A testimonial form is the difference between a testimonial you can publish and an email you have to chase twice. It collects the words, the name and the permission in one step. It also, if you let it grow, collects nothing at all: every field you add costs you a proportion of the people who started. This page is the fields that earn their place, in order, and the ones that quietly cost you answers.
The five fields that earn their place
Their words, their name, their job title and company, a yes to publishing, and how they want to be credited. That is a complete, publishable, defensible testimonial, and it fits on one screen of a phone.
The permission field is not optional
One checkbox with plain wording: may we publish this, with your name and company, on our website and in our marketing. Keep the answer with the words. 'They said it in an email' is not a record you would want to rely on later.
What to leave out
Star ratings you will never show, a category dropdown for a business with four services, a file upload, and anything that looks like a survey. On the worked example each ask already costs twelve minutes of your own time; a long form spends the customer's goodwill instead.
Questions people ask about testimonial forms
Should the form be public or a private link?
A private link to a named customer gets better answers and lets you pre-fill their name. A public one is for the rare unsolicited case.
Do I need a star rating?
Only if you will show it. An unshown rating is a field that cost you answers for nothing.
Can I edit what they wrote?
Trim for length and fix a typo. Do not change the claim, and if you shorten heavily, show them the shortened version before it goes up.