Video Testimonial Trends That Will Rule 2021 and Beyond

Video has become more important in sales for businesses of all types. This type of content can be engaging and answer questions for people without having to interact with a salesperson.

There is no denying the fact that testimonials sell. A recent study by Juniper Research highlights the fact that 77% of people read reviews before making an online purchase.

Businesses and individuals, without a doubt, understand that hard work is the key to success. But without people vouching for the hard work you put into your product/service, it gets extremely difficult to prove your value to consumers.

So, how do you break the monotony of going around in circles trying to prove how good your products and services are?

It is rather simple! Gather as many testimonials as you can and showcase them everywhere…on your website, social media channels, email newsletters…wherever you think it fits.

This is where video testimonials come into the picture. Text-based reviews are great, but videos make a greater impact. Videos generate more reach than text and image-based content, hence adding them to your marketing armory will be highly beneficial for your business’ growth, irrespective of the type of product/service offered.

That being said, most businesses don’t have a clear idea of how to create these testimonials. They’re either confused or unsure about how to move forward and ask customers for a video review. Honestly, it is easily doable if you have a pre-defined strategy.

If you too are trying to get started with video testimonials but are unsure about how to proceed, this blog is for you. Keep reading to learn how to convince customers to provide effective testimonials and how you can use them tactfully to achieve your marketing goals, both short and long-term.

What Is a Video Testimonial?

Simply put, a video testimonial is a video of a client or a customer praising the product and/or services of a company. In general, the customer/client would talk about how the product or service has helped them to solve a problem. These testimonials may also include a short introduction of who they are, how they use a product/service, and what they appreciate about the company.

Why testimonials?

As a general rule, humans are influenced by the opinions of others, at least to an extent.
For instance, when a consumer wants to buy something, the first thing they do is gather feedback from their friends and family. Consumers who are already using a product and are satisfied with the same tend to advocate new buyers, influencing their buying decision. This is probably the best type of marketing any business can ask for.

Commonly known as word-of-mouth referral, this technique has proven its worth in generating new leads and clients for brands. And with digitization, it is high time that businesses leverage this amazing technique in a modernized way that caters to millennials and GenZ.

• Videos are proven to trigger emotions – When you plan to invoke buyer emotions using content, nothing beats a well-placed video testimonial. The text is sterile and can only appeal to a limited audience if you have the right copywriter. Besides, it takes a lot of time and attention to read and interpret text compared to a video. When a new customer sees a video testimonial, it appeals to the buying emotions, thanks to the satisfied customer’s emotional connection. Scientifically speaking, the human brain is programmed to pay more attention to motion, colors, and faces. Undivided attention is the preliminary stage of building an emotional connection. And with video testimonials on your side, you’ll easily win half the battle.
• Videos generate more reach and shares – Although text-based reviews are powerful, they aren’t as easy to share as videos. According to a recent study by HubSpot, almost 78% of online users prefer to watch videos than reading text-based posts.  Over time, these numbers are bound to grow. Many brands like Intel have been able to successfully create viral content and customer success stories using them.
• Videos build trust and credibility while increasing referrals – They allow potential customers to see actual clients present unadulterated information and reviews about their experience with a brand’s product and/or service. A satisfied client is your biggest marketing asset and a video testimonial helps you leverage that satisfaction to its full potential. It builds trust and credibility, thus ensuring more and more potential buyers get attracted to your offerings.

If you want to benefit from video testimonials, you need to see to it that you’re producing insightful and fluff-free content. It should be well-structured and engaging. You need to realize that potential buyers watch these testimonials to learn about the experience of existing customers and not the features of your product or service. 

Hence, it is of utmost importance that you create these testimonials as naturally as possible.

Based on our experience, here are some tried and tested tips that you can use:

1. Always use high-quality equipment for recording
2. Try to avoid pre-written scripts as much as possible
3. Focus on why, not on the what
4. Add an emotional angle
5. Keep it short and snappy
6. Use graphics and images to make the testimonial pop-out
7. Adhere to standard filming techniques

Advantages of Video Testimonials

Video testimonials work better than text testimonials. This has been proven, time and again. They perform better on websites and social platforms, allowing you to optimize your brand’s conversion rate at much higher rates compared to text testimonials.

On the other hand, when it comes to text reviews, one of the most common reactions of potential customers is that anyone could have written it. However, a video testimonial eliminates this concern since customers can see, hear and experience an existing customer explaining how they benefit from a product/service.

A recent study by Social Fresh pointed out that customer testimonials have the highest effectiveness rating for content marketing at 89%. Also, as per the latest data from ComScore, website visitors who view videos stay on a website an average of 2 minutes longer.

Here are some major differences between video and text testimonials:

• Eliminates doubts - Text testimonials are easy to fake compared to videos. Hence, the latter has a distinct advantage when it comes to trust and credibility. As viewers can see the customer talking and gesturing, it increases the authenticity of the testimonial.
• Better engagement, reach, and retention -Videos are more likely to engage a potential customer than text. Since the human attention span is extremely short, most lengthy text-based testimonials don’t have the potential to engage readers. Video testimonials are highly effective at establishing trust, increasing content engagement, driving shares, generating traffic, and converting customers.
• Allows building an emotional connection -When it comes to establishing an emotional connection, nothing does it better than a video. Unlike texts, videos get to the viewers’ hearts in seconds and can trigger the emotions you desire to evoke more easily.
• Increases brand awareness – Compared to text reviews, video testimonials help you maximize brand awareness with minimal effort. In general, customers who agree to a video testimonial will also share their reviews among their peers and social network, thus allowing you to reach a wider circle of potential customers.

Guides on How to Start Video Testimonials in 2021

Now that you’re aware of the potential, let’s guide you on how to create the best video testimonials for your brand in 2021.

1. Keep the videos short – While it is true that videos are one of the best marketing tactics, potential customers can easily lose interest if your video testimonial is painfully lengthy. Ideally, video testimonials should be a minute or less in length.
2. Don’t force scripts on your customers – There’s nothing that beats a natural review, one that comes directly from the experience of an existing customer. It's important to add trigger words to invoke the right emotions but see to it that you don’t impose a pre-written script. Words and gestures should be natural, hence let your customer do the talking.
3. Use reviews from customers who have benefited from your product/service – Rather than creating fictional reviews from random customers, you should strive to gather reviews from actual customers who have benefitted from your product or service.  Fake reviews can be disastrous for your brand’s image.
4. Focus on the why and how not the what – A good video testimonial should be more about explaining how a customer has derived value for money from your product and not what your product does. It should focus on letting potential customers know how beneficial your product is before piling it with an information overload of what your product is about.
5. Include storytelling – Customer testimonials shouldn’t be abrupt. Instead, you should make sure that it tells your brand’s story. See to it that the testimonial follows a sequence, including the introduction (where the reviewer talks a bit about themselves), the middle part (where they talk about how they found your brand), and the ending part (where they shed light on how your product/service helped them).
6. Make an emotional connection – Most purchasing decisions are inspired by emotions, not facts. For a result-oriented video testimonial, it is important to throw in a few powerful words to help create the right image in your potential customer’s minds.  Make a list of the words that best fit your brand’s persona and include them strategically in the video.

Conclusion

Video testimonials have become a primary force when it comes to influencing buying decisions. Customer reviews create a 74% increase in product conversion.

If you aren’t using this asset to capture and showcase your existing customer experiences, you’re surely missing out on a huge chunk of potential customers. From creating brand awareness to widening your brand’s reach, adding value to your SEO efforts to maximizing conversions – video testimonials are a must-have weapon in your online marketing armory.

So what’s stopping you from using this amazing marketing tactic to build trust and generate more revenue for your business?

Need a helping hand?

At ProMax, we make it easy for you to create mesmerizing videos while ensuring a fun and learning experience for everyone involved. Shared storages, frequent backups, asset management, and lightning-fast technology for video editing workflows – we are your one-stop solution for video content creation.