AI & Automation
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
When I started working with a B2B SaaS client, we faced the same challenge every startup struggles with: getting client testimonials. You know the drill - your product works great, clients are happy during calls, but getting them to actually write something down? That's another story entirely.
Like many SaaS founders, we ended up doing what seemed logical: crafting personalized emails, following up repeatedly, and hoping for the best. The time investment was brutal, and the results? A handful of testimonials trickling in after weeks of manual outreach.
Then I had a realization that changed everything. While working simultaneously on an e-commerce project, I discovered something the SaaS world had completely missed: e-commerce businesses had already solved testimonial automation years ago, because their survival literally depends on reviews.
Here's what you'll learn from my cross-industry discovery:
Why manual testimonial collection is actually holding your SaaS back
The e-commerce automation system I adapted for B2B
How automated testimonial distribution actually increased response rates
The platform I chose and why it outperformed custom solutions
Specific workflows you can implement in your SaaS business today
Industry Knowledge
The SaaS testimonial struggle everyone knows
Most SaaS businesses treat testimonial collection like it's 2015. They rely on manual outreach, hoping that happy customers will somehow find the time and motivation to write glowing reviews about their software.
The conventional SaaS wisdom goes like this:
Wait for organic testimonials - Cross your fingers and hope satisfied customers leave reviews spontaneously
Manual email campaigns - Send personalized requests to your happiest customers, then follow up repeatedly
Customer success driven - Have your CS team ask for testimonials during renewal conversations
Incentivize with discounts - Offer account credits or extended trials in exchange for reviews
Strategic timing - Request testimonials right after successful onboarding or feature adoption
This approach exists because B2B relationships feel more personal and complex than e-commerce transactions. SaaS founders believe their customers need that human touch, that personal ask, to provide meaningful feedback.
But here's where this wisdom falls short: it doesn't scale, and it puts the burden on your team rather than your system. While you're crafting individual emails and tracking follow-ups in spreadsheets, your competitors are building automated engines that generate social proof consistently.
The real problem? Most SaaS companies are solving a distribution problem with manual labor, when they should be solving it with smart automation that respects the B2B relationship dynamic.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
Here's how I learned this lesson the hard way. When I started working with my B2B SaaS client, we were drowning in what I call "testimonial poverty." Despite having genuinely happy customers, our social proof was virtually non-existent.
I set up what I thought was a solid manual outreach campaign. Personalized emails, strategic timing after successful milestones, follow-up sequences - the whole playbook. Did it work? Kind of. We got some testimonials trickling in, but the time investment was absolutely brutal. Hours spent crafting emails for a handful of reviews - the ROI just wasn't there.
Like many startups in this position, we ended up doing what we had to do: strategically positioning our testimonials page to look more populated than it actually was. Not ideal, but we needed social proof to convert visitors into trials.
The breakthrough came when I was simultaneously working on an e-commerce project - completely different industry, right? Wrong. That's where I discovered the most valuable lesson about testimonial automation.
In e-commerce, testimonials aren't nice-to-have; they're make-or-break. Think about your own online shopping behavior - you probably won't buy anything under 4 stars with less than 50 reviews. E-commerce businesses have been solving the testimonial automation problem for years because their survival literally depends on it.
The e-commerce industry had already built sophisticated systems for automated review collection, and I was sitting there manually crafting emails like it was 2010. The revelation was obvious in hindsight: why wasn't I adapting their proven automation tactics for B2B SaaS?
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
After testing multiple e-commerce review automation tools, I found what became my game-changer: Trustpilot's automated email system. Yes, it's expensive. Yes, their automated sequences are somewhat aggressive for typical B2B sensibilities. But here's the thing - their email automation converted like crazy in the e-commerce space.
So I did what seemed obvious in hindsight but revolutionary at the time: I implemented the same Trustpilot automation process for my B2B SaaS client. I adapted their e-commerce playbook for software testimonials.
The Automation System I Built
Instead of manual outreach, I created a systematic automation workflow:
Trigger Setup: Connected our customer success milestones to automated testimonial requests. When customers hit specific usage thresholds, completed onboarding, or renewed their subscription, the system automatically triggered a testimonial request sequence.
Multi-Channel Approach: Rather than just email, I implemented SMS follow-ups and in-app notifications. The e-commerce world taught me that customers respond differently to different channels, and combining them increases response rates significantly.
Template Adaptation: I took Trustpilot's high-converting email templates and adapted them for B2B software. The key was maintaining the urgency and social proof elements while adjusting the tone for professional relationships.
Smart Timing: Instead of guessing when to ask, I automated requests based on customer behavior - after feature adoption, positive support interactions, or usage milestones.
The Distribution Strategy
Here's where most SaaS companies stop thinking: once you collect testimonials, how do you distribute them effectively? E-commerce businesses automatically push reviews to Google, social media, and product pages. I applied the same logic:
Automated Publishing: Approved testimonials automatically appeared on our website, in email signatures, and across our marketing materials.
Cross-Platform Distribution: I set up workflows to automatically share testimonials on LinkedIn, Twitter, and industry-specific review sites like G2 and Capterra.
Personalization at Scale: Using automation tools, I created personalized testimonial requests that felt human but operated at machine efficiency.
Trigger Points
Automated requests based on customer success milestones, feature adoption, and positive support interactions rather than manual timing
Multi-Channel
Combined email, SMS, and in-app notifications to reach customers through their preferred communication method
Template System
Adapted high-converting e-commerce email templates for B2B context while maintaining professional tone and urgency
Distribution Automation
Automatically published approved testimonials across website, social media, and industry review platforms without manual intervention
The results spoke for themselves. The automated testimonial collection system generated more authentic reviews in one month than our manual process had produced in six months.
But the real impact went beyond just quantity. Because the automation system captured testimonials consistently, we started seeing patterns in customer feedback that helped us improve our product. The automated follow-up sequences also identified potential churn risks early - customers who didn't respond to testimonial requests often showed other warning signs.
Most importantly, the system freed up our customer success team to focus on actual customer success rather than chasing testimonials. The automation handled the grunt work while humans focused on relationship building.
The cross-industry approach worked because fundamentally, whether someone's buying shoes online or evaluating SaaS software, the psychology of social proof remains the same. People want to see evidence that others like them have had positive experiences.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Looking back, this experience taught me several crucial lessons about automation and cross-industry learning:
Don't live in your industry bubble. The best solutions often come from completely different sectors that have already solved your problem.
Automation doesn't mean impersonal. The right system can actually create more personal experiences by timing requests perfectly and using customer data intelligently.
Volume enables quality. When you collect more testimonials, you can be choosier about which ones to feature, leading to higher-quality social proof.
Distribution matters as much as collection. A testimonial sitting in your email inbox has zero value - it needs to be seen by prospects.
Test across channels. Different customers prefer different communication methods, and automation lets you test all of them systematically.
Psychology beats industry norms. The fundamentals of social proof work the same whether you're selling software or sneakers.
Automation reveals insights. When you systematize feedback collection, patterns emerge that manual processes miss.
The biggest lesson? Sometimes the best marketing automation strategy isn't found in your competitor's playbook - it's in a completely different industry that's already solved your exact problem.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
Set up automated testimonial requests triggered by customer success milestones and feature adoption
Use multi-channel approach combining email, SMS, and in-app notifications for higher response rates
Implement automated distribution to G2, Capterra, and industry review sites
For your Ecommerce store
Automate review requests post-purchase and integrate with platforms like Trustpilot or Yotpo
Set up automated sharing of positive testimonials across social media and product pages
Use customer behavior data to trigger testimonial requests at optimal moments