How to ask a client for a testimonial by email

When to ask

Ask when the client can see what you did for them, not when you send the invoice. A plumber's customer knows the next morning whether the leak is gone. A consultant's client knows when the new plan is in use and the first numbers are in. A physio patient knows at the end of the course, not on the day of the first painful session.

The best moment of all is when a client praises you without being asked. If someone writes "this is exactly what we needed", reply the same day: thank them, and ask if you can use those words, or if they would put them on your review page. They have already written the testimonial. You are only asking where it can go.

Wait too long and the feeling fades. After a few weeks most people remember that the job was fine, but not what was good about it, and "fine" makes a weak testimonial. If you sell products and ask after an order, the timing is different; see when to send a review request email.

What to put in the email

A testimonial request works when it is short and sounds like you. Keep to these points:

• Send it from a person. Your name in the sign-off, and a reply address that reaches you. A reply-able email reads as a favour between people, not a survey.
• Name the job. "The boiler repair on Tuesday" tells them you remember them. "Your recent experience" tells them it went to everyone.
• Ask one question. A blank box is hard. "What was the problem before you called us, and what changed?" gets you a before and after, which is what readers trust.
• Say how long it takes. A minute or two, and mean it.
• Give one link. One button or link to one page. Every extra choice costs replies.
• Say how their name will appear. First name and town, or initials. Some clients, and many patients, say yes only once they know this.

Two rules are worth knowing before you write. Send the same request to every client, not only the ones you expect to be happy: Google's review policy forbids businesses to "selectively solicit positive reviews". And do not tie a reward to a good review. In the US the FTC rule on consumer reviews bans incentives conditioned on a review "expressing a particular sentiment", and Google does not allow incentives for its reviews at all.

Template for consultants and agencies

Send it after a milestone the client has noticed, such as a launch or the first report they liked. The question about "before and after" gives you a testimonial with a result in it.

Subject: Two minutes on the [project] work?

Hi [first name],

Now that [the new site is live], could I ask a favour? Would you write two or three sentences about working with us? A good place to start: what was getting in the way before, and what is different now.

It takes about two minutes here:
[review link]

Sign with your first name and company, or just your initials. If you would rather I left your name off, just say.

Thanks either way,
[your name]

Template for trades and home services

Send it the day after the job, once the customer has had time to check the work. The last line matters: it gives an unhappy customer a way to reach you, and the same email goes to everyone.

Subject: How did the [boiler repair] go?

Hi [first name],

Thanks for having us round on [Tuesday] to [fix the boiler]. If everything is working as it should, would you leave a short review? It helps people nearby find someone they can trust.

Pick a star and add a line if you like:
[review link]

If anything is not right, reply to this email and I will come back and sort it.

[your name], [business name]

Template for clinics and practices

Send it at the end of a course of treatment, or a few days after a single visit. Patients share less than other clients, so the email asks about the visit, not the condition, and tells them to keep health details out.

Subject: How are you feeling after your treatment?

Hi [first name],

You finished your [course of physiotherapy] with [practitioner] last week, and we hope [your shoulder] is still moving well.

Would you tell other patients what it was like to be treated here? A sentence or two about your visits is plenty. Please leave out any health details you would not want to be public.

It takes a minute:
[review link]

If something was not right, reply here and our practice manager will read it.

[clinic name]

The follow-up

Most people who do not answer simply missed the email. One reminder about a week later catches many of them. Send it as a reply in the same thread, so the first message sits right under it. After that, stop. A third email turns a favour into pressure.

Subject: Re: [the subject of your first email]

Hi [first name],

Bringing this back to the top of your inbox in case it got buried. If you have a minute this week, the link is here:
[review link]

If now is not a good time, no problem at all. I won't ask again.

Thanks,
[your name]

Make answering take one click

Every step between the email and the finished testimonial loses people. Asking them to reply with a few sentences sounds simple, but then you have to copy the text, ask for permission to publish it, and put it on your site yourself. A link to a review page is shorter for both of you: the client opens it, picks the stars, writes a line and presses Send.

Formgong gives each review site a page like that at https://formgong.com/review/fk_your_key. It needs no account and no password. Only the star rating is required; the name, email, text, photos and a video are up to the client. To save one more click, put the stars in the email itself. Add ?rating= and a number from 1 to 5 to the link, and the page opens with that many stars already selected:

★★★★★  https://formgong.com/review/fk_your_key?rating=5
★★★★☆  https://formgong.com/review/fk_your_key?rating=4
★★★☆☆  https://formgong.com/review/fk_your_key?rating=3
★★☆☆☆  https://formgong.com/review/fk_your_key?rating=2
★☆☆☆☆  https://formgong.com/review/fk_your_key?rating=1

What free testimonial tools send for you

Collecting and asking are two different jobs. Every tool here gives you a link or a form to collect testimonials on its free plan. Senja and Formgong are the two whose free plans say they also send the request for you, and Senja is the only one with automatic follow-ups. Senja, Shapo, Famewall and Testimonial.to also cap how many testimonials you keep on Free, between 10 and 15 in total.

Let your contact form do the asking

If clients reach you through a contact form, you already have their email and the date they got in touch. Formgong can use that. In the form's Settings → After submission, turn on Ask customers for a review and choose when: 3, 7 or 14 days after the enquiry. Each person who left an email then gets one short email, sent under your business's name, with a link to your review page. Replies come back to you. The switch is on every plan, including Free, and it is off until you turn it on.

It is careful about who it asks. Spam, held and imported submissions are skipped, nobody is asked twice in 90 days, and there are no reminders. It starts with new enquiries from the day you turn it on, so old leads are never emailed. On Free it sends up to 20 requests a form and 50 an account a day.

For a client you want to ask at a moment you choose, open their submission in your inbox and press Ask for a review. They get the same single email, with your review page's name in the subject and the text, and the button never sends it twice for the same submission.

The reviews land in Reviews, where you approve each one or choose a publishing mode. Approved reviews show on your public review page and in the review widget on your own site, which has no view limit. Photo and video reviews are free too (how they work).

When to write the email yourself

Formgong's email is short: it greets the person by name, quotes the start of their message back to them and links to your review page. You cannot edit its text. If you want the personal touch of the templates above, send them from your own inbox and paste your review link in place of [review link]. Many owners do both: the automatic email for every enquiry, and a personal note to the few clients whose words they most want on the homepage.

If what you want is a Google review rather than one on your own site, paste your Google link into the same templates instead; here is how to get it. And if you need a polished video wall with clips for social media, a tool built around video, like Senja or Testimonial.to, does more than Formgong does.

Did a template work for you?

If one of these emails got you more replies, or a client told you why they never answered, write to support@formgong.com. We read every message and will add what works to this page.

What Formgong Reviews includes for free

• Unlimited review sites and reviews. Text, photo, video and voice reviews on Free.
• A widget with no view limit. The review widget, carousel, badge and stars in product lists load as often as your pages do.
• Review emails in your store's name. Sent after each order with your logo and colours, replies to you, no email service to set up; buyers can rate inside Gmail without leaving the email, and get one reminder (how it works).
• Bring your old reviews. Import from Judge.me, Yotpo, Loox, Shopify Product Reviews, WooCommerce, Etsy or a CSV.
• You decide what shows. Approve each review or choose a publishing mode, reply in public or in private, and let shoppers ask the author a question.
• Google. A Merchant Center review feed, and product rating markup through the WordPress plugin.
• Reviews from your form. People who filled in your contact form can get a review request automatically.
• One account for the rest. Contact forms with Telegram and Google Sheets, an AI help chat, and free website templates.