You’ve been using video to build your brand but it’s not pushing sales the way you want. You’re stressed out and wondering what it takes to get consumers to buy your products. Customer testimonials could be the remedy to your problems.
According to bigcommerce.com, 92% of consumers use online reviews before buying a product and 88% trust online customer testimonials as much as recommendations from friends and family.
What do these very large numbers mean? Well, it shows that one of the best ways to elevate your brand and sell your product is to call on current customers to advocate and share their stories in a customer testimonial.
Customer testimonial videos help potential consumers by putting a real person in between the product and themselves. This adds social proof and builds trust for your brand.
How do you go about making such a video? Here are some tips to help you out.
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Tip 1: Find the right spokesperson
What’s a customer testimonial without a customer? I don’t know but it’s not what we’re trying to create. When picking an advocate, make sure you pick the best one to speak for your company. The perfect advocate will be charismatic, well-spoken, sincere and someone your target audience can relate to.
To make one easier to find, add an opportunity during the sales process for them to give a testimonial like a follow-up email asking about their experience. Paying attention to your social media mentions for positive comments can also be beneficial. Reach out to customers who are have already spoken positively about your brand and/or product. You know they’re already willing to do so publicly and hopefully, they’ll do the same on-camera.
Tip 2: Focus on the customer
The focal point of your customer testimonial is...well, your customer and their testimonial. It is key that you keep the focus on them and what they have to say.
When planning your shoot, there are a few things that need to be taken into consideration. First, must make sure you film in a quiet space that is well-lit. You want to shoot in front of a background that is neutral and won’t distract viewers from the message in the testimonial. As tempting as it will be, you do NOT want your logo to be at the forefront. If you put your brand front and center it can take away from the authenticity of the video.
Tip 3: Capture the authentic story
Like any good marketing video, your testimonial will follow a story. It doesn’t have to be a long one but it should touch on these basic story elements:
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- The setting: Who your subject is and what they do.
- The conflict: A relatable problem that consumers face in their personal or professional life.
- The resolution: How your product or service helped them solve that problem. Have your subject be as specific as possible.
- The conclusion: A longer description of how they continue to avoid their problem from using your product or service.
To make it easier on your advocate, draft some questions for them to look over beforehand. You may even ask them questions while off-screen, but be sure to edit your voice out. The goal of your recording should be to capture a concise story while still maintaining your customer’s authenticity.
Writing a script isn’t easy...or is it
Tip 4: Keep it short
Once you have a customer that is passionate about your product or service, it may be easy for them to get carried away with their story. After filming you may realize there’s a lot of footage to go through. While it’s tempting to include everything, keep in mind that most attention spans are short. Try and keep your video to 3 minutes or less by only including portions that are essential to the story. It can be helpful to include text or graphics to augment the story and save time. For example, if your customer is introducing themself by providing a brief biography at the beginning of the video, consider cutting that part and instead including their name, job title, and where they’re from in the lower thirds of your video with a motion title.
Tip 5: End with a call to action
Finally, add a strong CTA. This is a piece of marketing and like any other marketing collateral, you want to invite the viewer to learn more about your company or product with video annotations or captions. Make it clear and enticing enough to make viewers want to click.
When done correctly, a testimonial video can be a great asset in establishing trust with audiences and proving your value to customers. Take your time to get it right and you’ll be rewarded with an effective, compelling video.
Check out our Guide to video marketing for more strategies.