Testimonial Request Email Template: 5 Scripts That Get a Yes

A testimonial request email works when it does four things: thanks the person for something specific, reminds them of the result they got, asks for two or three sentences (not an essay), and gives them one link that takes under two minutes. Send it within a week of a win, keep it under 150 words, and make the ask concrete: "would you be willing to share a couple of sentences about how the onboarding went?" beats "any feedback is welcome." Below are five copy-paste templates for the most common moments, eight subject lines that get opened, and the wording changes that turn a polite no into a yes.

How do you ask for a testimonial in an email?

Open with the specific result you delivered, make one clear request, and remove every obstacle. Name the outcome ("your team hit 40 demos booked in March"), ask for two or three sentences, offer a link that needs no login, and say where it will appear. Give them an easy out. Requests that sound like favors get answered; requests that sound like homework do not.

Three failure modes account for most silence: the ask is vague, so the customer does not know what to write; the ask is expensive, so it moves to "later" and dies; or the ask arrives cold, months after the person felt anything about you. Fix those and your response rate takes care of itself.

Template 1: the general testimonial request email

Use this when a client is happy but no single dramatic moment triggered the ask. It is the workhorse.

Subject: Quick favor, 2 minutes
Hi [First name],

Working on [project or account] this year has been genuinely good on our end, especially [specific detail: the way your team turned feedback around in a day].

Small favor: we're updating the testimonials on our site and I'd love to include you. Two or three sentences is plenty. If it helps, the questions we usually ask:

1. What was the problem before you started with us?
2. What changed after?
3. Who would you tell to try this?

Here's the link: [link]. About two minutes, nothing to sign up for. We'd credit you as [Name, Title, Company] with a link back to [company site].

If now isn't a good time, no problem at all. Just say the word.

Thanks,
[Your name]

Two details do the work: the prompts turn a blank page into a fill-in-the-blank, and the link back to their site makes it a mutual favor. For a bigger bank of prompts to rotate through, see our list of testimonial questions that get specific answers.

Template 2: the post-purchase or post-result request

The highest-yield moment in the whole calendar. Send this when a number lands, a launch ships, or a customer hits their first real win.

Subject: That 3x number from last month
Hi [First name],

I saw the report: [specific result, e.g. 312 qualified leads in June, up from 98 in March]. That's a real jump and your team earned it.

Would you be open to saying that in a sentence or two we could publish? What the number was before, what it is now, and what you'd tell someone considering us.

Link is here: [link]. Text or a quick phone video, whichever is faster for you.

Either way, congratulations on the quarter.

[Your name]

Notice what it does not do: ask them to remember a result. You hand them the number. "We saw great results" is the quote you get when you make someone dig for their own metrics.

Template 3: the video testimonial request

Video converts harder than text, and the ask fails for exactly one reason: people think it means a production. Kill that assumption in the first line.

Subject: 60 seconds on your phone?
Hi [First name],

Odd request. Would you record a 60-second video about working with us? No setup, no editing, no scheduling. Click a link, your browser opens the camera, you talk, you're done. Fumble a sentence and you can re-record.

Three things to cover if you want structure:
1. What you were dealing with before
2. What we actually did
3. What's different now

Here's the link: [link]. Phone works fine. Kitchen lighting works fine.

If video isn't your thing, the same link takes text, and that's just as useful to us.

Thanks either way,
[Your name]

Always offer the text fallback in the same email. A written quote from someone who would have ignored a video-only ask is still a win. Our testimonial form handles both formats behind one link, which is why the email can promise "no signup" and mean it.

Template 4: the follow-up nudge

Plenty of testimonials arrive on the second email. Not because people are ignoring you, but because someone opened your request on a phone, thought "I'll do that tonight," and never did.

Subject: Re: Quick favor, 2 minutes
Hi [First name],

Bumping this once in case it slipped. Totally understand if you'd rather pass.

If it's easier, just reply to this email with a sentence or two and I'll format it. Or use the link: [link].

Thanks,
[Your name]

Send it five to seven business days after the first. One nudge, then stop. The reply-with-a-sentence option removes the last bit of friction, and you can paste their reply into your collection tool yourself (with a quick "okay to publish this?" first).

Template 5: the long-term client ask

For the customer who has been with you three years and has never been asked. These are your strongest quotes and they are almost always sitting uncollected.

Subject: Three years, and I've never asked you this
Hi [First name],

We're coming up on three years together, longer than most of our accounts and honestly longer than I expected when we started with [original project].

I've never asked you for a testimonial and I'd like to. What I'd most want a prospect to hear is why you've stayed, because "we renewed for three years" says more than any feature list I could write.

Two or three sentences at [link], or give me 10 minutes on a call and I'll write it up for your approval.

Thanks for the run so far,
[Your name]

The call option matters for senior people, who will happily talk for ten minutes and never write a paragraph. Transcribe, tighten lightly, send it back for sign-off, publish only what they approve.

What's a good testimonial request email subject line?

Short, specific, and honest about the size of the ask. Lines that name the time cost or reference something the recipient recognizes get opened; anything resembling a survey blast gets archived. Eight that work:

• Quick favor, 2 minutes
• 60 seconds on your phone?
• Can I quote you on that?
• That [specific result] from last month
• Small ask about [project name]
• Would you mind if we shared this?
• [First name], one question
• Three years, and I've never asked you this

Avoid "We value your feedback," "Tell us how we did," and anything containing the word "survey." People have trained themselves not to open those. If you're sending at any volume from a shared domain, the same rules that govern personalized outreach sequences and inbox placement apply: send from a human address, skip bulk-blast formatting, and keep the HTML minimal so the message lands in the primary tab.

Weak vs strong request wording

When should you send a testimonial request email?

Send within a week of a moment the customer felt. The best triggers: a delivered result, a renewal, a support interaction that went unusually well, a referral, or any unprompted compliment in Slack or email. The worst trigger is a December calendar reminder telling you to collect testimonials.

Keep a running list of win moments and send the ask the same week. Unprompted praise deserves a same-day reply: "that's kind of you, would you mind if I used it on the site? Here's a link." You are not asking them to write anything new at that point; you are asking permission for words they already typed.

How many people actually respond?

The variables you control are timing, specificity, and friction. A generic blast to a year-old list will underperform a handful of personal notes sent the week a project shipped. Skip the industry benchmarks and track your own baseline: requests sent, replies received, and which trigger produced the strongest quotes.

One structural fix beats every copy tweak: never make someone create an account to leave a testimonial. Every login screen between the email and the submission box is where requests go to die. A single link that opens straight into a text or video submission page, with consent captured at submit time, is the difference between a wall of proof and a folder of good intentions.

The short version

Pick the moment first, then the template. Thank them for something specific, hand them the result instead of making them recall it, ask for two or three sentences, and send one link with no login and a text-or-video choice. Follow up once, then let them off the hook. For the broader strategy, including in-person and in-app requests, see our guide on how to ask someone for a testimonial. Ready to send the first one? Create your request link and put a template to work this week.