The gear gets the credit, but the interview is where a testimonial is won or lost. Ask the wrong questions and you get a polite, forgettable endorsement. Ask the right ones and a customer tells a story that sounds like the truth — because it is. These are the nine questions we come back to on almost every shoot, in the order that builds a natural arc.
The nine questions
- "Take me back — what was going on before you found us?" Sets the scene and surfaces the problem in the customer's own words.
- "What were you worried about?" Names the objection your prospects are feeling too.
- "What made you finally decide to try something?" Reveals the trigger — often the most relatable moment in the whole film.
- "Why us, over the other options?" Your differentiator, stated by someone with no reason to flatter you.
- "What was it actually like to work with us?" The honest texture — where believable detail lives.
- "Was there a moment things clicked?" Finds the turn in the story, the before-and-after hinge.
- "What's different now?" The result. Push gently for specifics — numbers, time saved, a feeling.
- "Who would you tell to work with us?" A natural, un-pushy recommendation.
- "Anything you'd want someone on the fence to know?" Often produces the single best line in the edit.
The trick isn't the list — it's following up. When someone says "it saved us time," ask "how much?" The specific answer is the one that sells.
Questions to avoid
- Yes/no questions. "Were you happy with us?" gets you a nod, not a story. Ask "what" and "how," never "did."
- Leading questions. "Wasn't the team amazing?" puts words in their mouth and it shows on camera.
- Jargon. Your acronyms don't translate. Ask people to explain things the way they'd tell a friend.
- Multi-part questions. Ask one thing at a time or you'll only get an answer to the last part.
How to make someone comfortable on camera
Most people tense up the second the record light comes on. A few things melt it away: keep the crew small, chat for a few minutes before you roll, and tell them there are no wrong answers and no rush — you can always go again. Never hand someone a script. The moment they're reading, the honesty is gone, and honesty is the entire product.
What we do differently on set
A big part of our job is making the camera disappear. We keep the set tiny on purpose — fewer lights and fewer strangers means your customer relaxes, forgets the lens, and just talks. Then we listen for the money line: the one sentence that captures everything, and cut the film around it. It's the same approach we bring to every story in our work.
Once you've got a willing customer, the other half of the equation is the ask itself. We cover that in how to ask a customer to be in a video testimonial. And if you'd rather hand the whole thing off, that's what we're for — see the complete guide to testimonial video production.
- Open questions and good follow-ups beat any script.
- Push gently for specifics — the concrete answer is the one that converts.
- Avoid yes/no, leading, jargon-heavy, and multi-part questions.
- A small, calm set is what makes people tell the truth.
