during or right after the collaboration. Don’t wait for them to forget about you.

– Ask testimonials in return for an incentive

Try to offer your clients some gifts (an Amazon gift card, coffee gift card, a free brief consultation, etc.) to increase your adds to get feedback. Make the gift valuable for the client, for instance, free useful content like an industry-related e-book, in-house study, etc.

– Keep your survey short, sweet and simple

Minimize customer’s efforts. Keep the number of questions low and inject humor into your question where possible. Nobody likes dry as dust surveys.

Conclusion

1) A good testimonial should tell the story: come up with the story you want to tell prospects

2) Compiling a survey, make sure to include the main three questions:

• The problem in the past
• The solution they found (your services)
• How the solution now improves their lives

3) Keep the survey short and simple

4) Offer an incentive for completing the survey

5) Send the client a link to the personal survey and get a video or text testimonial

6) Customize the acquired testimonial if needed and feature it on your website.

Best Questions to Ask Customers for High Quality Testimonials

PS. To increase your chance of actually getting a testimonial, provide a few examples or even a template to fill in. The easier it is to give you a testimonial the higher a chance you’ll get it. With a suggested template you’re also increasing a chance to get all the good elements you want in the final testimonial.