We all do it: read reviews before making a purchase. In fact, 82% of respondents surveyed by Brightlocal reported reading online reviews before buying a product or service. In fact, a whopping 77% report ‘always’ or ‘regularly’ reading reviews when browsing for local businesses. That’s up from 60% in 2020.
No one will ever do as convincing of a job at selling what your company has to offer than a genuinely satisfied customer. The best Sales and CS teams in the game won’t hold as much weight in the minds of your future customers as a customer testimonial video will.
Customer Testimonial Video is Invaluable: McQuivey’s Equation
As we know all too well, you do not have a generous amount of time to capture your audience’s attention. To hold that attention, communicate a message, and have them retain it is an even more daunting task.
This leads us to Dr. James McQuivey who begged the question: if a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is a video worth?
In short, his answer? A one-minute video is worth 1.8 million words. Huh?
Let’s break down his line of thinking.
If 1 picture = 1,000 words, and video shoots at 30 frames per second, then one second of video = 30,000 words.
30,000 words x 60 seconds in one minute = 1.8 million words.
In summary, you can communicate more information in a video than email, images, and any other form of communication.
Why Does This Matter for My Customer Testimonial Video?
Just because video is effective, does it mean you should be sinking time, effort, and resources into it?
Of course! Video is such an in-depth form of communication that you can’t afford to miss out. More people use video today than ever, and those numbers are growing steadily,
We have good news: lucky for you, getting a customer testimonial video does not have to be difficult. You don’t have to spend a ton of money and dozens of hours on these projects. Use our tips below to make creating your customer testimonial video a breeze.
Tips for Creating Your Customer Testimonial Video
As seasoned vets, we have some invaluable tips and tricks for you when creating your customer testimonial video. Follow these steps to keep your teams and customers happy throughout this process!
1. ID customers who are particularly happy with your product or service.
Perhaps these customers have voiced their opinion to your CS team already. Maybe you actively dive into your databases to find the most highly-engaged customers.
2. Don’t ask customers for a video testimonial too soon.
Whatever you do, don’t rush into this too early in the customer’s relationship with your organization. Make sure they are an experienced, veteran customer with known positive experiences with your product or service.
3. Once you ID ideal customers, ask them right away if they are willing to film themselves to participate.
It is possible that someone else in the org would be more willing to speak on camera about your product or service. That’s great! Trust that they know the best person for the job.
You don’t want to waste time researching and planning for an org or team that is unwilling to provide this favor, and that’s okay if they don’t want to.
4. Only ask in an email
Don’t ask in a meeting or on the phone, as this will put the customer on the spot and may make them uncomfortable. You don’t want them to agree to something they don’t actually want to do.
You will find customers who are truly thrilled about your product and will be happy to create a short video for you.
5. Once the customer agrees, send guidelines for them to consider.
Make sure the customer knows details about what you are looking for. Consider details such as:
- Preferred video length (usually :30-:60)
- Ideal light settings (bright, overhead)
- Ideal topics to speak about
- How to structure your ideal testimonial
6. If you have them, send examples for customers to reference.
If you have existing examples on your website, share those links to give customers a sense of what you are looking for.
As soon as you make your first customer video testimonial make sure to share it with everyone you ask to create one after.
7. Use a single tool to record, share, store, and organize your customer video testimonials.
This will make a world of a difference for you and your helpful customers willing to record a video testimonial for you. Not requiring 11 different tools to create a short video will save you time – and time is money!
Use a tool like Weet as your one-stop-shop for all video recording, sharing, and organization needs! Your customers can even update their reviews after they’ve been published. You can record multiple testimonials from multiple people in a single video as well!
Examples of the Best Customer Testimonial Videos Online
In this example we from Ascender HCM, we see testimonials from a few people. We chose this video for its thoroughness, diverse cast and their connection with the audience.
Here is another example from Omada Health. We chose this one for its simplicity. Everyone sits in front of an orange background and simply describes their lovely experience in working with this particular organization. It is simple, easy to recreate, and effective.
In this example from Yieldify we see an excellent use of screen recording.
Clocking in at 3:10, this video is a bit long but stands out because Yieldify shows in the video what the customer sees on their computer screen when using their digital product.
We chose this example because it plays like a movie! It keeps you engaged, interested in the story, and wanting to tune in until the end to find out what happened!
Conclusion
A solid customer video testimonial can make or break the decision-making process for future customers. Don’t make it harder than it needs to be! Create these invaluable assets with a tool like Weet today!