Updated 20 September 2026: first published on Elite Agent in May 2025. The article has been refreshed as an AI basics guide to requesting genuine client feedback and permission to share it.
If you’ve ever lost track of a thoughtful client message or forgotten where a useful review landed, you are not alone. Collecting feedback can become another job that gets pushed down the list.
In a podcast conversation with Peter Brewer, then REIQ Board Chair, I asked what he would do if he started in real estate again. His advice about gathering video testimonials stayed with me.
You can view the original Instagram clip, but the practical lesson stands on its own: make it straightforward for clients to describe their experience, in their own words.
Can AI help me ask for a real estate testimonial?
Yes. A useful beginner task is drafting a short invitation and a few open questions. The client supplies the experience and the opinion.
Start with the service you provided, a suitable time to ask and the ways you can genuinely accept feedback. Some people prefer writing; others may be comfortable recording a short video. Make either optional.
You do not need to put a client’s personal details or private transaction information into the prompt. Use placeholders and personalise the invitation yourself.
Draft a short, friendly invitation asking a real estate client for honest feedback.
Service provided: [SERVICE]
When I will ask: [MILESTONE]
Feedback methods I can actually offer: [TEXT OR VIDEO DETAILS]
Use placeholders for personal details. Make the invitation optional and welcome positive, mixed or negative feedback. Do not assume satisfaction, suggest a star rating, offer a reward or write the testimonial for the client.
Suggest three open questions about their experience. Avoid leading questions or assumed results. Keep the invitation under 100 words, with the questions separately below it.
Add a separate request for permission to publish their words, name or image on [SPECIFIED CHANNELS]. Make clear I will confirm any edited version with them first. Ask me for missing details rather than inventing them.Useful questions might include “What was most helpful?”, “What could we have done better?” and “What would someone considering this service want to know?”
Read the invitation aloud before sending. It should sound like a person asking for feedback, not a request for a predetermined compliment.
Keep the collection process simple
When I first tried Testimonial.to, I liked having a place to collect and organise feedback. These screenshots show my original 2024 setup; they are examples of that interface, not a promise about today’s features or plans.
Check the tool’s current feature information against what you need before setting up your form. A simple collection process is more useful than a complicated system you never use.
I’d still like asking for feedback to feel easier than convincing a Bunnings sausage-sizzle volunteer to give you extra onion. But easy should also mean clear: explain who is asking, where the feedback goes and whether it may be published.
Check permission and preserve what the client meant
Keep the original response. If you shorten a quote, send the proposed version back for approval and make sure it still represents the person’s experience. Confirm permission for their words, name, photograph or video and the places you intend to use them.
The ACCC’s online reviews guidance explains why reviews should reflect genuine experiences and opinions. Do not use AI to invent a customer, improve the substance of a review or turn mixed feedback into unqualified praise.
Start with one invitation, one real response and a reliable way to record consent. AI can help with the wording and organisation; the value comes from what the client actually has to say.
The original version appeared in Samantha McLean’s AI Powered Agents newsletter. Read the refreshed source article on AI Powered Real Estate by Samantha McLean on Substack.