A Guide to Client Testimonials: How to Get Them and What to Do Once You Have Them

Client testimonials and reviews are an essential part of your interior design business’ content strategy. Testimonials are easy to source and even easier to use in your marketing strategy, yet so many interior designers don’t take full advantage of the power that client testimonials possess.

Testimonials go beyond a product or service review- they put a client’s face with the services you provide, allowing potential clients to see you as a credible expert in the interior design industry. Testimonials from real and qualified clients go the extra mile and show potential clients that you’re a trusted, vetted, and proven solution.

Let’s be honest, clients move through the buyer’s journey. They’re looking for validation before committing to your services, and client testimonials are the best way to get from the consideration phase to the decision making stage. Strong testimonials solidify your position as an authority in your field. Client testimonials are a proven strategy for signing more qualified clients… ready to make it happen? Let me show you how!

Why Do You Need Client Testimonials?

A high end clients’ perception of your brand is going to make a huge impression on how potential clients see your brand. In a nutshell, clients you’ve worked with can be one of the biggest factors in growing your brand. 

 People like to know what they’re getting before they put any time or effort into even the possibility of using a service, or even purchasing a product for that matter. Have you seen the number of reviews on Amazon for little things like a banana slicer? Yeah, a banana slicer! That’s something inexpensive that won’t really have a major impact on anyone’s entire life, but there are tons of reviews, good and bad. 

Potential clients, especially high end clients, are going to put even more effort into researching a major purchase, like interior design services. Client testimonials are the equivalent of a really great review, from an actual person who can sincerely vouch for your brilliance. You’re really just delivering information on your brand to your potential clients on a silver platter. 

If the proof is in the pudding, then client testimonials are your pudding. They draw a connection from actual real life clients to potential clients, making it easier for anyone to envision themselves using your services. The most powerful marketing tool is still other humans, just ask Mark Schaefer, author of Marketing Rebellion. "Content about a brand created by a consumer gets 600% more engagement than content created by brand." 

Now let’s take that information and run with it!

How to Get Client Testimonials

There are a few ways you can go about sourcing your client testimonials. While client testimonials are important to you, not all clients love being in the spotlight, or the idea of giving a testimonial. 

You can ask your high end clients for a testimonial without being salesy or awkward. Below are a few ways to guide your clients in giving a testimonial, without being forceful or making it weird.

Make Post-Project Surveys a Thing

This is something you can do after every. single. project. And keep in mind, the easier you make the surveys, the more likely clients are to complete them honestly and thoroughly. 

Google Forms are a really easy way to gather client feedback. This is also an effective way to go because your data is all stored in your Google Drive, making it harder to lose things. Survey Monkey is another effective tool for collecting client testimonials. 

Carefully craft the questions on your survey to get meaningful answers from your clients. Like “what was the most surprising part of this project?” or “what do you think _______ did particularly well?” And of course, avoid yes or no questions. 

Keep an Eye Out for Hidden Testimonials

You can create a client testimonial out of any positive feedback you receive from a client. So comb through your emails and texts. See what your clients have already said about your services and turn that into a testimonial. Just be sure you ask the client first, before you make the testimonial public. 

What to Do with Client Testimonials

So you’ve put in the effort to gather a few client testimonials- that doesn’t mean you should stop- but you can start putting your current testimonials to good use right now while you continue to gather more.  

Up next, you’re going to harness the highly influential power of your clients’ words and use them to guide others to your desired end game… the decision to use you as their new designer. So start spreading the news, get the word out there, you’re amazing and everyone needs to know it. Read on to find out where to share your client testimonials.

Create a Testimonial Graphic for Social Media

Use a graphic design program like Canva to create an eye-catching, on-brand testimonial graphic template to post on social media. Pro tip: Canva has plenty of existing templates for client testimonials, you can just swap out the colors to suit your company.   

Then make testimonials a regular part of your content schedule. It should appear at least once, if not twice, in your grid. Every 12-15 posts is ideal. 

Add a Testimonial Section to Your Website or Landing Page

If you want to keep it fun, you can have a “see what people are saying” page, or you can just keep it simple with a testimonials section. You can create multiple testimonial graphics and share them on your website in a collage, or just share them in a list. 

Make it easy for your high end clients to find your testimonials by putting them all together in one place, with a giant flashing gif and step-by-step directions on how to navigate the page… maybe you don’t need to go that far, but don’t hide them with other content. They should stand out and be super easy to spot. 

Just remember, people are coming to you for design services, so however you choose to go about presenting your testimonials, make sure it looks professional… and lovely!

The Last Word

Client testimonials are a great place to start, but there are lots of other pieces to the running-a-successful-interior-design-business puzzle. 

With the right processes and systems, I took back my business, my self-worth, and my personal life. Now? I get to run a thriving, 7-figure interior design business — without the 7-figure stress, overwhelm & responsibility. 

AND YOU CAN, TOO.

All you need is the secret sauce. And lucky for you, I’ve bottled it up for you inside my sweet coaching program, the Interior Design Business Bakery. Let me show you how to market your biz, beyond testimonials. Click to learn more.