Hello all!
One important question: How to ask for a testimonial?
I've been developing my web development portfolio and meanwhile reaching out to a few people to ask them for a testimonial. I had a pleasant experience working with all of them so far.
I reached out one time and plan to do more follow-ups. The response I got for now was from one person, acknowledging my request and telling that they will do it.
I felt like this is another challenge of making a portfolio on our end. It could also be a difficulty on their end to deal with endless demand in an online world...on top of everything else?
I know that testimonials are not that necessary to have, and yet, it'd add much more credibility to our profile. Don't you agree?
So, my question is, how do we effectively ask for a testimonial? Do you have any suggestions for me?
Appreciate all your comments.
Top comments (5)
I'm a little late on this, however this is a great question and not something that many people (including myself for years) think about.
A few possibilities:
For recent connections and clients, when you are following up on your project and they are saying "oh wow this looks great, this will be a huge help, we are excited, etc. etc.", this is a time to throw in the plug for a testimonial. "Glad you love what I did! I had a blast working with you. By the way, would you mind leaving me a good review on LinkedIn?" People will WANT to do this for you if you have a good experience with them.
For past clients that are farther back, you can message them a general message reminding them of your work - "we worked together on the ________ project which I had a blast on..." - and let them know you are building out a new portfolio, profile page, LinkedIn, etc and just ask for that testimonial.
In either situation, if you had a good time working with others, they'll want to leave you a testimonial. Some might forget to do it later on, but you'll definitely get some bites. Good luck!
Now got some few good bites. Thanks for your thoughts Aaron! I'll definitely keep this in mind for the future projects :)
Awesome! It's something I honestly have to do more of as well. I don't ask for testimonials for my LinkedIn page very often. Your post was a good reminder to do that.
Hello Gift, testimonials as you mentioned, augments legitimacy to our competencies as a web developer, and more importantly for future clients, they can immediately identify if you have the necessary skills and mindsets that they want for their specific project(s).
An advice that I'll give is to take initiative - don't wait until the project ends to ask for a testimonial. At that point, most of the good stuff that you did have already happened, and by chance, they would remember how you made them feel, they may not remember the specifics and this will result in a vaguer & thus weaker testimonial. Of course this advice probably only applies for your future projects/ ongoing ones.
So my next advice for your projects that are already finished - request to do a cross testimonial (if possible). You have to give them some benefits for writing a proper testimonial for you. Express how did you feel working with that particular client on the same project, and whether you would recommend others to work with them. These will help you build relationships with your clients in the long-term as well.
Oh wow! Thank you so much Estee Tey Siew Wen for your insights. This is very helpful for my current situation and onwards. The cross testimonial sounds like a proactive approach that benefits both parties, too. I haven't thought of that before.