## Introduction
Collecting customer testimonials is crucial for marketing teams aiming to build credibility, social proof, and improve brand engagement. However, manually reaching out to customers for feedback and testimonials can be time-consuming and inefficient. Automating testimonial collection through surveys streamlines this process, ensuring timely follow-ups and higher response rates.
This guide walks you through building an automated workflow using Make (formerly Integromat), integrating tools such as Google Forms for surveys, Google Sheets for data management, and Slack/email for notifications. This automation suits marketing teams within startups and SMEs who want to systematize testimonial collection, reduce manual overhead, and scale their customer feedback gathering.
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## What Problem Does This Automation Solve?
Manually gathering customer testimonials involves repeated outreach via email or phone, manual tracking of responses, and follow-up communication. This process is prone to delays and errors, often leading to missed testimonials that could have improved marketing content.
Automation benefits:
– Automatically trigger testimonial requests post-purchase or after a milestone
– Collect responses centrally without manual data entry
– Notify marketing or customer success teams immediately upon new testimonials
– Maintain data accuracy with structured storage
This workflow helps marketing teams focus on crafting content and engaging customers, while automation handles outreach and data management.
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## Tools and Services Integrated
– **Google Forms**: Create and host customer satisfaction surveys that collect testimonial data.
– **Google Sheets**: Acts as a data repository for responses for easier tracking and analysis.
– **Make (Integromat)**: The automation platform orchestrating triggers and actions across services.
– **Slack and/or Email**: Real-time notifications to marketing or customer success teams when new testimonials arrive.
You can swap Google Forms with Typeform or SurveyMonkey, and Slack with Microsoft Teams or other communication platforms.
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## How the Workflow Works: From Trigger to Output
### Step 1: Triggering the Testimonial Survey
We’ll trigger the workflow when a customer completes a purchase or achieves a predefined milestone. For example, when a new row is added to a “Completed Orders” Google Sheet or via webhook from an e-commerce platform.
### Step 2: Sending the Testimonial Survey Link
Once triggered, the automation sends a personalized email containing a Google Form survey link asking for feedback and testimonials.
### Step 3: Collecting Survey Responses
Testimonial responses are submitted via Google Forms.
### Step 4: Processing the Responses
Responses are automatically added to a Google Sheet.
### Step 5: Notify Team of New Testimonials
Make triggers when a new row is added to the response sheet and sends alerts via Slack/email.
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## Detailed Step-by-Step Tutorial
### Prerequisites
– Google account with access to Google Forms and Sheets
– Make account
– Email service account (e.g., Gmail or SMTP access)
– Slack workspace (optional)
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### Step 1: Create a Google Form for Testimonials
1. Go to [Google Forms](https://forms.google.com).
2. Create a new form titled “Customer Testimonial Survey.”
3. Add fields such as:
– Customer Name (Short answer)
– Email Address (Short answer)
– How was your experience? (Linear scale 1-5 or multiple choice)
– Please provide your testimonial (Paragraph)
– Can we feature your testimonial publicly? (Yes/No)
4. Under settings, ensure response collection is enabled and optionally restrict to customer emails.
5. Copy the form URL for later use.
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### Step 2: Prepare Google Sheets to Track Purchases and Responses
– Create a “Completed Orders” Google Sheet with columns like:
– Order ID
– Customer Name
– Customer Email
– Purchase Date
– Testimonial Sent (Yes/No)
– Create a separate Google Sheet for responses or link the Form responses directly (Google Forms can create response sheets automatically).
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### Step 3: Set up Make Scenario to Send Survey Emails
1. Log in to your Make account.
2. Create a new Scenario.
3. Add Google Sheets module “Watch Rows” configured to monitor the “Completed Orders” sheet for new rows where “Testimonial Sent” is ‘No’.
4. Add an email module (e.g., Gmail – Send an email) to send a personalized email with the Google Form link. Use variables from the Google Sheet row such as Customer Name and Email.
– Subject: “We’d love your feedback on your recent purchase”
– Body: Include the survey link and thank the customer for their purchase.
5. Add a Google Sheets “Update Row” module to mark “Testimonial Sent” as ‘Yes’ to avoid re-sending emails.
6. Set the scenario to run every few hours or as per business needs.
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### Step 4: Set up Make Scenario to Process New Survey Responses
1. Add a Google Sheets “Watch Rows” module pointing to the Form response sheet.
2. Add filters or conditions to ensure only new responses trigger actions.
3. Add a Slack module (Send message) or Email module (Send notification) to alert the marketing team.
– Message example: “New Testimonial Received from {{Customer Name}}: {{Testimonial Text}}”
4. Optionally, append or transfer response data into a centralized marketing database or CRM.
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## Breakdown of Each Automation Step
| Step | Module/Node | Purpose | Key Configurations |
|——-|————-|———|———————|
| 1 | Google Sheets Watch Rows (Completed Orders) | Detect new purchases without testimonials sent | Watch for rows with ‘Testimonial Sent’ = ‘No’ |
| 2 | Gmail Send Email | Sends personalized testimonial survey request | Use dynamic content in email body and subject |
| 3 | Google Sheets Update Row | Mark testimonial request as sent | Change ‘Testimonial Sent’ to ‘Yes’ to prevent duplicates |
| 4 | Google Sheets Watch Rows (Form Responses) | Detect completed survey responses | Monitor form response sheet for new rows |
| 5 | Slack Send Message / Email | Notify team of new testimonial | Include testimonial text and customer info |
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## Common Errors and How to Make the Workflow More Robust
– **Duplicate emails sent:** Ensure the scenario correctly updates the ‘Testimonial Sent’ status immediately after sending to prevent re-triggering.
– **Delayed triggers:** Set proper scenario scheduling or switch to instant triggers using webhooks when possible.
– **Email delivery issues:** Use verified domain email services and monitor bounce rates.
– **Data mismatches:** Validate that Google Sheets column headers do not change, or use header mapping by name to avoid errors.
– **Handling invalid survey responses:** Add filters to exclude incomplete or irrelevant responses before notifications.
Handle error notifications within Make (e.g., via Slack) to monitor scenario failures.
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## How to Adapt or Scale the Workflow
– **Integrate CRM:** Automatically push testimonials into Salesforce, HubSpot, or similar platforms for marketing use.
– **Multi-channel surveys:** Instead of email-only, send survey requests through SMS, or incorporate chatbot surveys.
– **Segmented follow-ups:** Trigger different emails based on customer segments or purchase types.
– **Add sentiment analysis:** Append an NLP step to analyze testimonial sentiment and prioritize positive reviews.
– **Public testimonial posting:** Extend automation to push approved testimonials automatically to your website or social media.
Scaling the workflow involves monitoring system performance, introducing rate limits, and ensuring API quotas are not exceeded.
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## Summary
Automating testimonial collection empowers marketing teams to efficiently gather valuable customer feedback without manual intervention. By integrating Google Forms, Sheets, communication channels, and Make automation, you can build a reliable and scalable system that drives higher engagement and supports marketing efforts.
**Bonus Tip:** To increase survey response rates, personalize your emails using the customer’s purchase data and schedule reminders to customers who haven’t responded after a set period.
This approach not only saves time but also creates a continuous feedback loop that feeds your marketing pipeline with authentic testimonials, boosting trust and conversions.