Video Testimonial Questions to Ask Customers, by Industry

Short answer: the best video testimonial questions are open, specific and in story order. Ask what the customer’s situation was before, why they chose you, what changed afterwards, and who they would recommend you to. Three to five questions is enough. Avoid yes-or-no questions, leading questions such as “What do you love most about us?”, and anything that needs a long, rehearsed answer.

Below you will find a core set of five questions that works for almost any business, question banks for different industries, follow-up prompts that draw out detail, and the questions to leave out. Copy the sets straight into your request email or collection form.

What Makes a Good Video Testimonial Question?

A good question gets the customer telling a short story rather than giving a verdict. Four rules cover most of it:

• Open, not closed. “What changed after you started?” invites a story; “Did it help?” invites “yes”.
• Specific, not general. “What were you using before?” is easier to answer on camera than “Tell us about your experience”.
• One idea per question. Two questions in one sentence get half an answer.
• In story order. Before, decision, after, recommendation. Viewers follow a story far better than a list of compliments.

Specific answers are also what make a testimonial persuasive. A prospect believes “we cut onboarding calls in half” more readily than “it’s great”, because it sounds like something that really happened.

The Five Core Questions That Work for Any Business

If you only use one set, use this one. It produces a complete before-and-after story in under two minutes.

Video Testimonial Questions by Industry

The core set works everywhere, but questions in your customer’s own vocabulary get better answers. Pick three to five from the list for your industry.

SaaS and software

• What were you using before, and what was frustrating about it?
• What made you choose this tool over the others you looked at?
• How long did it take your team to get up and running?
• Which feature do you use most, and what does it save you?
• What would you tell someone who is evaluating us right now?
• What would your week look like if you stopped using it?

More on proof for software companies on our SaaS page.

Agencies and freelancers

• What was the brief, and why did you decide to bring in outside help?
• What was it like working with us day to day?
• How did we handle feedback or changes along the way?
• What result did the project deliver?
• Would you work with us again? On what?

See how agencies and freelancers use testimonials on the agencies and freelancers pages.

Coaches and consultants

• Where were you when we started working together?
• What made you decide it was time to get help?
• What was the biggest shift for you during our work?
• What can you do now that you could not do before?
• Who do you think would get the most out of working with me?

More for coaches on the coaches page.

Online courses and programmes

• What were you hoping to learn when you signed up?
• Which lesson or module made the biggest difference?
• What have you put into practice since finishing?
• How did the course compare to other things you had tried?
• Who should take this course, and who should not?

More for course creators on the course creators page.

Ecommerce and physical products

• What were you looking for when you found this product?
• What made you choose it over similar products?
• What was it like when it arrived?
• How do you use it day to day?
• Show us: can you hold it up and point out your favourite detail?

More for online stores on the ecommerce page.

Local and home services

• What needed fixing or doing when you got in touch?
• How was the booking and communication before the job?
• How did the team handle the work on the day?
• How has it held up since?
• Would you call us again, and for what?

Real estate

• What were you looking for when you started your search or sale?
• What worried you most about the process?
• How did your agent keep you informed?
• What was the moment you knew you had the right agent?
• What would you tell a friend who is about to buy or sell?

More for agents on the real estate page.

B2B professional services

• What problem did your team bring to us?
• Who else did you consider, and why did you choose us?
• How did we work with your internal team?
• What measurable difference has it made, if you can share one?
• What would you say to a peer at another company who is considering us?

Employees and employer brand

• What made you want to join the team?
• What does a typical week look like for you?
• What has surprised you most since joining?
• How have you grown here?
• What would you tell someone thinking about applying?

More on collecting employee stories on the employees page.

Follow-Up Prompts That Draw Out Detail

When a customer gives a short or general answer, a follow-up prompt on screen or in a live call usually unlocks the story. Keep a few of these ready:

• “Can you give me an example?”
• “What did that look like before?”
• “Roughly how much time or money did that save?”
• “How did that feel at the time?”
• “What would you say to someone who is sceptical?”
• “If you had to sum it up in one sentence, what would it be?”

The last one is useful in editing: it often gives you a clean ten-second clip for social media or the top of a landing page.

Which Questions Should You Avoid?

Leading questions matter for more than style when an incentive is involved. In its 2024 final rule on consumer reviews and testimonials, the FTC described asking consumers to say how much they “love” something as an example of an implied condition on sentiment, which the rule prohibits when it is attached to compensation or another incentive. Source: FTC final rule on the use of consumer reviews and testimonials, 2024 (PDF) (opens in a new tab). If you offer a thank-you, keep the questions neutral and give it for taking part.

The same honesty applies to how you use the answers. The FTC’s Endorsement Guides FAQ, updated in 2023 (opens in a new tab) says an endorsement must reflect the honest opinion of the person giving it, so never script answers and present them as the customer’s own words.

Questions That Answer Specific Objections

Every business has two or three doubts that stall buyers. A testimonial that answers one of them directly is worth more than a general one, so write a question for each objection and send it to customers who once had that doubt themselves.

Tag the answers by objection when they arrive. When a sales call stalls on price, you can send the one clip where a customer talks about price.

How Do You Adapt These Questions for Written Testimonials?

The same questions work in a text form with two small changes. First, ask for fewer: two or three questions is plenty, because typing feels like more effort than talking. Second, add a nudge for specifics in the field hint, such as “a number, a before and after, or a moment you remember”. Written answers tend to be shorter and more polished than spoken ones, so the specific detail is what keeps them believable.

If you offer customers the choice of video or text on one form, use the same prompts for both. That keeps your library consistent and lets you compare what people say across formats.

How Many Questions Should You Ask?

Three to five. Fewer than three rarely gives you a full story; more than five makes the video long and the request feel like homework. If you want more depth from a particular customer, book a recorded call instead and use the follow-up prompts above.

How Should You Present the Questions?

• Send them in advance. Put the questions in the request email so customers can think before they press record.
• Keep them on screen. A recording page that shows the prompts saves customers from memorising them.
• Let customers skip. Tell them it is fine to answer only the questions that apply.
• Allow text. Some people will type an answer they would never say on camera. That is still a testimonial.

StoryProof’s collection form shows your prompts on screen while the customer records, and lets them type instead if they prefer. The video testimonial collection page shows the recording flow.

Turning Answers Into Testimonials You Can Use

Once videos arrive, the questions pay off a second time. Because every customer answered the same prompts, you can tag clips by the question they answer: “before”, “why us”, “result”. When a landing page needs proof about results, you already know which clips to look at.

For the full process around these questions, from choosing who to ask to publishing, read how to collect video testimonials. If you are still choosing a tool to run it, our testimonial software buyer’s guide compares the options. And when customers prefer writing, the same questions work in a written review request.

Frequently Asked Questions