Last updated on 2nd August 2023
A recent Wyzowl survey found that 9 out of 10 people trust what a customer says about a business more than what the business says about itself.
This sends a powerful message about the importance of customer testimonials when it comes to boosting credibility.
To create the perfect customer testimonial, you need to ask the questions that people want answers to.
With our experience of creating testimonial videos, both for ourselves and for our clients, we’ve come up with a list of 10 testimonial questions to ask for the perfect customer testimonial.
Top Tip: Before we get started, it’s important to note that it’s always best to send your customers these questions in advance. This way they can practice their responses in good time, and feel more comfortable in front of the camera.
1. Who are you and what does your company do?
It’s important for your customer to introduce themselves straight off the bat.
This not only gives context to the video and the story they are about to tell, but it also gives viewers someone to identify with. After all, potential customers are likely to have a lot in common with your existing customers!
Some customers will answer this question in a very straightforward manner, without expanding. For example, ‘I am John, founder of John Jackets and my company sells jackets.’ This is great if you want your testimonial video to be short and snappy.
However, the more detail you can give potential customers, the better.
So perhaps you should ask John to elaborate on why he started his business, how many years it has been running, and so on.
You don’t have to use all of the content you film (as you’ll likely be cutting the video down in post-production) so it’s better to get more than you need.
2. What problem(s) did you face before working with us/using our product or service?
This is a great second question because when viewers hear that other companies had the same pain points as them, their ears will prick up and they’ll start to pay more attention. In other words, you’ve got them hooked!
A little bit of detail can go a long way here.
Try to get your customers to ‘paint a picture’ of their previous problems.
Their responses here will help to demonstrate how your product or service has been a great solution for them.
3. Why did you choose our product/service/company?
More often than not, your customers will be weighing up your business alongside your competition before they make a purchase decision.
So, by asking this question you can find out what made you more appealing than your competitors to your existing customer, while also informing potential customers of the same thing.
This could be the question (or rather, the answer!) that finally pushes someone from simply considering your business to hitting the ‘buy’ button.
After all, it’s one thing for you to state that you’re better than the competition, but it’s completely different for people to hear that from the mouths of your customers.
This isn’t just a good question for your video testimonials – it’s vital, positive customer feedback that can help guide your sales approach to convincing other prospective customers.
4. What made our product/service/company a good fit for you?
When you collect testimonials, it gives you the opportunity to delve deeper into what it was that attracted them to your business.
By giving your customers free rein to talk about their favourite features of your product, service or company, you can find out valuable information about what it is exactly that makes your customers choose you.
It’s also a great way to attract new customers as, according to our video testimonials survey, 2 out of 3 people say they’d be more likely to make a purchase after watching a testimonial video demonstrating how a business, product, or service had helped another person like them.
5. Specifically, what was the best thing about our product or service?
Like the above, this question allows you to dig even further. Not just into the fact that your customer was satisfied – but exploring specific reasons for that customer satisfaction.
This is really useful for your sales and marketing team because it uncovers your customers’ favourite parts of your product or service – which can help with prospecting future customers.
It’s especially great if you find a trend of customers all selecting the same ‘best thing’ as then you’ll know what your strongest USP is.
Similarly, if something you thought was a great USP never gets mentioned then you can start to re-evaluate and perhaps tweak some things about your offering.
6. How do you use our product or service?
This question is a great way to shine a spotlight on your customers. And it also helps to further showcase the different use cases of your product or service.
After all, customers could be coming to your company for different reasons. If they recognise one of the reasons that they are looking for your product or service in a testimonial then this could encourage them to reach out and get in touch.
7. How was our product or service better than other ones you’ve tried?
Some of your customers may be coming to you with prior bad experiences, so this question is another great way to differentiate your product or service from competitors, while also alleviating potential doubts.
This is a great way to put customers’ minds at ease – whether they’ve had bad experiences or not.
Would-be customers are looking to understand the real experience of working with you as opposed to your competitors: was it easy? Did you have a customer service team? Did they become repeat customers?
Some customers are naturally more cautious with their purchases, so it definitely can’t hurt to point out why your product or service is better than the competition.
8. What results did you achieve by using our product or service?
The answer to this will really be the clincher for most viewers.
It’s great to hear about how you solved the problems of your customer, and about the benefits of your product or service, but all anyone really cares about is results.
If you have a customer that can demonstrate clear, measurable results from using your product or service then it will add heaps of value to your testimonial.
When asked about the effectiveness of testimonial videos, 39% of people said that they are most effective because they help illustrate the impact a product or service can have on their life.
9. Would you recommend us to others? (and why?)
Okay, so it’s probably a given that the customer giving a testimonial would recommend you to others, but it can’t hurt for them to say it out loud!
As we’ve talked about above, hearing positive things about a business from a customer’s lips is way more impactful than hearing it from the business itself.
It’s also good practice to ask them to elaborate on why they would recommend you to others. Their reason might really resonate with a viewer – and that could be the difference between winning new customers or not.
10. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
This is a great way to end because your customer could have valuable information to share that they may not have had the opportunity to bring up.
By giving your customer the floor, you can gain more insight into your business from the customer’s perspective. And who knows, you may find out something completely new!
Get started with customer testimonials
There’s no denying the impact of testimonials – they’re the perfect overlap between your sales and marketing teams. According to our video testimonials survey, 95% of people say that reviews influence their purchasing decisions. Other customers almost universally respect and trust the opinions and experiences of those who’ve walked in their footsteps.
By asking your best customers to review your products, service, or company in a video testimonial you can create a form of social proof that potential customers are actually looking for. Asking the right testimonial questions is a key component of generating positive testimonials that lay out a customer’s experience and impress potential clients.
Ready to get started with collecting testimonials? Get started with your very own testimonial video today.
