6 Tips to Create an Effective Customer Testimonial Video (with Examples!)

People rely on recommendations from friends or family members. But when that’s not available, they turn to the second-best thing: Recommendations and reviews from strangers on the internet.

Customer testimonial videos are like a “phone a friend” lifeline when prospective customers have nowhere else to turn!

And one of the best forms of online recommendations? Customer testimonial videos.

Customer testimonial videos are there for your potential customers whenever they need a friendly vote of confidence to buy from your business. These approachable yet authoritative videos bring to life what would normally be your typical, mundane review. In fact, growing businesses can get even better results with customer testimonial videos instead of regular customer reviews.

How can you transform your business’s reputation management strategy to include customer testimonial videos? We’re so glad you asked! Today, we’ll be answering that and other questions, like the ones below, to set your business up for customer testimonial video success:

• What is a customer testimonial video?
• What are the benefits of making a customer testimonial video?
• How do you make a customer testimonial video?
• What are some good customer testimonial examples?

Let’s explore customer testimonial videos in detail.

 

What is a customer testimonial video?

A customer testimonial video is a video of a satisfied customer discussing their experience with your brand. It is a more direct way for current customers to recommend your brand to potential clients and would fall under your brand’s overall reputation management strategy.

Customer review videos support the quality of your products or services and provide compelling social proof. Two out of three consumers believe they’d be more likely to buy after viewing a testimonial video detailing how a company, product, or service helped someone similar to them.

Here is a customer testimonial video example from the brand Summer. Summer, an online student resource, conducted interviews with its users. It asked them about using Summer and saving on their student loans.

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6  benefits of making a customer testimonial video

Collecting customer feedback in the form of video can feel daunting at first, but it’s well worth the effort. Customer testimonial videos help prospective buyers make an informed purchasing decision, and here are a few benefits you can reap by creating them for your business.

1. Customer testimonial videos provide social proof

In digital marketing, social proof is crucial for success. Social proof is a psychological phenomenon in which individuals imitate the acts of others to behave appropriately in some scenarios. Consumers will be more likely to purchase your product if they see that other customers have previously purchased it. Social proof helps them feel more secure about their decision.

Social proof may take various forms, including user-generated content and customer testimonial videos.

2. They’re easily shareable on social media

Around 63% of marketers say social media channels are good for promoting video content. Video is shared by social media users 1,200% more frequently than text and photos combined. So, you should leverage social media and video to create easily shareable content.

Ensure you add value to your testimonial videos and optimize them by using stories, intriguing titles, and descriptions and linking them to your business. That will help build a relationship with your audience.

Take this customer testimonial video example from Dropbox. They featured author Roxane Gay’s experience with their software in a video that was then shared on their Instagram page. Roxane also included her unique thoughts, giving value that encourages viewers to share the clip.

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If you plan to post the video on your blog, optimizing your blog post with keywords and links is key to generating organic traffic while building trust.

You might also want to create a content calendar that includes all the types of customer testimonial videos you plan to publish. That will help prevent the publication of overlapping or contradicting material.

3. You get to control the narrative

Testimonial videos from satisfied customers can add credibility to your marketing efforts and convey your company’s value. They can help you control the narrative. You can use customer testimonial videos to counter that noise possibly floating around against you (any business has critics and competitors, after all). Customer testimonial videos help you prove the critical benefits of your company in the video and portray you in a positive light.

Since your satisfied customers are the ones who will appear in your customer testimonial video, you can rest assured they will say only good things about you. You should still, however, guide them so that the video content is structured. Prepare a series of questions they can answer to create a persuasive testimonial. Let your customers speak candidly.

It’s important to mention that the other visual elements of your customer testimonial video must adhere to your brand’s personality and include parts that follow the structure of your content style guide. That way, people will better recognize you and create a picture of your brand and perspective.

This customer testimonial video example is positioned in a way that’s consistent with the business’s overall brand.

4. They build credibility

93% of people will not make a purchase until they have seen a review. In other words, a single customer testimonial video can greatly improve trust.

When viewers see real customers expressing sincerity, they connect with them. That makes them more willing to form long-term relationships with your brand.

Videos are also harder to fake, and genuine customers are usually easily identifiable. The more personable and persuasive the interviewee is, the more trustworthy and credible your brand looks.

So, ensure that you choose a consumer who has had a transformative experience with you or your product. This kind of consumer will be able to tell a compelling, engaging story. Also, make sure that they are at ease in front of the camera and are not lying. A testimonial video should never include acting.

5. They help increase future customer referrals

When happy customers share a video they are featured in or can relate to, you have the chance to reach many new prospective clients. These new clients might be your customer’s friends, family, colleagues, partners, etc.

People are four times more likely to purchase after hearing about a company from a friend. So, you should encourage your consumers to refer you.

You may do this by encouraging social media sharing, providing a referral bonus, or simply asking them to refer your business to others.

Putting together a video testimonial might be a challenging task. However, it’s not impossible. Making an effective video testimonial requires consideration of several factors.

6. Customer testimonial videos drive revenue

Customer testimonials are a great way to demonstrate value to your prospects and increase conversions. In fact, 77% of those who have seen a testimonial video about a product or service say that it has motivated them to make a purchase. This means that customer testimonial videos are a fast track to increasing sales for your business. You can even have your video show customers a purchase page link or instructions on how to buy at the end of the video.

This customer testimonial video example spells out where interested customers can go to buy the brand’s products.

 

How to make a customer testimonial video

It’s critical to create powerful video testimonials to achieve your goals. The last thing you want is to spend time and money on making videos, only to realize they do not resonate with your target market.

So, here are six tips on how to make a customer testimonial video that’s as effective as possible:

1. Highlight value propositions

Customer reviews or feedback aim to replicate word-of-mouth referrals. They need to answer questions future customers have about your products and services.

Ensure your customer’s recommendations are genuine to draw attention and increase conversions. Customers should be able to see why they should purchase from you rather than the competitors in your customer testimonial video.

Use these three simple steps to make sure your customer review videos reflect a compelling value proposition:

• Summarize the main reasons why someone should buy your products and services.
• Differentiate your products and services from the competition.
• Highlight how your products will improve the buyers’ life and what problem you promise to solve.

To showcase your value proposition, you may also sandwich video clips of your product in action, along with an actual person speaking about them. If you’re a B2B company, it is also a good idea to provide data on how your customer’s business has performed before and after using your product. For B2C businesses, you could also try pulling some data on any positive changes your customers have had in their lives thanks to your products.

Closet Works Inc. has perfected this technique by interjecting testimonials with visuals of their final closets. As the viewer, you can see the buyers’ opinions and visual proof of what you can expect from the company.

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2. Keep it conversational

A customer review video is supposed to get your information across. To achieve that, you must ensure that your video subjects use casual and conversational language.

Using an unscripted interview is one of the best ways to create these engaging testimonials.

With the help of a basic outline (not a script), you can prepare the interviewee to explain their journey in simple and understandable language.

Ask customers to use a simple storyline format that covers main points such as:

• Why did they need your services?
• How did they come across your business?
• What specific services or products did you offer them?
• How have your products or services helped them?
• What are their personal opinions about your brand?

In the customer testimonial video example below, Applied Fitness Solutions customer Susan explains how she casually discovered her fitness training program. She even mentions her trainer by his first name (Devon), helping to humanize the brand and make her experience feel more personal.

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3. Aim to build an emotional connection

Customer testimonial videos add a human element, encouraging viewers to engage and connect with your business. To get the most out of your customer testimonial videos, you must win over the hearts of your potential customers before appealing to their minds.

Tell honest, vulnerable, and human stories. Humans are social beings, and storytelling is an incredibly efficient technique for marketing with emotion.

To create testimonial videos that build an emotional connection, you may first want to identify buyer personas for your business. Only after knowing and understanding your target audience and their challenges can you create a video that resonates with them.

The customer testimonial video example below by Salesforce tells the story of customer Stephanie’s journey. She describes how her life and those around her have been changed by Salesforce software. Her story is something people can relate to. The people in the video don’t shy away from sharing their personal stories.

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To further ensure that emotional connection, the company leverages visuals that can evoke positive human feelings. For example, there are many shots of smiling people in this video. That gives viewers a feeling of optimism. To enhance that feeling, the company also uses soft, angelic-like background music for the video.

Lastly, be sure to show your final video to other people first before having it published. Make sure it evokes the right kinds of feelings you’re looking for.

4. Use high-quality visuals

Humans are visual creatures; we process images 60,000 times faster than text. We also process 90% of all data visually. That means you’ll want to use as many high-quality visuals as possible to grab and hold your audience’s attention. This is critical because you want viewers to stick around until the end to get the whole story and complete the desired action.

If the smiles of your video subjects can’t be seen in the video because of poor video quality, you can’t expect to make that viewer connection that’s key to that.

That’s not to say that visual quality is no longer necessary if you’re not using human faces to evoke emotions in your video. For example, this killer customer testimonial video example below for Fulfilled by Amazon focuses on data and statistics rather than evocative emotions. They have visuals of their huge production lines and graphic overlays giving statistical information to reinforce the audio from real clients.

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Making your video testimonials doesn’t have to be expensive. You can create a great one if you have good content.

Think about the video’s objective and how you can use visuals to reflect your brand’s personality. Ensure the sound and imagery are of excellent quality.

In some cases, you might decide to use remotely recorded testimonials. Be sure to share some tips with the customers on how to get the best quality during recording. For example, you can tell them what time of day to record the video and where to sit for optimal lighting. You could also share some tips on how to speak to ensure the video is audible.

5. Keep it short and interesting

Videos are great at boosting viewer engagement and sales. However, if they are too long and not very interesting, very few people will interact with them.

Ideally, your client testimonial video should be between 45-60 seconds long. But if you’re doing how-to videos, you may go beyond those.

This concept is applied to the following customer testimonial video example from Codeacademy, which follows the journey of Tommy, an aspiring computer programmer. It is a short yet enticing testimonial that provides just enough information to inspire the viewer.

The brand includes little details, such as his sticky laptop screen and how it looks like you are watching him learn to code. This is an example of how businesses can focus on small details to make a more trustworthy customer testimonial video without an elaborate set or a ton of other resources.

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Follow this simple format to ensure you cover the basics of a good customer testimonial video.

• A brief introduction of your business: This can be an image of your business’s logo, office or storefront signage, or your office and personnel.
• An introduction of the clients/interviewees: Let the current customers introduce themselves and explain to viewers the problems or issues they had before working with your business.
• A summary of the resolution your products offered to the client: This is a key part of any customer testimonial video. Happy clients will explain how they and future customers will benefit from using your products.

If they have also used a competitor’s products, use this to your advantage and ask the customer to mention how yours fared.

6. Optimize for mobile viewers

One of the critical features of an effective video marketing campaign is content that is optimized for mobile use. With more than 78% of videos being viewed via mobile phones worldwide, make sure your video content is mobile-friendly.

Unlike desktop viewers, who usually skip past sections of a video they don’t find engaging, mobile viewers are more likely to move on to the next video quickly. To avoid this, you’ll want to create mobile-friendly customer testimonial videos to cater to a mobile view like the one below.

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If you post your video on a landing page, make sure you use a responsive design, meaning it can automatically adjust to different screen sizes.

Your videos will also have to be shorter, 120 seconds or less. For this, you can use your available testimonials to include specific product features and highlight them in a few short sentences. That allows you to divide more extended interviews into shorter clips and eliminate unnecessary content. You’ll gain the added advantage of having content you can use to keep making fresh videos for your viewers.

Some video marketers might not think about the use of captions. But it plays a crucial role in videos, especially for mobile users. Mobile screens are small, so anything that will help the viewer understand what’s in the video should be a priority. In fact, 80% of those who view videos with captions aren’t deaf or hard of hearing, and 50% feel captions are vital since they view videos with sound off. Plus, it never hurts to use captions regardless of your targeted device to keep your marketing strategy inclusive of audiences with different abilities.

Marketers should include appropriate captions when creating their customer video testimonials for another reason: they can also improve recall and brand linkage. With captions, people will be both reading and listening to your customer testimonial videos—which means they’ll have a higher likelihood of retaining your main points.

 

Leverage customer testimonial videos for success

Customer testimonial videos are effective engagement and conversion boosters. They may swiftly convert visitors into customers by establishing reputation and trust. If you haven’t already started using testimonials as part of your video marketing strategy, don’t wait another minute! This type of content can be quick and easy to create with endless opportunities for a high-yielding marketing ROI.

Ensure you stay relevant by creating credible, shareable, and compelling customer testimonial videos. To make a good customer testimonial video, encourage customer referrals, employ storytelling tactics, and support the narrative that reflects your company.

Before it gets too loud, use these tips to break through the noise in your niche market. You will begin to see your hard-earned reviews attract more leads and ultimately grow your business!

 

About the author

Plamen Popov is the content and communications specialist for Writer, an AI writing assistant designed for teams. Plamen has previously worked to develop content marketing strategies for brands like MFG, Kinguin, Acronis, and Metrilo.