Stop Begging for Testimonials (And Start Making Them Easy)

You need customer testimonials. Your customers want to help. But asking them to write feels like asking them to donate a kidney.

A few years ago, an email arrived on a Tuesday morning.

“Michael, I loved your planner. It changed how I work. Happy to write a testimonial—just tell me what you need!”

Finally. An enthusiastic customer ready to help. I sent her a simple request: “Just share your experience and the results you’ve seen.”

That was January 15th.

January 22nd: Nothing.

January 29th: I sent a gentle follow-up.

February 5th: Still nothing.

February 12th: She apologized. Said she’d been meaning to write it. Felt bad about how long it was taking.

On February 19th—five weeks after her initial offer—I got this:

“Hi Michael. This is harder than I thought. I’m not a writer. Can you give me a few written testimonials to choose from?”

I stared at that email for a long time.

Sure, I could write testimonials for her to choose from. But that felt disingenuous—maybe even unethical. I didn’t want manufactured praise. I wanted real customers giving real testimonies about genuine transformations they’d experienced.

But I also understood her paralysis. This woman ran a $3 million company. She managed twelve employees. She had genuinely gotten value from my product and wanted to help me.

Yet asking her to write a testimonial felt like asking her to write a college essay.

There’s a better, easier way. You can get powerful customer testimonials effortlessly by following three simple steps.

Step 1: Craft the Right Email

Most testimonial requests fail before they even start. We send vague appeals: “Would you mind writing a quick testimonial?” or “Any feedback would be appreciated!”

These well-meaning requests produce equally vague responses. “Great product!” “Really helpful.” “Five stars.”

Those don’t persuade anyone.

The solution is to ask transformation-focused questions that guide customers toward the stories that actually convert. Your email should prompt them to think about three specific things:

1. What specific problem did the product solve? Not “it helped me be more productive,” but “I was spending three hours a day in meetings that could have been emails.”
2. What measurable results did you see? Not “I’m much more organized,” but “I went from missing 40% of my deadlines to hitting 95% of them.”
3. How has your work or life changed? Not “things are better,” but “I’m leaving work at 5:30 instead of 7:00, and I haven’t missed a single family dinner in six weeks.”

These questions do the heavy lifting for your customers. They know what to focus on. They have a framework. The writing becomes easier.

I’ve included a complete email template in this week’s Implementation Kit that you can customize for your specific product or service (more about that in a moment). It includes the exact questions to ask, the tone to strike, and how to position the request so customers actually want to help.

Step 2: Provide an AI Prompt

Here’s where AI becomes your secret weapon—and your customer’s best friend.

Instead of asking them to stare at a blank page, you give them an AI-powered assistant that’s an expert at writing testimonials that convert. Think of it as handing them a professional copywriter who interviews them and drafts the testimonial based on their answers.

If you want to build this yourself, here’s the anatomy of an effective testimonial prompt:

• Element 1: Expert positioning. Frame the AI as a copywriting expert who understands what makes testimonials persuasive. Start with something like: “You are an expert copywriter specializing in customer testimonials. You know how to extract transformation stories and present them in compelling ways that drive conversions.”
• Element 2: Context setting. Tell the AI who the customer is and what product they used. “The customer is a small business owner who used [product name] to solve [specific problem].”
• Element 3: Guided questions. Give the AI the same transformation-focused questions you want answered. “Ask about the problem they faced, the measurable results they achieved, and how their work or life has changed.”
• Element 4: Output formatting. Specify length, style, and structure. “Create a 100–150 word testimonial in first person. Use specific details and conversational language. Focus on before-and-after transformation.”
• Element 5: Authenticity preservation. This is critical. “Maintain the customer’s natural voice and phrasing. Avoid marketing jargon and hyperbole. Keep it genuine and believable.”

Here’s a basic prompt you can copy and modify:

“You are an expert copywriter specializing in customer testimonials that convert. Interview me about my experience with [product name]. Ask me about: (1) the specific problem I was facing, (2) the measurable results I achieved, and (3) how my work or life has changed. Based on my answers, draft a 100–150 word testimonial in my natural voice. Use conversational language, specific details, and focus on transformation. Avoid marketing jargon.”

Your customer pastes this into ChatGPT, answers the questions, and gets a polished testimonial in three to five minutes.

But there’s an even easier way.

I’ve created a custom workflow that teaches you how to build a custom GPT for this purpose (more about that in a moment). Your customers don’t need to understand prompting or copy-paste anything. They just click a link, answer a few simple questions, and the AI guides them through the entire process. It’s like having a professional interviewer extract their story and a professional writer craft their testimonial.

The result? What used to take your customers 20–30 minutes of painful writing now takes 3–5 minutes of simple conversation. And the testimonials are better—more specific, more focused on transformation, more persuasive.

Step 3: Review and Approve

Even with AI assistance, you’re still in control. This is your marketing, your brand, your reputation.

When you receive the AI-drafted testimonial, run it through a quick review:

• Does it sound like them? If the testimonial reads like generic marketing copy, it needs work. You want their authentic voice, their natural phrasing, their personality. Real testimonials have a human quality that AI can preserve but sometimes misses.
• Are results specific and measurable? “I’m more productive” is vague. “I saved eight hours per week” is concrete. Look for numbers, timeframes, and tangible outcomes. If they’re missing, go back to the customer and ask for them.
• Does it tell a transformation story? The best testimonials have a clear before and after. “I was struggling with X, now I’m achieving Y.” Make sure the transformation is obvious.

If something feels off, make minor edits. Polish the language. Tighten the structure. Add a specific detail. This is fine—you’re not fabricating, you’re refining.

Then—and this is crucial—send it back to the customer for final approval. “Here’s what we came up with based on your feedback. Does this capture your experience accurately? Feel free to adjust anything.”

This final step maintains ethical integrity. It’s their story, told in their words, with their explicit approval. You’ve just made the process dramatically easier for both of you.

The result? Authentic testimonials that actually persuade prospects, created in a fraction of the usual time, without the usual friction.

The Simple Truth

Customer testimonials don’t have to be painful anymore. Your customers genuinely want to help—you’re just removing the friction that’s been stopping them. Better testimonials lead to better conversions, which lead to more revenue. And you’re doing it in a way that’s easier for you and easier for them.

What would happen to your business if you could triple your testimonials in the next 30 days?

Comments

If you have a question about using AI to get more high-converting customer testimonials, click here to send me an email. I read every one. Seriously. Your experiences help me write better content, and sometimes the best insights come from readers like you. 

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