How to Get Client Testimonials That Say More Than “They Were Great”

Most testimonials sound the same. “Really professional.” “Would recommend.” “They were great.”

Nice to hear. Useless to a prospect. None of it tells someone what it’s like to work with you, or what changes when they do.

A good testimonial is a short story: where someone was, what they did with you, and where they are now. Here’s how to get those stories on camera, without scripting a word.

Choose clients with different stories

If five clients all say “I feel more organised”, you don’t have five testimonials. You have one, five times.

Pick for variety:

• Different starting points. Someone who’d just launched. Someone ten years in and stuck.
• Different results. More revenue, more time back, a first hire, more confidence to raise prices.
• Different types of business. Prospects look for someone like them.
• Different stages. A client who’s just finished, and one who’s been with you for years.
• The sceptic. Someone who nearly didn’t sign up. Doubters convince doubters.

Before you book anyone, write one line per client: “Before, they were ___. Now they’re ___.” If you can’t fill it in, they may not be ready to tell the story yet.

Why “Were you happy?” gets weak answers

“Were you happy?” asks for a verdict, not a story. The honest answer is “Yes”, and that’s about all you’ll get.

Same with “Would you recommend us?” Ten seconds of footage. Nothing usable.

Cameras make it worse. Nervous people reach for safe, polite phrases. They’re being kind to you, and they end up saying nothing at all.

Ask about before and after instead

Two questions do most of the work:

“What were you struggling with before we started working together?”

“What has changed since?”

The before gives viewers someone to recognise themselves in. The after gives them proof. Your part in the middle becomes obvious, without the client having to sell you.

Then follow up:

• “What did that look like day to day?”
• “Can you give me an example?”
• “How did that feel?”
• “What would you say to someone in the position you were in?”

Two habits make a big difference. First, leave a pause after each answer. The best line often comes once they think they’ve finished. Second, ask them to answer in full sentences, so “Before working with Sarah, I was…” rather than “Overwhelmed, mostly.” That way each clip makes sense on its own.

Keep it in their words

Don’t send a script. Don’t tidy their grammar. Don’t swap their phrasing for your marketing language.

“I was drowning” beats “I lacked operational capacity” every time. Prospects can tell when something’s been rehearsed, and they stop believing it.

It’s fine to send the questions in advance so people can think. Just don’t send answers. When you edit, cut for length, not wording, and caption exactly what was said.

Fit the interviews around a client planning day

If you’re a coach or mentor, your planning days already put your best clients in one room. That’s the hard part done.

How to make it work:

• Use a separate room or quiet corner. Set up before the day starts so there’s no disruption.
• Allow about 10 minutes per person. The interview itself only takes a few minutes. Ask the questions, let them talk, and they’re back in the room before they’ve missed anything.
• Do it early. Energy is higher, and people haven’t spent hours in workshops yet.
• Book slots in advance. Send each person their time and the two main questions a few days before.
• Film the day itself. You presenting, group discussion, people working. This supporting footage cuts into the testimonials and works on its own too.

A typical morning looks like this:

• 8:30 – Set up lights, camera and sound
• 9:30 – Your day begins as normal
• 9:45 to 10:45 – Five interviews, one every 10 minutes or so
• Rest of the morning – Supporting footage of the room

Five testimonials in an hour. Nobody is out of the room for more than ten minutes.

Where to use the videos

Service pages. Put each testimonial next to the service it talks about, close to the enquiry button. Match the story to the page.

Social posts. Cut every interview into two to four short clips: the before line, the after line, and the strongest moment. Add subtitles. Five interviews can fill a month of posts.

Enquiry follow-ups. When someone gets in touch, send them a testimonial from a client who started in a similar place. “Here’s Jo, who was where you are now.” The video does the persuading before you’ve even spoken.

They also work in proposals, onboarding emails and your email signature.

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Bring your clients together and we can film up to five testimonial interviews, plus supporting footage, in one morning.