Turning Customer Testimonials into a CS Growth Lever

Most Customer Success Managers (CSMs) know the value of a strong customer relationship—but turning that relationship into a meaningful testimonial often slips down the list. It’s not that customers aren’t happy; it’s that there’s no consistent process for asking at the right time, in the right way. And when testimonials do exist, they’re usually handed off to marketing and rarely looped back into the CS workflow.

That’s a missed opportunity.

Customer testimonials, when done right, can reinforce your team’s impact, strengthen renewal conversations, and help internal teams build better products and stories.

This blog breaks down why testimonials matter for CSMs, common challenges in collecting them, and practical ways to build a repeatable system that works.

What is a customer testimonial?

A customer testimonial is a written or recorded statement from a customer that reflects their experience with your product or service. It can take many forms—text quotes, video clips, success stories, or case studies—but the goal is the same: to provide credible, real-world validation of your product’s value.

For Customer Success Managers, testimonials go beyond marketing material. They are proof points of value delivered, milestones achieved, and trust built over time. When used right, they can become one of your most strategic tools in renewals, upsells, and internal alignment.

The challenges CSMs face with collecting testimonials

Getting a testimonial sounds simple—until you actually try to make it happen. For many CSMs, it’s not a lack of good relationships that holds things up. Without a clear process, it’s easy for testimonial requests to get pushed aside or forgotten entirely.

Timing the ask correctly

A well-timed testimonial can feel natural and easy. But if you ask too early, the customer may not have seen results. If you wait too long, the momentum fades. 

Most CSMs want to ask when the customer is most satisfied—but that moment isn’t always obvious unless you’re tracking things like sentiment or product milestones.

Knowing who to ask (and who not to)

Not every customer is ready—or willing—to provide a testimonial. Some are promoters, others are neutral or still figuring things out. Sorting through account notes or past conversations to find your best candidates can be time-consuming. Without a smarter way to filter for advocates, it’s hard to scale testimonial efforts consistently.

Coordinating across teams

Even if you’ve found the right person at the right time, there’s still the challenge of coordinating with marketing, getting approval, and following up. 

These steps are often handled informally, which means progress can stall or get lost in email threads. A lack of visibility into who owns what slows down even the best efforts.

To move faster and with more confidence, CSMs need ways to track these efforts, automate some of the coordination, and collaborate across departments without starting from scratch every time.

How to know when a customer is ready to give a testimonial

You can’t ask every customer at random and expect strong testimonials. The best testimonials come from people who’ve clearly seen value and are happy to share that experience. But how do you know when someone’s actually ready?

Look for signals of satisfaction and success

Customers don’t always say “we love you” outright, but they’ll often show it. Strong product usage, milestone completions, or voluntary renewal conversations are good signs. If a customer is reaching out with positive feedback or excited about new features, those are green lights worth acting on.

Use sentiment analysis and health scores

This is where tech can help. Instead of manually digging through emails or call notes, use tools that aggregate sentiment and track customer health over time. 

You can do this efficiently by using platforms like Velaris, which automatically flag customers showing strong sentiment across tickets, transcripts, and messages. This gives CSMs an easy way to spot advocates without guesswork.

Knowing when to ask is half the battle. Once you’ve identified those customers, the next step is making sure you ask in a way that feels thoughtful and simple.

Best practices for requesting testimonials from customers

Asking for a testimonial shouldn’t feel like a favor. It should feel like a recognition of the customer’s success. The way you frame the ask—and when you do it—can make a big difference in how often people say yes.

Personalize the ask

Make it specific to the customer’s journey. Reference a key result they’ve achieved or a moment when your product solved a real problem. A generic ask feels like a marketing task. A tailored one feels like a conversation.

Offer a clear structure

Let customers know exactly what’s involved—whether it’s a short quote, a 10-minute interview, or a video call. The more predictable the process, the easier it is for them to agree.

Make it easy for them to say yes

Some customers don’t mind contributing, but they don’t have time to write from scratch. You can support them by sending a short questionnaire, offering draft quotes, or even ghostwriting a testimonial based on things they’ve said before.

Ask at the right touchpoint

A well-timed ask matters just as much as how you ask. Use trigger-based outreach tied to milestones like NPS scores or onboarding completion. Velaris lets you automate testimonial requests through email sequences that are triggered by time or specific events, saving you from manually chasing every opportunity.

Once the ask is made and the customer agrees, the next step is capturing their story in a way that’s meaningful—and usable—across the business.

Different types of testimonials 

Not all testimonials are created equal. Some work best in renewal decks. Others are perfect for executive presentations or internal product feedback. The key is capturing different types of testimonials and matching them to the right use case.

Written quotes

These are fast, flexible, and easy to plug into QBRs, onboarding emails, or success plans. A well-written quote from a customer can support renewals or expansion conversations without requiring a big production.

Video snippets

A short video can be incredibly persuasive—especially for decision-makers. Even a 30-second clip of a customer speaking positively about your product can be more powerful than a full case study, especially when shared in exec-level meetings.

Case studies

For customers willing to share more, case studies offer depth and context. They can support product roadmaps, sales conversations, and even customer onboarding. Internal playbooks can help you create consistency around how case studies are scoped, written, and approved.

CS-driven stories for internal use

Not every testimonial needs to be public. Sometimes, a quote or short summary can be used to advocate for the customer internally—whether in product feedback sessions or leadership reviews. Capturing these stories in your CS platform ensures they’re not forgotten in your inbox.

Now that you’ve collected and categorized your testimonials, the next step is knowing where they fit across the customer journey.

How to use testimonials across the customer journey

Testimonials aren’t just nice to have—they’re useful assets at multiple stages of the customer experience. When you plug them into the right moment, they help set expectations, reinforce value, and make customers feel part of a broader success story.

Onboarding

New users often want to know what success looks like. Share testimonials from similar companies or roles to build confidence and highlight quick wins.

Risk or renewal conversations

When a customer is hesitant or reconsidering value, hearing how another customer overcame similar concerns can help reset the narrative.

Executive business reviews

Earning executive buy-in is easier with relatable stories. Use testimonials from other decision-makers to show strategic value and long-term impact.

Expansion and upsell

If you’re introducing a new product or use case, testimonials from customers who’ve already used those features can build trust and lower friction.

You can streamline this process by storing, tagging, and embedding testimonials directly into success plans with Velaris. That way, every CSM has the right story, ready at the right time.

Tools to make testimonial collection easier

Even with the best intentions, testimonial collection falls apart without a system behind it. The good news is that there are ways to automate and streamline the process so it fits into your existing CS workflow.

Automate the outreach

Don’t rely on manual follow-ups. Set up automations that trigger testimonial requests after key events like a successful onboarding or a high NPS score.

Standardize the process with templates

Build templates for testimonial requests, follow-ups, and even interview questions. This helps your team move faster while keeping the tone consistent.

Use surveys to identify promoters

Send NPS, CSAT, or CES surveys and analyze responses to spot potential advocates. With Velaris, you can automate follow-ups based on high scores or positive feedback, turning satisfied customers into testimonial candidates.

Track tasks and progress

Managing testimonial outreach should feel like managing any other CS project. Use task management to assign ownership, set due dates, and avoid letting requests fall through the cracks.

With Velaris, you can treat testimonials like any other structured workflow—complete with checklists, automations, and team visibility. That means fewer missed opportunities and more stories that actually get shared.

Conclusion

Customer testimonials shouldn’t be an afterthought or something you only think about when marketing asks. They’re one of the few assets that can support your goals across the entire customer journey—whether it’s building trust early on, reinforcing value during renewals, or helping your team align with product and sales. 

If you're looking for a way to make testimonials part of your day-to-day CS workflow—from identifying advocates to tracking follow-ups—Velaris can help. With built-in automation, sentiment analysis, task tracking, and survey tools, it gives you what you need to collect and apply testimonials without adding more to your plate.

Book a demo today to see how Velaris can help you build a repeatable system for collecting and using customer testimonials.