The questions to ask to get a testimonial worth publishing

The quality of a testimonial is set almost entirely by the question that produced it. Ask "what did you think?" and you get an adjective. These are the prompts that get you something usable.

The single best question

What were you worried about before you started, and did it happen?

For the before state

• What were you doing about this before?
• What made you start looking for something else?
• What else did you try or consider?
• What was the moment you decided the old way was not working?

For the outcome

• What can you do now that you could not do before?
• Is there a number that changed? Time, cost, headcount, error rate?
• What has stopped happening since you started?
• What did you expect to happen that did not?
• What happened that you did not expect?

For credibility

• What nearly stopped you from buying?
• Who would you tell not to buy this?
• What is it still not good at?

Those last three feel counterproductive and are the most valuable on the list. A testimonial containing a real, minor reservation is dramatically more credible than one without — and if you cannot publish the answer, you have still learned something worth knowing.

For the closing line

• How would you describe this to someone in your role at another company?
• What do you say when someone asks you about it?
• Who specifically should be using this?

Common questions