How To Create a Successful Customer Testimonial Video in 2021

Customer testimonial videos occupy a special place in the world of video marketing. They offer a unique, valuable perspective into your products and services.

Instead of sharing a marketer’s feature set, or a customer service rep’s point of view, customer testimonials share the customer’s perspective. This kind of video content directly addresses your customer’s expectations, answers their questions, and drives conversion.

The Internet has made customer reviews central to sales and marketing in almost every industry. No matter how niche a product or service is, there is an active community of users dedicated to it online somewhere.

87% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses.

As a result, customer testimonials have become increasingly important to digital marketing campaigns of all kinds. Testimonial content gives marketers the ability to curate their customer’s stories and connect with new leads without having to blow their own horn in the process.

Considering the fact that video content outperforms every other kind, creating video customer testimonials is simply a slam dunk.

 

camera

 

What exactly is a customer testimonial video?

Most customer testimonial videos are easy to identify. Any video that focuses on a customer’s experience with your product or service counts.

But there are many ways to create a successful customer testimonial video. Some marketers gather multiple customers and have them gush effusively about a product, with bouncy music in the background showing viewers how easy and fulfilling their product is.

Other marketers use interviews to deliver testimonial content. This kind of video might focus on the experience of a single, highly visible customer, and include in-depth technical content to make the case.

B2B marketers often combine written and video testimonials to create comprehensive use case content. This kind of approach can have a significant impact in highly technical fields, like tech, finance, and healthcare.

 

lighting

Why do you need customer testimonial videos?

There is a limit to how convincing your own marketing voice can be. It’s normal to expect resistance when you (or anyone else in your organization) is the one telling people how great your product is.

Your customers might find your content valuable, but they’re right to be suspicious. Too many marketers want to maximize sales, even if products don’t meet their customers’ real needs. Very few will send the customer to a competitor, even if the competitor’s product is better!

As a result, customers are wary of the things marketers and sales representatives have to say about their products. But they place great importance on the things that other customers say.

Marketers who can leverage customer testimonial videos to create the effect of an unbiased review are incredibly valuable. When used alongside other pieces of marketing content, these videos can build trust and drive conversions in a way that no other single type of video can.

 

Small businesses and enterprises alike need to leverage customer testimonial videos to cultivate customer trust and reinforce their credibility. Brands that use this content to build an emotional connection with customers have a distinct advantage over those that don’t.

 

interview

 

How to create a winning video customer testimonial

If you are planning a marketing strategy that relies on customer testimonials, you should optimize your content for success. Here are a few useful things you can do to maximize the reach and success of your campaign:

  1. Find real customers with real stories

It might be tempting to create a fictionalized customer story and stage it as if it were real. Plenty of brands do this – sometimes successfully. But while the short-term gains might seem attractive, the potential risks are not worth it.

For one, fake testimonials can constitute “false or deceptive advertising”, which the United States Federal Trade Commission specifically forbids. Many brands get away with it. Some do not. The reward is simply not worth the risk.

 

If you have any customers at all, you should be able to find happy ones who are willing to give constructive feedback on camera. If you can’t find any of these happy customers, it’s safe to say that your product has a problem that customer testimonials won’t fix on their own.

 

Your customer’s stories will surprise you. You might learn about your product being used in ways you did not expect. You may hear customers overcome obstacles you did not foresee. All of this information is incredibly valuable – for them, for you, and for viewers. Take the time to find these customers and hear their stories before doing anything else.

 

  1. Use customers that really benefited from your product or service

Many marketers make the mistake of trying to lure customers into offering positive testimonials in exchange for something. Offering discounts and special products to customers willing to talk about your product will influence the feedback they offer.

In most cases, this introduces a positive bias into the testimonial process. Many marketers think that’s a good thing, but it isn’t.

Too much positivity compromises the credibility of testimonial content. You should encourage customers to talk about you as openly  as possible, and avoid influencing their opinion either way.

Negative feedback in a customer testimonial isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Every product has drawbacks, and identifying them with honesty helps qualify leads according to their priorities. Most importantly, a little bit of fair criticism goes a long way building all-important trust and credibility.

 

  1. Ask the right questions

Once you have customers willing to stand in front of a camera and talk about your product, it’s vitally important you ask them the right questions. Most people won’t understand exactly what you expect from them. You have to take the lead to get them to divulge valuable insight.

 

It usually helps to focus on the problem your product or service solves as much as possible. This is the one thing that most of your viewers will have in mind when browsing your content.

 

By looking at that problem from multiple angles, you can help guide customers towards the solutions they need.

You may also wish to concentrate on the factors that made your product stand out from other offerings. This is an opportunity to showcase what makes your brand special. It is also a chance to qualify customers according to their needs.

It can be helpful to create a list of questions and send them to potential customers in advance. This way customers have time to think about their answers before you sit them in front of a camera and ask. This guarantees a far better organized response than if you keep your questions a secret until the last minute.

 

video interview

Let your customers educate other customers

The primary value testimonials offer is credibility. If done right, this content uses real-life use cases from real customers to influence future purchasing decisions. By putting power in your customer’s hands, you can build an active, thriving community around your brand.

With a video hosting platform, like Cincopa, you’re guaranteed to get the most of your video testimonial content. You can create testimonial galleries and analyze video engagement data to optimize your marketing campaign.
Good luck!!

Originally published on September 10th, 2018, updated on January 12th, 2021
The Blog

How To Create a Successful Customer Testimonial Video in 2021

by Austin Jesse Mitchell time to read: 5 min
0