Video

5 Pro-Tips For Creating Great Testimonial Videos

We’ve established that customer testimonials are essential to your brand’s marketing strategy but which kind of testimonial is most effective? There are many different ways to incorporate customer testimonials into your marketing strategy, and we believe that video testimonials offer the most bang for your buck for a couple of reasons. One is that video is more compelling than just plain text. Videos engage more of the senses and create opportunities for your message to leave a deeper impression on the viewer. Another reason is that seeing is believing. Giving prospects the opportunity to see how your product or service made a hero out of your customer is more convincing than a short blurb at the bottom of your website.

If you’re ready to get started with a video testimonial but not sure to how to begin, you have come to the right place.

We have extensive experience creating testimonial videos for our clients and have learned a trick or two over the years that we are happy to share with you. Here are 5 pro-tips to help you create awesome testimonial videos:

Pro-Tip One: Hire a Pro

This may sound a bit self-promoting but, in a world of smartphone videos and GoPros, it stands to reason that not everyone is cut out to be an armchair videographer. When it comes to creating brand videos we have said much about the pros and cons of going with professional or amateur video. But when you involve your customers in the process, you want their experience working with you on this video to be excellent. This is not the time to try to Macgyver a quick video. The customers you choose to talk about their experience working with you already think you’re great. Don’t ruin your good standing with them by dragging them though a JV video production experience.

Pro-Tip Two: Set the Stage

Think through where you will shoot the video before you begin. If your customer giving the testimonial is willing to let you film onsite — do it. If not see if they will allow you to capture b-roll to show your product or service in action. Do the work ahead of time to be sure the lighting is right and that you have a good place to conduct the interviews and know the pitfalls to avoid such as avoiding sweat under heat of lights, not shooting in the glare of sun or in a windblown location to name a few. If possible, it’s nice to have two cameras running for the interviews to be sure that you can capture different angles of the same interview to give the piece more variety. And always have water on hand for you and your guest.

Pre-Tip Three: Prep Your Interviewee

Interviews run much smoother when the interviewee knows that to expect. This is not investigative journalism. While you don’t want the responses canned or too rehearsed, you also don’t want the “deer in headlights” response either. Talk through the questions you plan to ask the customer you are interviewing before it’s time to roll tape. This will help them feel more comfortable in front of the camera. When you talk through the questions ahead of time you may discover a new angle or theme you want to feature in the video. Also be sure to advise the interviewee on what to wear, what not to wear, how long the interview will go and anything else that will help them be camera ready.

Pro-Tip Four: Ask Good Questions

Interviewing is an art and it isn’t as easy as it seems. The right questions will help you find gold and move the story along. Some interviewees need some real coaxing to get them talking. It takes intuition and experience to set a person at ease and get them talking about all the right things. There are many good resources online to help you choose which questions to ask, the main thing we want to hammer home here is don’t wing it. Be prepared to ask questions that will draw out the hero’s journey and highlight how your customer benefits from working with or using your product or service.  

Pro-Tip Five: Cover Your… (you know!)

It’s important to be sure that you have covered all of your legal bases before beginning. If you want the nitty gritty details check out this link from the Federal Trade Commission or your attorney for formal legal advice. Just make that all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed before you begin. Check out this article for a thorough breakdown on this part of the process.

These pro-tips are just the beginning of creating a knockout testimonial video. This is our bread and butter at Cross and Crown. We would love to have a conversation with you about creating stellar testimonial videos that convert. Give us a call to set up a time to chat!