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How to request testimonials as a freelancer? In today’s blog post, I will show how based on my own experience, I will cover what you need to have in mind before, and when you ask for testimonials.

How to request testimonials: Why is important?

How to request testimonials? Well, before we dive into this important aspect of every freelancer, we need to understand what is testimonials and their relevance.

Testimonials are when one of your clients testifys about your qualifications as a freelancer. This can be in video or text format, and it’s absolutely important to your career.

• Testimonials are the proof that you make a good work
• Is essential to build trust and authority
• Testimonials can be essential in negotiations with leads

In my experience, I always ask before the end of the project if I need to fix anything or if the client needs more of my services. Then, I request a testimonial for my client.

If you are in one ongoing project I recommend that you have this request once a month, or every milestone. However, if you don’t have much experience with that business niche, I recommend that you stay with the testimonial for a month.

This is important, because the more testimonials the better, I can’t stress this enough. Why? Because if you have a list of good testimonials, the negotiations and the process of acquiring clients become so much easier.

Think about it, if you heard that a movie is really good, you tend to at least look at the promotional trailer, right? Even if you watch, it and don’t like it, at least you gave it a chance because a lot of people recommend it. 

The same happens with your future clients when they see testimonials because this makes them build trust in your work before the project starts. Click here to see my other content to see more about what is SEO for a website with my guide for beginners in 3 steps!

How to request testimonials: Key elements that you can’t forget

Testimonials, but you know what is better? Good testimonials, because they don’t just build trust, but build authority. Authority is an important aspect to seek when you think about how to request testimonials. 

Authority for a freelancer is important because we always are competing with each other, especially on platforms such as Upwork or Workana, for example. 

Authority is basically saying “I know what I’m talking about, here’s the proof, and that’s why you need to choose me for this project”. Then, your potential client (Lead) can see you as the best choice compared to the other freelancers. In my experience, the key elements are:

• Compelling
• Authentic
• Credible

Compelling

The testimonial of your client has to be enthusiastic, and engaging. So ideally the client has to smile, talk with emotions, be concise, and be appealing. 

In my experience, the number one aspect of choosing the right format for your testimonial is how much the client is enthusiastic. If your client doesn’t feel comfortable speaking to a camera, choosing the text, is also really good.

My piece of advice on this matter is to request a video testimonial, and if the client won’t be comfortable or if you don’t like the result, turn the video into a text testimonial, and request a picture of the client for the testimonial if they like to. Did you enjoy the content so far? Follow me on Threads for more.

Authentic

Never fake a testimonial in your career, not just because everybody can see it’s fake, but for a lot of reasons. The main reasons to never fake a testimonial are:

• Fake testimonials don’t prove if your work is good or not
• Artificial testimonials will have a bad effect on the rest of your career
• Fake testimonials are hollow, so don’t have any effect that we talk about
• Artificial testimonials are easy to make, but don’t bring trust and authority
• Fake testimonials show your lack of confidence in your work, and your unhonored attitudes

In summary, always do a good service to your client, and then request testimonials about. Is the only way to have more clients, build trust, and have an excellent career.

Credible

The testimonial has to be credible, in other words, your leads have to believe in what your client is talking about. In my experience, don’t overdo the compliments, but instead choose qualities about your work in that project, for example:

• Fast and good
• Good time management
• Fair price
• Adaptability
• Problem-solving oriented
• Worth it
• Teamwork
• Easy to work with
• Meet the expectations
• Good leadership
• Detail oriented
• Creativity
• Dedication

My piece of advice on how to request testimonials is when you request, say three or two qualities, and remember a moment that happened during the project that meets those qualities. 

For example, if in the project you came across a problem that the client doesn’t know, and you solve it, choose this moment to remind the client that you were Problem-solving oriented.

How to request testimonials: Do it for free or show results

To finish our article, we need to discuss the main requirement when we come across the question of how to request testimonials. 

The testimonial is a result of your work, but it will be different from your experience. The current stage of your career is crucial for obtaining a good testimonial, as I mentioned in the previous topic because it changes the expectations of your client.

If you starting your journal right now as a freelancer, you probably don’t have so much experience, knowledge, results, or previous clients that you work with. 

In that case, I highly recommend it to you to do your services for free and then request a testimonial at the end of the project.

Be in the shoes of your potential customer for a second: If you hire someone who doesn’t have high experience at something, you can waste money and time. However, if you do it for free your service the chances of you being hired are higher.

Naturally, your customer, in that case, will not have great expectations, and then the testimonial will be authentic, concise, and credible.

If you have experience, results, and a portfolio, show the results in the negotiation with the client, and then request your testimonial. 

Of course, you need to explain to the client the expectations that they might have in the project. However, since you deliver what you promised you can have a great testimonial.

All of this I learned in four years as a full-time freelancer. If you want to know more about my three main pieces of advice, click here to see my other article.