When should a photographer ask for a testimonial?

A few days after the gallery is delivered, while people are still scrolling through it with family. Earlier and they have not seen the photos. Later and the excitement has faded into a nice memory, and the details that persuade a stranger are gone.

Should the testimonial mention the photos themselves?

One frame is welcome. The larger part should be about the day: how you handled the light going wrong or the schedule running behind. The photos are already on the page. The words have to cover the day.

Can I ask a wedding client months later?

Yes, and some of the best ones arrive that way, once an album has landed or the first anniversary passes. Send it with a specific memory from the day. It reminds them of what to write and shows you remember them, which most people appreciate.

Do I need a written testimonial for every kind of shoot?

Keep a few from each kind of work you want more of. A headshot client and a wedding couple read very different things into a page, so a family session with no words next to it leaves a parent guessing whether you are patient with children.

photographers

Testimonials for photographers

Show them what a day with you is like.

A portfolio is your best day. They want to know what you were like at hour eight.

Right below is the text I would send a client, ready to copy.

Start freeNo card needed. Cancel whenever.

A text you can send

The text I would send after a good job

A few days after the gallery goes out, while they are still passing it around.

Hi Pia, it's Lena from Wren & Field. I hope the gallery has been open on your kitchen table this week. When you have a moment, would you write a few sentences for my website about how the session felt, and which frame you keep going back to? Here's the link, no login needed: [your link]

Swap in your own names. The link comes from your dashboard.

Photographer testimonial examples

The kind of thing photographers collect with Exalted. Each one is invented and labelled as an example.

Example

We are both stiff in photos and somehow are not in any of these. She spent the whole day being almost invisible and then handed us four hundred pictures of it.

Tessa and Ali · Wedding, June

Example

My daughter will not sit still for anyone, and Lena did not try to make her. She followed her around the yard for an hour with a long lens and we ended up with the one where she is mid-shriek, laughing at the dog. It is on our fridge.

Callum and Pia W. · Family session, spring

Example

I hired her for headshots for my consulting practice and dreaded it. Twenty minutes in, I had stopped thinking about my hands. The proofs came back in two days and my business partner asked who took them.

Hollis D. · Headshot client

Example

It poured for the whole ceremony. She had umbrellas in her car, moved us under the porch for the portraits and did not once sound stressed. My mother still talks about the photo of my grandfather holding the umbrella.

Noor and Femi A. · Wedding, October

A portfolio shows the best frame. These describe the day around it, from a child who would not pose to a ceremony in the rain. Anyone about to hire a photographer wants to know how you behave when things go off plan, and only a past client can say.

How it works

1
Share one link
You get a single link. Send it by text or email to a client whose work went well.
2
They write it, in a minute
No account and no app to download. They rate you and write a couple of lines.
3
You approve what appears
Nothing is public until you say so. Approve the good ones and they appear on your website automatically.

When to ask

When the gallery is delivered and they have shown it to their family.

The single biggest reason photographers have no testimonials is that nobody asks while the work is still fresh, not that clients are unwilling.

Questions that get a real answer

“Please leave a review” produces “great service”, which persuades nobody. Ask something specific instead:

How did we make you feel in front of the camera?
How did we handle the parts of the day that ran late?
Which photo do you keep coming back to?

Or an email

For couples and business clients who would rather reply once things have settled.

Subject: Your gallery, and a small favor

Hi Noor and Femi,

I hope the framed prints from October arrived in one piece. Your grandfather with the umbrella is still my favorite frame from last year.

New couples read what earlier couples wrote before they ask me about my prices. Could you tell them what the day was like from your side of the lens, including the rain?

Write as little or as much as you want. There's no account to make: [your link]

Lena

Swap in your own names and the details of the job. The link comes from your dashboard.

Where people check a photographer first

Instagram
The portfolio in a scroll. They look at your last twenty posts to see whether the style you show now is the one they saw in a friend's album.
The Knot and WeddingWire
Where engaged couples build a vendor list and read what other couples said about whether the photographer stayed calm when the timeline slipped.
Google search for your name
Clients who were sent your name by a friend type it into Google first. What they find in the first results either confirms it or sends them elsewhere.
Pinterest boards
Brides and parents save photographers' work months ahead, and the boards link back to a website. If yours has no client words, the board is all they have.
Your own website
The site holds the galleries and the words together, so the rainy ceremony sits beside the story of the umbrellas. A booking inquiry arrives with a reason, not just "nice photos."

Questions photographers ask

When should a photographer ask for a testimonial?: A few days after the gallery is delivered, while people are still scrolling through it with family. Earlier and they have not seen the photos. Later and the excitement has faded into a nice memory, and the details that persuade a stranger are gone.
Should the testimonial mention the photos themselves?: One frame is welcome. The larger part should be about the day: how you handled the light going wrong or the schedule running behind. The photos are already on the page. The words have to cover the day.
Can I ask a wedding client months later?: Yes, and some of the best ones arrive that way, once an album has landed or the first anniversary passes. Send it with a specific memory from the day. It reminds them of what to write and shows you remember them, which most people appreciate.
Do I need a written testimonial for every kind of shoot?: Keep a few from each kind of work you want more of. A headshot client and a wedding couple read very different things into a page, so a family session with no words next to it leaves a parent guessing whether you are patient with children.

Every testimonial Exalted publishes is written by a real person and approved by the business owner.

Your reputation, as a ladder

Each approved testimonial moves you up a tier, so you have a reason to keep asking. Visitors see the tier and know how established you are.

Friendly1+ approved

Honored5+ approved

Revered15+ approved

Exalted30+ approved

Pricing

Starter is $9 a month or $85 a year. Pro is $19 a month or $180 a year. Both are free until your fifth testimonial, and neither asks for a card to begin.

See what is in each plan

Worth reading before you ask

More on the blog. If you ask for Google reviews too, the free Google review link generator and the review request templates need no account. If you want a client quote as a picture to post, I made a free testimonial image maker.

Start collecting this week

Set up a link in about five minutes and send it to the last client who thanked you.

Start free