Add Customer Testimonial Videos to grow your businesses credibility and sales
When it comes to selling your product or service, nothing can add more credibility to your business than a video testimonial. For the same reason customers turn to friends, family, and even complete strangers for buying advice, they want to cut through the sales pitches, the buying pressure, and the marketing to get an honest opinion from someone with no incentives to sell.
In this full survey from BrightLocal, 80% of customers said they trust reviews as much as personal recommendations.
I recently shot this client testimonial for Vancouver Realtor Harry Kramm of Sotheby's International Realty Canada. Harry hired my design company PalbergWERX Creative Direction to shoot a promotional video for him and during our development meetings, we decided to add a customer video testimonial to the project. Harry had a wonderful written testimonial from his client, Saj, and it closely matched the points the promotional video was trying to get across. Specifically, the testimonial outlined the many benefits that Harry brought to the table as well as substantiated the various points made in the promotional video. Moreover, Saj was credible, he endorsed Harry's key messages and we felt that viewers would relate to him and his young family.
My original idea was to shoot the couple sitting on the couch together, but I thought it might look great to have Saj's wife and child sit in the window. By focusing on just the person speaking it give more weight to the testimonial itself - it turned out great and everyone was really pleased!
This full length testimonial was used by Harry on his website, blog and social media channels. As mentioned above, I also used portions of this testimonial in Harry's promotional video to add even more credibility - SEE BELOW
(Video soures PalbergWERX Creative Direction)
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"I just wanted to thank Richard of PalbergWERX for doing a fantastic job on my promotional video. I was extremely hesitant to be in front of the camera, but Richard was patient and accommodating - making everything run smoothly – and it didn't hurt that he has a teleprompter to help me remember my script. He turned the final edited video around in record time and it looks just fantastic! I wouldn't hesitate to recommend PalbergWERX for any type of creative promotional video or testimonial and I'll certainly be using him again for my upcoming business projects."
- Harry Kramm, Engel and Volkers Realty Vancouver
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If you need proof that a video testimonial is the right marketing tool for your business, perhaps these video statistics below will convince you!
76 percent of marketers plan to add video to their sites, making it a higher priority than social media and blogging (Social Media Examiner)
Direct Marketing News share poll results where 51% of online video viewers between the ages of 18-44 would look up a new product or brand if they saw it mentioned in an online video. 39% of viewers at least 55 years old also answered affirmatively. Additionally, 58% of consumers aged 18-34 that follow brands on social media would watch a video if a brand they follow posted a video.
Visitors who view videos stay on the site an average of 2 minutes longer than those who don’t view videos (Comscore)
80% of internet users recall watching a video advert on a website they visited in the past 30 days; 46% took some action after viewing the advert (Online Publishers Association)
Video promotion is over 6 times more effective than print and online (b2bmarketing.net)
A minute of video is worth 1.8 million words (Forrester Research)
It’s been shown that videos can increase the number of business profile clicks by more than 30%, business calls by 18%, website visits by 55%, incidence of purchase by 24%, according to a report by PRWeb
So, how do you get started?
1) Just Ask
The first step in getting a testimonial from your customer is to 'just ask'. Often satisfied customers are glad to give a testimonial and let you know what they liked about your product or service. If your customers are shy, offer an incentive such as a discount. Some customers may believe they are not capable to formulate a testimonial, if this is the case then feel free to write something on their behalf and review it with them.
2) Shoot It
Shooting videos might seem intimidating if you don’t do so regularly. If you don’t have the budget to hire a professional, then you can use your video camera, DSLR or a smartphone to capture your customer testimonial. Make sure that the area where you shoot the video is well lit and use a tripod - there is nothing worse than having your audience focus on jerky camera movements rather than the testimonial. You might also consider developing a standardized list of questions to ask your customer that will focus on their experience and how your product or service helped them. Systemizing this process will make each following video easier to capture.
3) Edit It
If you are editing your own video footage, I have a blog post on color correction that can help get the most out of your footage (See Color Correction post here). When editing, you should remove any awkward pauses, leaving short clear stated points and compliments. Be sure to add your branded logo to the introduction as well as at the end of the video with your contact information or a call to action.
4) Set Up a Testimonials Page
After the video is edited, you should add them to your website testimonial page. A well-designed and organized testimonials page on your website is a great way to show customers that you’re a trusted business. Make sure that all of your video thumbnails look great and it can be beneficial if you have a few positive words in text beside the thumbnail to give your potential customer a reason to click on the video.
5) Promote It
Once you have your videos edited and uploaded to your website, you also need to promote them on all your marketing channels, including social media, email, etc. I highly believe in YouTube as the best video hosting platform for numerous reasons which you can read more about in the link. You might also consider reading this 5 step blog on how to increase your video SEO which outlines numerous tricks to increase your marketing reach.
In Conclusion
The marketing benefits of testimonial video production are proven and cost effective, especially when you consider the limited amount of effort they require. A testimonial video builds trust and credibility and allows the view to put themselves in the shoes of your customer. If you're not sure how to start, consider hiring a video production service such as PalbergWERX to produce your testimonial videos. You will then have a fantastic resource to promote your product or service to customers the world over.
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If you would like a video for your product or service,
call PalbergWERX Creative Direction
at 604-356-1144 or email me at PBWX@outlook.com
I can help you craft a video that will represent your company's brand and values
as well as resonate and engage your customers - and that is the recipe for increased sales.