Testimonial Video Questions to Ask Clients That Produce Content People Actually Watch
Most testimonial videos fail before the camera even turns on. Not because of lighting, editing, or production value, but because the questions were wrong. Generic prompts produce generic answers. "Tell us about your experience" generates forgettable soundbites that could apply to any company in any industry.
The testimonial video questions to ask clients determine whether your finished video builds trust with prospects or gets skipped after three seconds. Great questions produce specific, emotionally resonant, and genuinely useful content. Poor questions produce bland endorsements that look like every other testimonial on the internet.
A study from Wyzowl found that 77% of consumers say a video testimonial has played a part in convincing them to purchase a product or service. But that statistic assumes the testimonial is actually compelling. The gap between a testimonial that converts and one that gets ignored comes down to what was asked and how the conversation was structured.
This article provides the specific questions, interview frameworks, and conversational techniques that produce testimonial video content worth watching.
Why Standard Testimonial Questions Produce Bad Content
The Problem with Open-Ended Prompts
Questions like "Tell us about your experience with [Brand]" or "Why do you like working with us?" are too broad to produce useful answers. They put the burden on the customer to figure out what you want to hear, which usually results in polite generalities rather than specific, persuasive content.
Customers are not marketers. They do not know which aspects of their experience will resonate with your prospects. Your questions need to guide them toward the details that matter without putting words in their mouths.
The Problem with Yes/No Questions
"Did you find our service helpful?" produces a response of approximately one word. Even when the customer expands slightly ("Yes, it was very helpful"), you are left with a statement that lacks the narrative detail needed for compelling video content.
Effective testimonial questions are open-ended enough to invite storytelling but specific enough to direct the conversation toward useful territory.
The Problem with Leading Questions
"Would you say we are the best production partner you have ever worked with?" poisons the authenticity of the response. Even if the customer agrees, the audience recognizes when a question has been designed to produce a specific answer. The result feels like marketing, not testimony, and viewers discount it accordingly.
The Framework: Five Phases of a Great Testimonial Interview
The questions below are organized into a conversational flow, not a rigid script. Use them as a guide, but follow the customer's natural storytelling instincts. The best testimonial moments often come from follow-up questions you did not plan.
Phase 1: Context and Background (Warm-Up)
These questions ease the customer into the conversation and establish who they are and what they do. This context helps viewers identify whether the customer's situation is similar to their own.
"Can you tell me a little about your role and what your company does?" This grounds the viewer in the customer's world. Keep it brief, 30 seconds of context is sufficient.
"What does your team look like, and what are you responsible for?" Understanding the customer's position helps prospects relate to the testimonial. A VP of Marketing faces different challenges than a Founder or a Creative Director, and the framing matters.
"What was the landscape like before you started working with [Brand]? What were you dealing with on a day-to-day basis?" This question establishes the "before" state that makes the transformation narrative possible. Encourage the customer to be specific about the problems, frustrations, and limitations they faced.
Phase 2: The Problem (Before State)
This phase captures the pain points that drove the customer to seek a solution. These answers are often the most valuable section of the testimonial because prospects watching the video will be experiencing similar problems.
"What specific challenge or problem were you trying to solve?" Direct and simple. Let the customer describe their situation in their own words.
"How was that problem affecting your work? Your team? Your results?" This question expands the problem beyond the surface level. The ripple effects of a business problem, late deliverables affecting client relationships, team burnout affecting retention, budget overruns affecting profitability, create emotional resonance with viewers experiencing the same consequences.
"What had you tried before that did not work?" This question establishes that the customer is sophisticated and has attempted other solutions. It positions your brand as the answer they found after other approaches failed, which is a powerful narrative for prospects in the consideration phase.
"What was the tipping point that made you decide you needed a different approach?" The tipping point is often the most emotionally charged moment in the testimonial narrative. It is the moment of urgency that drove action, and it mirrors the urgency that prospects may be feeling as they evaluate their own options.
Phase 3: The Decision (Why Them)
These questions capture why the customer chose your company specifically, which directly addresses the concerns and comparisons that prospects are making.
"How did you first hear about [Brand], and what made you decide to explore working together?" The discovery story humanizes the buying process and may reveal channels or referral sources that inform your marketing strategy.
"What specifically stood out about [Brand] compared to other options you were considering?" This is a differentiation question that produces content directly useful for competitive positioning. The customer's own words about what made you different are more credible than your own claims.
"Was there anything that initially gave you hesitation? If so, what resolved it?" This question acknowledges that buying decisions involve doubt, which makes the testimonial feel more authentic. The resolution of that hesitation is powerful objection-handling content for your sales team.
Phase 4: The Experience (During)
These questions capture the working relationship, which matters as much as the outcome for prospects evaluating whether your company will be a good partner for them.
"Walk me through what the experience of working with [Brand] has been like." Let the customer paint the picture in their own words. Do not rush through this section.
"Was there a moment during the engagement where you thought, 'This is exactly what we needed'?" This question invites the customer to identify a specific, memorable moment. Specific moments are far more compelling on camera than general satisfaction statements.
"How has the working relationship differed from other vendors or partners you have worked with?" Comparison answers are gold. When a customer contrasts your approach with their experience elsewhere, it creates differentiation messaging that is both specific and credible.
"Can you describe a specific situation where [Brand] went above what was expected?" This invites the kind of story that makes a testimonial memorable. A specific anecdote about exceptional service is worth more than ten minutes of general praise.
Phase 5: The Results (After State)
These questions capture the measurable and experiential outcomes that complete the testimonial narrative.
"What results have you seen since working with [Brand]?" Start broad and let the customer identify which results matter most to them.
"Can you put a number on it? Whether that is time saved, revenue generated, projects completed, or something else entirely?" Specificity is the single most important quality in testimonial content. Push gently for numbers, percentages, timeframes, or other quantifiable outcomes. If the customer cannot provide exact figures, approximate ranges are still valuable.
"How has [Brand] affected your team's experience? Their workload, their confidence, their ability to deliver?" This question captures the human impact beyond business metrics. For prospects who care about team culture and employee experience, these answers carry significant weight.
"If you were talking to someone in a similar situation to where you were before, what would you tell them?" This is the natural close. It positions the customer as a peer advisor, which is the most trusted form of recommendation. Their advice to others is often the single most quotable moment in the entire interview.
Advanced Techniques for Richer Responses
The "Tell Me More" Follow-Up
When a customer gives a good but surface-level answer, resist the urge to move to the next question. Instead, ask "Can you tell me more about that?" or "What do you mean by that specifically?" The second and third layers of a response almost always contain the most compelling material.
The "Give Me an Example" Prompt
When customers make general statements ("They are really responsive"), follow up with "Can you give me a specific example of when that responsiveness made a difference?" Specific examples create visual, relatable moments that generic praise cannot match.
The Unexpected Question
About halfway through the interview, ask something the customer does not expect. "What is something about working with [Brand] that would surprise someone who has never worked with you before?" Unexpected questions break the customer out of rehearsed responses and often produce the most authentic, surprising content.
The Comfortable Silence
After the customer finishes an answer, wait two to three seconds before asking the next question. This silence is uncomfortable for interviewers but often prompts the customer to add additional context or a more candid thought. Some of the best testimonial moments come in these unplanned additions.
Structuring the Interview for Maximum Usable Footage
Plan for Editing, Not for Broadcasting
You are not producing a live interview. You are capturing raw material that will be edited into a finished piece. This means it is perfectly acceptable, even encouraged, to ask the customer to restate a strong point, to repeat a question if the first answer was rambling, or to ask them to consolidate several scattered thoughts into a single, clear statement.
Frame these requests positively: "That was a great point. Could you say that again in one or two sentences so we can use it as a standalone clip?"
Capture Standalone Statements
The finished testimonial will likely use individual statements edited together, not the full continuous conversation. Ask questions in a way that produces self-contained answers. Instead of "How was our service?" (which produces "It was great"), ask "How would you describe the experience of working with [Brand] to someone who has never heard of us?" The customer is more likely to provide a complete thought that works as a standalone clip.
Plan for Multiple Output Formats
A single testimonial interview can produce:
A 60 to 90-second primary testimonial video
Short-form clips (15 to 30 seconds) for social media
Quote cards using transcribed statements
A written case study using the interview as source material
Longer-form content for sales presentations
Capture enough footage and ask enough varied questions to support all of these outputs from a single recording session.
Questions to Avoid
"Would you recommend us to others?" This produces a yes/no answer and sounds like a survey, not a conversation.
"What do you love about [Brand]?" The word "love" feels forced. Instead ask what stands out about the experience.
"Can you tell our viewers..." Acknowledging the camera or the audience makes the customer feel like they are performing rather than conversing.
"Is there anything else you want to add?" This sounds like a formality and rarely produces useful content. If you want a closing statement, use the "what would you tell someone in your situation" question instead.
"On a scale of 1 to 10..." Numerical ratings belong in surveys, not video testimonials. They produce content that is neither compelling nor credible.
Putting It All Together: Sample Question Flow
For a 20 to 25-minute testimonial interview, a streamlined question flow might look like:
Tell me about your role and what your company does. (1 minute)
What was the situation before you started working with us? What challenges were you facing? (2 to 3 minutes)
What had you tried before that did not solve the problem? (1 to 2 minutes)
What was the tipping point that made you seek a different approach? (1 to 2 minutes)
How did you find us, and what made you decide to move forward? (2 minutes)
Walk me through what the working relationship has been like. (3 to 4 minutes)
Was there a specific moment where you knew this was the right decision? (2 to 3 minutes)
What results have you seen? Can you put numbers on it? (2 to 3 minutes)
How has your team's experience changed? (2 minutes)
What would you tell someone in a similar situation? (1 to 2 minutes)
This flow provides approximately 20 minutes of raw footage, which is enough material to produce a compelling 60 to 90-second finished testimonial plus multiple short-form clips and quote cards.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I send the questions to the client in advance?
Yes. Sending questions in advance reduces anxiety and gives the customer time to think about specific examples and numbers. Emphasize that the questions are a guide, not a script, and that the actual conversation will be natural and conversational. Some customers will prepare thoroughly; others will glance at the list and wing it. Both approaches produce good content.
How many questions should I prepare for a testimonial interview?
Prepare 10 to 15 questions for a 20 to 25-minute interview. You will not use all of them. Having extras gives you options based on where the conversation naturally goes. The interview should feel like a guided conversation, not an interrogation.
What if the client gives short or vague answers?
Use follow-up prompts: "Can you give me a specific example?" or "What do you mean by that?" If the customer consistently gives brief answers, they may be uncomfortable or unprepared. Consider pausing to build rapport, sharing your own related experience briefly, or asking a completely different question to change the energy.
How do I handle it if the client mentions a competitor by name?
Unless you specifically want competitive comparison content, gently redirect: "That is a great point about what did not work before. Let us focus on what changed when you found a different approach." Most clients understand without being asked not to name competitors directly.
Can I use the same questions for every client?
The framework should be consistent, but the specific questions should be adapted based on the customer's industry, use case, and the narrative you want to capture. A retail customer's testimonial requires different framing than a B2B SaaS customer's testimonial, even if the underlying question structure is similar.
How important is it to capture the "before" state?
Extremely important. The "before" state creates the contrast that makes the "after" state meaningful. Without understanding what the customer was dealing with previously, the results they describe lack context and emotional weight. Spend adequate time on the problem and before-state questions.
Conclusion
The testimonial video questions to ask clients are the invisible framework behind every great customer story video. The questions you ask determine whether the finished piece contains specific, credible, and emotionally resonant content, or whether it produces another generic endorsement that fails to differentiate your brand.
Focus on questions that produce specifics: numbers, examples, named problems, and concrete outcomes. Guide the conversation through a natural narrative arc, from the problem through the decision, the experience, and the results. And always leave room for the unexpected moments that make each testimonial genuinely unique.
For agencies and brands looking to build a consistent testimonial production system, from customer outreach through recording and final delivery, The Aux Co provides embedded production support that manages the entire process. The companion article on how to ask customers for video testimonials covers the outreach and coordination side of the equation.
Contact The Aux Co to discuss how embedded production support can help you capture customer testimonials that actually move the needle.