You've just finished a project. Your client is over the moon, and you know that now would be the best time to ask them for a testimonial, right before you say your final goodbyes.

But you feel uncomfortable. You just hate asking people for a favor, even if it takes a minute. Also because in the past, not every client replied, which hurt your feelings was disappointing. 

#ugh

Today, I'd like to share with you my personal templates I use to ask for testimonials, which have a success rate of 100%.

Meaning, I got a great testimonial every time I asked for one, and if I wanted to edit it, the client was fine with that, too.

2 templates that make getting great client testimonials easy

Before we dive in, let's make sure we're on the same page:

Among other things, a great testimonial is one that covers:

• the challenges your client was struggling with
• how you help them overcome those challenges
• what specific results your work had for their business

 ...so that your prospects who'll be reading this testimonial can see that you successfully helped people with the same problems in the past.

Which also means that "Ann did a great job. We highly recommend her." is a bad testimonial.

Agreed? Good. Now to the templates.

If you're lucky, you'll get a clear and specific testimonial right away.

But sometimes, a client is so excited about the job you did that they'll send you a whole novel about how they found you and what they thought about working with you.

And although it will make your ego jump from joy, you may find yourself in a difficult situation.

It may look like you have only two choices now:

• To put that novel of a testimonial on your website (and bore the hell out of your prospects), or
• To thank your client but not use their testimonial (and lose valuable social proof you so totally deserve)

Thankfully, there's a third way.

Edit your client's testimonial and ask for approval

It's totally fine to rewrite your client's testimonial to distill it to the "meatiest" parts. You just need to ask for approval after that. I do it all the time, and not a single client has ever objected.

You need to do it properly though, and make sure your client knows you appreciate their feedback and understands the reasons for the changes you'd like to make.

Here's the template I use:

And here's a specific example:

Got a long testimonial that's too good to shorten? Do this.

Funny story: An effective testimonial isn't necessarily short.

On a big scale, an effective testimonial needs to do only two things:

1. Cover the challenge, process and results 
2. Be written and designed in a way that prospects will read it till the end (or at least absorb the most important bits)

Obviously, a short testimonial takes care of #2 automatically.

But there's still a way to present a longer testimonial effectively.

Here's how I do it (on my website as well as websites of my clients):

Final words of wisdom

You may feel a bit scared or uneasy when asking for a testimonial (and totally terrified when asking to edit it).

Don't be.

Your happy client likes you. And when we like someone, we're more than happy to do something nice for them.

Go get them*, tiger 💪

* - "them" being both, your new killer testimonials and your new clients those testimonials will help you get