How to Collect Customer Reviews That Enhance Your Business

Types of Reviews to Collect

Video Testimonials

Video testimonials are a gold standard in reviews. They convey emotions and genuine reactions, making them highly valuable. 

• 3-5 high-quality videos can be enough to get started. 
• Once transcribed, they also serve as written testimonials. 
• Video testimonials should be in portrait mode making them suitable for various platforms, including social media ads.

Written Testimonials

Written testimonials are more straightforward to collect. 

• 5-7 is a good quantity to target if you’re just getting started. 
• If you can’t get that many, that’s okay! Just start with what you can get. 

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Collecting High-Quality Video Reviews: Email Templates

Technical Notes

• You’ll need some kind of asset-upload tool. We use Google Drive. 
• Make sure to give the reviewer “edit” permissions to the Google Drive folder, so that they can upload the videos. 

Asking for Video Testimonials for Service-Based Businesses

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Email 1:

Subject: A quick (60 Second) favor

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Hey {Client}, 

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Hope all is well in your world! I’m writing to ask for a small favor – I’m currently redoing my website, and I’d love to feature {you/your company} as a success story. 

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If it’s not too much trouble, would you please record a short (30-60 seconds) video talking about your experience? 

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If you’re okay with that, please let me know and I’ll shoot over the details! 

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Thanks,

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Email 2:

Preferred Format

• Vertical (front facing camera on your phone is perfect)
• Casual format is preferred - doesn’t need to be professionally shot at all. 
• Natural outdoor lighting is best 

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What to Say

You can (of course) say anything you’d like – these are the things that would be most helpful for me. 

• Start with the end results. {your company} helped me achieve {outcome that customers want} in {amount of time} 
• Then go into some highlights of the experience and what stood out to you during the process 

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How to Send it To Me Easily

You can upload it here {hyperlink}

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Asking for Video Testimonials for Product/Software-Based Businesses

Email 1:

Subject: A quick (60 Second) favor

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Hey {Client}, 

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Hope all is well in your world! I’m writing to ask for a small favor – I’m currently redoing our website, and I’d love to list {you/your company} as a featured customer

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If it’s not too much trouble, could I ask you to record a short (30-60 seconds) video talking about your experience? 

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As a thank you for helping us out, I’ll offer you {discount/incentive/promotion}.

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If you’re okay with that, please let me know and I’ll shoot over the details! 

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Thanks,

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Email 2:

Preferred Format

• Vertical (front facing camera on your phone is perfect)
• Casual format is preferred - doesn’t need to be professionally shot at all. 
• Natural outdoor lighting is best 

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What to Say

You can (of course) say anything you’d like – these are the things that would be most helpful for me. 

• Start with the end results. {product} helped me achieve {outcome that customers want} without {thing that they don’t want} 
• Then go into some highlights of the experience and what stood out to you during the process 

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How to Send it To Me Easily

You can upload it here {hyperlink}

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Bonus Tip: Upgrade Your Video Testimonial Into a Case Study 

This takes a bit more work on your end, but if you can do it, it’ll make the testimonial much more impactful. 

Integrate the story of the work that you’ve done for that client into the testimonial.

Here's an example:

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Asking for Written Testimonials

Technical Notes:

• Have someone else test the review link you’re using to make sure it works when you’re not signed in to your account (which the reviewer will not be). 
• If you know how, you can test using an incognito/private browser window instead of having someone else test.
• If you’re new to collecting reviews, I recommend picking one platform (Yelp, Google Reviews, etc.) to start with. Once you get to 10 on that platform, start diversifying your asks so you build up more of a reputation on multiple platforms. 

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Notes for Product vs. Services: 

• You may need to season these emails a bit based on your specific users. I tried to make them generic enough that they could be used in a variety of cases, but inevitably there will be something I didn’t think of. Try to just use the principles of the email and make it suitable for your audience. 

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Email 1:

Subject: A quick (60 Second) favor

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Hey {Client}, 

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Hope all is well in your world! I’m writing to ask for a small favor – I’m currently redoing my website, and I’d love to showcase {you/your company} as a past {customer/client/etc}. 

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If it’s not too much trouble, could I feature a written testimonial from you? 

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If you’re okay with that, please let me know and I’ll shoot over the details! 

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Thanks,

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Email 2:

Awesome - thanks so much! 

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We’re currently collecting reviews on {pick ONE platform for them to use – Google Reviews / Clutch / Trust Pilot, etc. and include the hyperlink for them to send the review.} 

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What to Say

You can (of course) say anything you’d like – these are the things that would be most helpful for me. 

• Start with the end results. {your company} helped me achieve {outcome that customers want} in {amount of time} 
• Then go into some highlights of the experience and what stood out to you during the process 

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Photo

We will also be featuring a small profile image next to each of the reviews. I found this (hyperlink one of their social media profiles) on your social media – is that the one you’d like me to use?

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