How to Turn NPS Promoters Into Testimonials Automatically

Image URL

Do not index

AI summary

The guide explains how to turn NPS promoters (scores of 9‑10) into testimonials by first using a manual weekly export process and then automating requests with Testimonial’s auto‑routing feature, which sends a personalized email instantly after a promoter submits a survey; it covers setup steps, required plans, email customization, testing, and highlights benefits, limitations, and common pitfalls.

Title

How to Turn NPS Promoters Into Testimonials Automatically

Date

Description

How to turn NPS promoters into testimonials: the manual weekly email, then score-based routing in Testimonial that asks every 9 and 10 the day they answer.

Status

Current Column

Person

Writer

Someone gave you a 9 last Tuesday. They said they'd recommend you. Then their answer went into a spreadsheet, and nobody asked them to actually do it.

That's the gap. The NPS score tells you who's willing. A testimonial is the thing a stranger can read. Most teams run them as two separate jobs, owned by two people, with weeks between the score and the ask. By the time the testimonial request goes out, the promoter has forgotten why they said yes.

This post closes the gap. First the manual way, which works with any NPS tool. Then the automatic way in Testimonial, where a 9 or a 10 sends the testimonial request on its own, the moment they submit.

If you want the thinking behind the score (what a 7 means, what to do with a 3), that's our guide to NPS surveys. If you haven't sent a survey yet, start with how to create an NPS survey. This post is only the promoter step.

What you'll end up with

Every 9 and 10 getting a testimonial request, without anyone exporting a list

The request going to the email they answered the survey with, so there's no matching names to rows

An email in your own words, not a generic "rate us" message

Testimonials landing in the same Space as everything else you collect, waiting for your approval

One decision before you start: what a promoter gets. A testimonial request is the default. A case study invite is the bigger ask, for when you want the story behind the score. You can do both. Decide before you touch any settings.

The manual way (any NPS tool)

If your NPS tool can export responses, you can do this today with a spreadsheet and your inbox.

Filter to promoters. Export your responses and keep the 9s and 10s. You need name, email, score, the comment if they left one, and the date.

Do it weekly. Monthly is too slow. The point is to ask while they still remember what they were scoring.

Write one email and reuse it. Short. They've already said they'd recommend you, so you're not persuading anyone. You're making it easy.

Mention their answer. If they left a comment, quote a few words of it back. It proves a person read it.

Link straight to the form. One link, one click, no login.

Keep a column for "asked". So the same customer doesn't get asked again next quarter.

Here's the email I'd send:

Hi {name},
You gave us a 9 on our survey last week, thank you. You said "{a few words from their comment}".
Would you turn that into a short testimonial we could share on our site? It takes about a minute: {link}
If you'd rather not, no problem at all.
Damon

No paragraph about how much their feedback means to you. No list of what to write. If you want to give them prompts, put them on the form, not in the email. How to ask for testimonials has more versions if this one doesn't fit.

Where the manual way breaks

You forget. The export sits in Downloads. The week gets busy. The email never goes out.

The wait is uneven. With a weekly batch, someone who answered on Monday waits six days for the ask. Someone who answered on Sunday waits one.

The handoff loses things. A name gets pasted into the wrong row. A customer who answered twice gets asked twice. A promoter whose email bounced just vanishes.

With five promoters a month, none of this matters much. Do it by hand. With fifty, the spreadsheet is the bottleneck, and the ask stops happening.

Doing this with Testimonial

Testimonial's NPS has score-bucket routing built in. You tell it what happens to promoters, passives and detractors, and it does that when each response comes in. For promoters, one of the options is "Send them a testimonial request email". Tick it, and every 9 or 10 gets the request automatically.

What you need before starting

The Ultimate + plan. NPS with auto-routing is on Ultimate +, $95/month per space as of October 2026. See pricing. Plans below that get a one-time preview for the whole account: one survey, up to 50 email invites, and the first 10 responses. Enough to try routing on a real list before you pay.

A Space with a collection page. The testimonial request links to it.

An NPS survey, or ten minutes to make one. How to create an NPS survey walks through every field.

Steps

Open the survey. In your Space, click "NPS" in the left sidebar. Create a new survey, or click an existing one and open its "Settings" tab. Settings holds the same fields as the creation form.

Check the thresholds. The colour-coded score bar defaults to 0–6 detractors, 7–8 passives, 9–10 promoters. Leave it there. If you move the promoter handle down to 8, you'll be asking people who weren't that keen.

Tick the promoter action. In the auto-routing rules, under Promoters (9–10), tick "Send them a testimonial request email". If you'd rather go deeper, tick "Invite them to a case study" and pick the case study. You can tick both.

Decide about passives. Passives (7–8) have the same "Send them a testimonial request email" option. I leave it off. A 7 is someone who's fine, and "fine" doesn't make a good testimonial. Turn it on later if your promoter list is too small to matter.

Rewrite the testimonial request email. The default subject is "Would you leave us a quick testimonial?" and the body thanks them for their feedback and invites a text or video testimonial. A "Leave a testimonial" button linking to your collection page is added automatically. You can change the sender name, subject, body and button colour. Rewrite the body in your voice, using the email above as a starting point, and put your own name as the sender.

Save. Click "Save". Changes to routing and email templates apply to responses received after the update, not to anything already sent. So if your survey has been running for a month, the promoters from last month won't get the request. Use the manual way for them, once.

Test it on yourself. Open "Recipients", click "Add recipient" and add your own email. The invitation goes out straight away. Answer with a 10. The testimonial request should follow shortly after you submit. Check the sender, the subject and that the button opens your collection page.

Send to your list. Back in "Recipients", use "Import from testimonials" or "Add recipient". From here, every promoter gets the ask without you touching anything.

What it looks like when it worked

A promoter answers the survey: name, email, score, optional comment, "Submit".

The testimonial request goes to the email they answered with. No export, no list.

They click "Leave a testimonial" and land on your collection page, where they can write or record one.

Their testimonial shows up in your Space with everything else, waiting for you. Nothing goes on your site until you choose to put it there, for example on your Wall of Love.

Their NPS response stays in the survey's "Submissions" tab, so you can still read the comment next to the score.

The same routing runs if you put the survey inside your product. How to run an in-app NPS survey covers passing the user's name and email to the embed, so a promoter there can be routed too. An anonymous score can't route anywhere.

Where ours stops

It costs more than a spreadsheet. Ultimate + is $95/month per space. If you get five promoters a month, the manual way is fine, and I'd use it.

The rule is per bucket. Every promoter gets the same email. You can't say "only customers on annual plans" or "only people who left a comment". If you need that, ask by hand.

It only works going forward. Turning routing on today doesn't reach last quarter's promoters. They need the manual email.

It doesn't write the testimonial for them. The request still has to be good enough to answer. A generic email gets generic results, which is why step 5 matters more than step 3.

Case study or testimonial?

Both options sit under Promoters, and you can tick both. How I'd pick:

Testimonial request when you want volume. A sentence or a short video from lots of happy customers, for your site and your sales pages.

Case study invite when you want a story. Fewer people will do it, and you'll get more from each. The case study runs as a set of questions they answer in their own time, no call needed. How to run a case study interview without a call covers what to ask.

If you're unsure, start with the testimonial request. You can add the case study invite later without changing anything else.

Before you publish anything

A promoter clicking "Leave a testimonial" is them choosing to write one for you. Their NPS comment is different. It was feedback, not a public endorsement.

If a comment in "Submissions" would make a great quote, don't copy it onto your site. Ask first, or let the testimonial request do the asking. The legal side of testimonials covers consent and disclosure. What makes a good testimonial covers which ones are worth publishing.

Where people get stuck

Nobody got the request. Routing applies to responses received after you saved it. Check the box is still ticked in "Settings", then test with your own email again.

The same customer was asked twice. If they answer a new survey with another 10, they're a promoter again. Before you send a new round, think about who already gave you a testimonial and leave them off the list.

Promoters open it but don't submit. Read your email again. If it sounds like a system notification, it'll be treated like one. Your name as sender and one specific line about their answer does more than any button colour.

The promoter list is tiny. That's a survey problem, not a routing problem. Send to more of the right people. Don't move the threshold down to 7 to make the number bigger.

Wrapping up

A 9 or a 10 is someone telling you they'd vouch for you. The routing just makes sure you ask them while they still mean it.

Tick "Send them a testimonial request email" under Promoters, rewrite the email so it sounds like you, test it on yourself, and every promoter after that gets asked on the day they answered.