7 Questions To Ask For Better Testimonials

Let's talk testimonials for a minute.

Last year, I conducted over a hundred testimonial interviews—conversations designed to produce engaging soundbites and compelling case studies as part of content marketing plans for businesses, brands, and organizations of all sizes.

Or, put less pretentiously: I spent a ton of time chatting with folks about how awesome it is to work with our clients.

Testimonials are crucial for any business's digital presence, which makes it frustrating that so many fall flat. Okay, "flat" might be harsh, but definitely not as strong as they could be—mainly because people aren't asking the right questions. Here's the thing everyone overlooks:

A successful testimonial isn't just about getting an endorsement. It’s about guiding someone through their own story. This isn’t some abstract marketing theory—it simply creates a far more compelling end product.

We could talk about Joseph Campbell, the Monomyth, and storytelling philosophy all day long, but instead, let me just give you the straightforward framework I use.

Whether you're collecting testimonials for an author, robotics company, city tourism board, or cheesemonger, this approach takes just 10-15 minutes, and will provide you with more high-quality content than you'll know what to do with.

1) What were things like before? You want people to paint a picture of life (or business) before the solution. Typically, they'll stick to facts or numbers here.
2) Why was that awful? Then you push them. Dig deeper. Another variation is: "What was so challenging about those circumstances that you had to take action?" People often naturally shift toward emotions, starting with "I felt…" That’s exactly what you want.

3) What were you looking for? This one often gets overlooked. Effective testimonials reflect potential clients' current needs. Asking what your client initially wanted—and maybe what they unsuccessfully tried in the past—gets you there.

4) What was it about [insert company here] that made you say YES? This highlights your differentiators. Especially critical for service-oriented businesses like real estate, law firms, therapists, etc. Why would someone pick you in particular?

5) What was your experience like while working with them? Joseph Campbell would call this part the Belly of the Whale. Struggle and rebirth. Everything that happens after they cross the threshold. You’re wanting them to paint a picture of the process, basically. You can ask some followups. What was their favorite part? What was hardest? What was an aha moment? Weave some specifics into the conversation.

6) What are things like now? Bring the conversation full circle. What tangible outcomes resulted from working together? Then push a little deeper into…

7) Why is that awesome? Encourage them to explore the deeper meaning behind these outcomes. What new realities emerged because they chose to invest?

That’s it–easy! Rinse and repeat, and you’ll end up with a vast treasure trove of testimonial snippets you can use, re-use, and re-re-use for years to come. Ultimately, you can take interviews and tighten them up into long-form case studies, or chop them up further into bite-sized reels that can be planted on social media, landing pages, and email sequences.

The main thing–and this extends to pretty much all marketing content–is that you’ll pretty much always get better content from engaging with someone conversationally than by spending a few hours on a script.