How to Ask a Customer for a Video Testimonial (Email Template Included)

Most business owners have a list in their head of customers who’d be perfect on camera. Very few of them ever ask. It feels like a big favour: you’re asking someone busy to give up their time, sit in front of a camera and talk about you.

So the films never get made, and the best proof you have stays in your inbox as a nice email nobody else will ever read.

It isn’t a big favour, if you get three things right. Ask the right customer. Ask at the moment they’re happiest with you. And tell them exactly how little it takes, because people say no to vague asks and yes to clear ones.

That’s the whole method. The rest of this post is the detail, plus the email itself, ready to copy.

Who to ask

Ask the customer your next buyers will see themselves in, not your biggest logo. A prospect watching a testimonial is asking one question: is this person like me? A well-known name helps, but a customer who matches the people you want more of does more of the selling.

Look for:

• A recent, clear result. Something they can describe in a sentence, while it’s still fresh.
• A story with a before. The films that work best start with a problem the viewer recognises. We pulled apart what the best ones have in common in our testimonial video examples.
• Someone who’s already praised you. A thank-you email, a glowing review, a kind word in a meeting. They’ve told you once; they’ll usually tell a camera.
• The right seniority. If you sell to managing directors, a managing director carries more weight than someone three levels down.

And ask two or three people, not one. Diaries clash and plans change. On one shoot, the customer our client had lined up was pulled onto an urgent job the week before. There was a second name on the list, so the film was still made on the original day.

When to ask

Ask the moment the result lands, while they’re still pleased about it. Goodwill fades. The customer who’d happily say yes the week you deliver might shrug six months later, not because they’re less happy, but because you’re no longer front of mind.

Good moments to ask:

• At sign-off, when the project’s done and the result is in.
• When they thank you. Reply to the thank-you email or the five-star review with the ask. You already know how they feel.
• At a milestone or renewal: a year working together, a target hit, a contract extended.

Moments to avoid: halfway through a project, while you’re fixing a problem for them, or right before their busiest time of year. A good ask at a bad time still gets a no.

What to tell them before they say yes

Spell out the commitment. Most people who decline aren’t saying no to you. They’re saying no to an unknown: how long will it take, what will I have to say, where will it end up? Answer those before they have to ask.

Tell them:

• It’s about an hour of their time. Setting up takes longer, but they’re not needed for that.
• You’ll come to them, and plan around their working day.
• There’s no script and nothing to prepare. It’s a conversation, not a performance.
• They’ll see it before it goes live. Nothing goes out without their OK.
• Where it’ll be used: your website, sales emails, social media. No surprises later.
• They get a copy to use themselves. It’s their business on film too.

That last point matters more than it looks. In B2B, gift cards and discounts can make the whole thing feel transactional. The honest reward is better: being asked as the expert, and a professional film that shows off their own business. And when they post it on their own channels, your film reaches their network as well as yours, with their name on the recommendation.

When Insignis asked Karen Wallace, Chief Executive of Right Way Credit Union, to be filmed, her first reaction was “I’m not good on camera.” What got her to yes was hearing that it would be a conversation about what her team had achieved, not a performance. She ended up sharing the film on her own LinkedIn. You can see how it turned out in the Insignis case study.

The email: copy, paste, personalise

This is the version we’d send. Swap in your details, keep it short, and send it from your own address, not a generic marketing one.

Subject line options:

• Would you be up for a short film about [project]?
• A favour (a small one, promise)
• [Their first name], could we tell your story?

Why each line is there:

• The opening is specific to them. “You were great to work with” could go to anyone. Naming the result tells them why you picked them, which is flattering in a way that’s actually true.
• “No script, nothing to prepare” answers the first worry before it forms.
• “About an hour” and “you’ll see it before it goes anywhere” turn a vague favour into a clear, small one.
• The easy out makes a yes more likely. People relax when they feel free to say no, and a relaxed person is far more likely to say yes. It also protects the relationship if they don’t.

And the next step is one thing: reply with dates. Not “let me know what you think”, which invites a reply that never comes.

Shorter versions

LinkedIn or text message

For customers you talk to more informally:

The follow-up

Once, about a week later. Then leave it.

The “thanks for saying yes” email

Most people stop at the ask, but the days before filming are when nerves start, so a clear confirmation is worth five minutes:

Notice it gives them the topics, not the questions word for word. People who get a list of questions in advance tend to rehearse their answers, and rehearsed answers sound rehearsed. If you’re curious, we share the questions we actually ask on our testimonial page.

If they’re nervous, need approval, or say no

If they’re nervous: almost everyone is, and it almost never shows in the finished film. Remind them it’s a conversation, not a presentation, and nobody memorises anything. One managing director we filmed spent the first few minutes glancing at notes they’d written the night before. By the second question the notes were down, and the finished film uses none of the lines they’d prepared.

If they need approval: in bigger organisations, the person who loves working with you often isn’t the person who decides what the business appears in. Make it easy for them to ask upwards. Offer a two-line note they can forward to their marketing or comms team, saying what the film is, where it’ll be used and that they’ll sign off the final cut. We’ve seen a hesitant “I’ll have to check” turn into a yes once the comms team had something concrete to approve.

If they say no: thank them and mean it. Ask whether they’d be happy to leave a written review instead, which takes two minutes. Then carry on being good to work with. Never push. A pushed yes makes a bad film, and the relationship is worth far more than one video. Sometimes the same customer offers themselves a year later, once a project they’re proud of has landed.

Asking is the hard part. We’ll do the rest

Once someone says yes, the rest is our job. When we film testimonials for you, we help you choose who to ask, then handle the scheduling, the filming and the edit, planning around your customer’s day so they never have to prepare a thing. The finished film arrives in around two weeks, at a fixed price from £1,500 + VAT.

See how it works on our testimonial video production page, or see what a finished one looks like in our testimonial video examples.

See Our Testimonial Videos