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In today’s episode, I’m breaking down how I went from barely getting testimonials to receiving high-quality reviews every single week. For a full year, my program Plug And Get Paid was changing lives, yet I was only getting a handful of testimonials. After building a strategic framework for collecting reviews, I now receive written testimonials one to two times per week and, for the first time ever, video testimonials for my higher-ticket offer.

You’ll learn the real difference between informal and formal testimonials, why both matter, and how small but intentional systems can skyrocket your social proof. I’m sharing the exact tool I use to gamify the testimonial process, how I time my requests to get better results, and the irresistible incentive that finally got people to submit video reviews.

If you’ve struggled to gather testimonials or are tired of manually begging for feedback, this episode will help you automate the process and collect high-quality proof without chasing your customers.

In this episode, I cover:

• The difference between informal and formal testimonials
• Why timing is the key to getting stronger results
• How gamifying feedback increases submissions
• Which tool I use to automate testimonial collection
• How to strategically ask multiple times without being pushy
• The incentive strategy that got me high-ticket video testimonials
• How to use testimonials to upgrade sales pages and marketing

Full transcription of episode:

“Over the last few months, I’ve received some of the best testimonials that I’ve ever received in my business, and I want to talk about how I was able to make this possible.

For one of my offers, Plug and Get Paid, it is now officially one year old. There are 1,400 people inside, and for the first eight to nine months of having this offer, I had only received about 10 to 15 testimonials. That is not a lot in comparison to the number of people joining this offer on a monthly basis.

I knew this offer was life-changing. It had changed my life, and I actually created it originally for myself and then started selling it because I knew it was so valuable — but I was not seeing those testimonials come in.

Now that I’ve set up a new system — which I’m about to walk you through — I receive testimonials one to two times per week for that offer, which is absolutely amazing. And the quality of those testimonials is top tier, high, high, high quality.

For the other offer I’m going to talk about, I have received video testimonials for the first time ever. I would always ask for video testimonials in my form, and no one would ever submit them. So I want to talk about how I got some of the most heart-touching, heartfelt video testimonials and how I set that up.

One of these offers is a low-ticket offer. One of them is a high-ticket offer. Before I dive into the systems, I want to define the different types of testimonials I use in my business.

I categorize testimonials as informal testimonials and formal testimonials. They both matter, and they both hold weight, but they show up differently.

Informal testimonials are things like someone replying to a sales email. For example, maybe I’m selling IG University, they purchase it, and then they reply, “Oh my gosh, I’m loving IG University.” That’s an informal testimonial. Same thing with a direct message — someone might DM me and say, “I’ve been going through Plug and Get Paid. I love Plug and Get Paid.” That is still a testimonial and I will still use it, but it’s informal.

A formal testimonial, on the other hand, is where I have someone fill out a form with strategic questions. Those questions are designed to collect specific information that I can use to create case studies or a more well-rounded picture of the transformation they received from that specific offer — whether I’m sharing it on a sales page, in sales emails, or in my sales content on Instagram stories.

The testimonials I’m talking about in this episode are primarily formal testimonials. I use different methods to get more informal ones, but the formal ones are easier to automate. Informal testimonials usually require more manual effort, which is fine, but I love anything I can automate so I can see testimonials coming in every week without constantly chasing them.

For Plug and Get Paid, I set up a back-end automation. Previously, in other offers, I used the simple “send a follow-up email a few weeks later” method, like: “Hey, you’ve been inside for a month. Fill out this form and send in a testimonial.” I’ve used that setup in a bunch of different offers, and it doesn’t convert very well.

About a year ago, I came across a specific tool called Senja. It’s a testimonial collection tool. I saw another creator talking about it, took a screenshot, and made a note to come back to it later.

A few months ago, when I checked Plug and Get Paid, I could see that hundreds and hundreds of people had joined, but my testimonial bank — where I collect and organize testimonials by offer — had very few for Plug and Get Paid. That needed to change.

I remembered Senja, looked it up, and decided to test it. I sent an email to everyone who had purchased Plug and Get Paid at that point — around 1,000 people. This email was a one-off, not an automation.

In that email, I invited them to fill out a testimonial form in Senja. Think of Senja like a gamified Google Form. People fill out answers to your questions and, at the end, when they hit submit, they get to spin a little prize wheel.

You can add things to that wheel like coupon codes, free access to offers, cash back, and more — any kind of bonus or incentive.

That alone incentivizes more people to leave testimonials. When I sent that email to Plug and Get Paid customers, I got a bunch of really, really amazing testimonials just from that one outreach.

From there, I knew I didn’t want to manually send testimonial emails forever, so I set it up on the back end. Since Plug and Get Paid is a low-cost offer, I have the automation send the first testimonial request around four weeks after they join. That timing gives them enough space to:

• start using the templates
• implement them consistently
• see results

The timing of when you ask for testimonials is a huge piece of this. For more informal testimonials — like quick check-ins via chat support, DMs, or inside a Facebook group — it can be as simple as, “Week one is done, how are things going?” Those are great for snapshots and encouragement.

But if you want a solid, formal testimonial, you want to ask after your customer has had time to see or experience the transformation. Otherwise:

• they won’t fill it out at all, or
• they’ll fill it out before they’ve seen real results, and the testimonial won’t reflect how powerful the offer actually is.

This timing depends on the type of offer: low-cost, mid-cost, high-ticket; template, ebook, masterclass, course, membership, etc. You have to ask yourself: “What is the ideal timeframe in which I’d expect someone to see results from this offer?” For Plug and Get Paid, four weeks felt right. Ideally, by that point, they’ve used the templates for a full 30 days, sold consistently, and started bringing in leads and sales.

I also don’t just ask once. This is another important piece with formal testimonials.

People want to give testimonials, but they’re busy and they forget.

I remember a time when I exited a four-month mastermind that I loved. The mentor sent an email asking for a testimonial. I saw it, thought, “Yes, I want to do this,” and then marked it unread so I’d remember to come back when I had time. Life was life-ing — I was pregnant, busy, all the things — and I didn’t get to it.

She sent a second email. Again, I thought, “Yes, I want to fill this out,” and still didn’t.

She sent a third email, and it took that third reminder for me to actually submit the testimonial. Every single time she emailed, I wanted to submit it, but the timing just wasn’t right until it was.

That’s what it’s like for your people too. There’s so much power in repeatedly asking — especially for formal testimonials.

So for Plug and Get Paid, I have multiple touchpoints:

• One email at about four weeks
• A reminder about five days later
• Another reminder maybe seven days after that

The first email is more built out — explaining why I’d love a testimonial, what I hope they’ve experienced, and reminding them to dive into the offer if they haven’t yet. The follow-ups are short and sweet: “Hey, this is a reminder to fill out the testimonial form,” plus the link.

Because Senja gamifies the process, I can also say in those emails that they’ll get to spin the wheel and potentially earn discounts or free offers.

Inside my Senja setup, I have about six possible outcomes on the wheel. A couple of them are completely free things, and the others are heavily discounted — I’m talking like 80% off. It’s a really strong, fun incentive, and it’s all handled inside the tool.

Another thing I love about Senja is that once someone submits a testimonial, it automatically sends them a thank-you email and includes information about their prize if they spun the wheel. That way they have their coupon or reward in their inbox if they don’t want to claim it immediately.

Senja can also integrate with platforms like Kajabi and other course platforms. You can set it up so that when someone purchases a specific offer, it automatically starts the testimonial request flow at your chosen timeframe. This works especially well for offers with a shorter “time to transformation.”

So, that’s what I implemented for Plug and Get Paid to get testimonials coming in one to two times per week:

• strategic timing
• multiple reminders
• automated delivery
• and a gamified experience with incentives

Now, let’s talk about Scalability.

Scalability is my high-ticket offer. It’s my third-highest ticket offer after 1:1 coaching and my mastermind. Plug and Get Paid is low-cost; Scalability is in the $897–$1,097/month range, depending on the plan.

Before I relaunched Scalability as an evergreen offer, I knew I wanted to revamp the sales page and pull in really strong testimonials — especially video testimonials. I already had some fantastic written testimonials that are still featured on the sales page, but I wanted video because:

• there’s something uniquely powerful about seeing someone say it
• video testimonials build a deeper level of trust and social proof

I had always offered a space to upload a video inside my forms, but people almost never used it. And I totally get that. Life is busy. Even if an offer completely transforms someone’s business, they might think, “I’ll come back to record a video later,” and then never do it.

There’s a higher barrier to entry with video testimonials. So I decided to create something that was actually worth the extra effort for my customers and students.

I ran a two-week free mastermind for people who submitted a video testimonial for Scalability. I capped it at six spots.

I ended up getting about eight video testimonials. I put all the names into a random “spin the wheel” tool and selected the six winners from there. I used all of the submitted video testimonials on the Scalability sales page.

Because the incentive was genuinely valuable, people took the time to record thoughtful, detailed video testimonials. The videos were incredible.

This kind of incentive is not something I would do for a low-cost offer. For me, this was specific to a higher-ticket offer. If you’re just starting out and you really need testimonials for a lower-priced offer, it might make sense — but in general, I’d reserve this level of incentive for high-ticket or core programs.

The two-week mastermind wasn’t two weeks of full-time chat support either. I was only “in” the mastermind for about two days total across those two weeks. And honestly, I could probably do an entire future episode breaking down how I structured that because it was powerful for the participants and led some of them into other offers as well.

That wasn’t my primary intention. My main intention was to thank them for the video testimonials and serve them deeply for that period of time. But of course, it also became an opportunity to support them further and guide them into other offers where appropriate.

So that’s how I finally got high-quality video testimonials:

• by offering a high-value incentive that made sense for a high-ticket offer
• by making the “yes” worth the time and energy it takes to record video

You might need to experiment with what feels compelling enough for your people. A chance to win a $97 course, for example, probably won’t move most people to record a video. But something unique, rare, and clearly valuable — like a free mastermind, free 1:1 session, or free access to a premium course — can.

For me, the two-week mastermind was a one-time thing. It was amazing, but it also required a lot of my energy, so I don’t anticipate doing it again. However, it was completely worth it for the season I was in and for the quality and longevity of the testimonials I now have on my evergreen sales page.

So I hope this gives you some juicy ideas to implement for increasing both written and video testimonials in your business. Everything I mentioned will be linked down in the show notes.”

Resources & Links:

• Try Senja for just $1/month for 2 months
• Join Scalability
• 30 free selling on stories prompts
• Scaling Unlocked Mastermind Application
• Kajabi 30-day free trial + 2 bonuses
• Manychat
• IG University

Some of the links mentioned are affiliate links, which help to support this podcast at no additional cost to you.

Connect with Mya:

• Follow on Instagram @myanichol 
• Join my email list
• Check out my website
• Now on YouTube

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