Originally posted on November 24th, 2021, and updated on August 2nd, 2024.
In 2018, 87% of consumers said they wanted to see more video reviews related to brands in the next year. Today, consumers don’t just want to see videos, they expect to.
The power of customer testimonial videos is two-fold:
Seeing is believing.
Video reviews are effective because they are visual proof of your satisfied customers, providing an authentic and personal perspective that text reviews simply can't match.
By investing in video testimonial services, you combine the power of word-of-mouth marketing with engaging visual content, promoting and associating a stronger emotional connection with your product/service to build trust with prospects.
Before getting into everything you can do with your video testimonials, here are some tips for generating quality feedback:
Choose wisely: Identify satisfied customers who might be interested in sharing their experience. Repeat customers or customers who had a negative experience turned positive are a great place to start.
Make it easy: Provide clear instructions on how to record and submit video testimonials. Customers won't be willing to leave a testimonial if the process is confusing or convoluted.
Provide guidelines: Offer a basic script or set of questions to guide customers on what to say in their reviews. Ensure they cover key points like what made them need your product, how your product helped, and their experience working with your business specifically. Consider making a video testimonial guide for your clients.
Use User-friendly tools: Invest in software that automates and manages the video response process for you.
Let’s say you’ve done the hard part—you’ve collected some customer testimonial videos. They feature real-life experiences from your happy customers, all while explaining your product/service. It’s time to get these valuable assets out into the world.
For your video testimonials to be effective, you have to know how, when, and where to use them. When used at the right time, videos can push prospective customers through important conversion points down your marketing funnel.
Here are 15 impactful places you can share your customer testimonial videos to increase your visibility, define a consumer-centric or B2B video marketing strategy, and help establish your brand.
You have 8 seconds to make an impression on your landing page, and video reviews are a great way to do so.
Landing pages that feature social proof convert on average at 12.50%, compared to landing pages without, which convert at 11.40%. More specifically, using videos on a landing page increases conversion rate by 86%. Positive feedback is an extremely valuable marketing tool, and your website is the perfect place to utilize it. Don’t miss out on an opportunity to leverage the voice of your happy customers.
Other conversion pages like product pages are also great opportunities to let testimonials prove the value of what you are selling. Videos can show a happy customer sharing their experience or actually demonstrating the product in use. This kind of insight can answer all kinds of questions a prospect may have in trying to decide whether or not to buy.
Your GBP is your digital business card, helping you reach potential customers and improve your visibility. According to 2024 statistics from Forbes, 92% of online traffic goes through your Google Business Profile first.
Video testimonials can make your business stand out in a sea of online options. As potential customers are more likely to trust the opinions of their peers over marketing messages, video testimonials are a useful tool that serves as powerful social proof and helps your business establish credibility.
Featuring video testimonials on your GBP will also encourage other satisfied customers to leave reviews, both written and video. Regularly updating your profile with new video testimonials creates a culture of feedback and engagement, increasing participation by proving to customers that if they do engage with your business, their voices will be heard.
Social media is all about relatability.
For your campaigns and posts to be relatable, they must feel authentic, and there is nothing more authentic than user-generated content. Sharing testimonial videos on your favorite social media outlets (whether that’s Facebook, Instagram, or if you’re in the B2B, LinkedIn) gives your followers access to unbiased feedback from real customers, which builds trust. It also helps followers connect and identify with your customer base, which strengthens brand loyalty and a sense of belonging.
Social media gives you an opportunity to go out to the market with the customer feedback you want prospects to see, unlike your website which requires the prospect to take the first step.
While planning and executing an effective social media strategy can be tough, user-generated video content increases your amount of readily available marketing assets and requires very little work to manage.
Realistically, if you’re like most local businesses, many of your social followers are friends, family, and current customers. Therefore, if your goal is to use your testimonials to generate leads, paid social ads will need to be part of your strategy.
84% of people say that they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service just by watching a brand’s video. Sharing testimonial videos via paid social ads increases visibility for your product/service.
However, that’s not to say that paid social ads don’t come without their challenges. According to Wyzowl, 9 in 10 video marketers feel that levels of competition have increased over the last year, turning our news feeds into overwhelming commercial spaces.
User-generated content is different. In context with social media, it’s less disruptive than traditional overproduced ads, and it feels more natural to viewers. Further, when framed as a “peer-to-peer conversation,” video reviews don’t make potential customers feel like they’re being aggressively sold to, rendering them more effective. Overall, using customer testimonials in paid ads helps prospects learn about your business on their own terms and works to establish a more respectful and honest business-consumer relationship.
Here’s an excellent example of a testimonial video from American Express. It’s conversational, it features 5 real-life customers as opposed to actors, and it isn’t overbearing in terms of convincing you to buy.
Guest posts expand your reach, allowing you to tap into the established audience of another business. By contributing valuable content to a trusted partner in your industry, you introduce your brand to potential customers who may not otherwise be familiar with it.
Enhancing your guest posts with video testimonials significantly boosts your credibility and engagement. For instance, if you're writing about productivity tools, including a brief video of a satisfied customer can effectively demonstrate your product's benefits. This visual proof is much more compelling than written claims alone.
To maximize impact, introduce video testimonials early in your posts. Start with a clip of a customer sharing how your product solved a specific problem, immediately capturing attention and building trust. Finally, connect the testimonial to your brand’s narrative, reinforcing your values and showcasing how your product aligns with customer needs.
Including video testimonials in your guest posts provides relatable evidence of your product's value, increasing the chances of converting new readers into customers.
Case studies and testimonial videos go hand in hand when it comes to gaining potential customers. While your testimonial videos may prove that people trust and like your product/service, they may not include the type of information needed to convince someone to buy. Your case studies, however, do.
Case studies, which include data, photos, and written quotes from the customers you are documenting, already tell a more in-depth story about how useful your product/service is. Featuring customer review videos in your case studies works to fortify these claims. Further, it makes your content feel more personal and accessible by allowing prospects to physically hear and see proof of real happy customers.
Posting your videos on streaming sites is a great way to expand your brand's online presence and recognition. Sites like YouTube, Vimeo, Streamable, and Dailymotion are all well-trafficked video platforms where you can share your testimonials and promote your product/service.
While it may seem like YouTube has the upper hand in terms of popularity and visibility, smaller streaming sites have their benefits too. Posting your content across multiple sites helps you strengthen your outreach and connect with a more targeted audience. This article does a great job outlining what type of content each site is best for and why.
At Widewail, we are firm believers in the importance of written reviews. However, the effect of video has become impossible to ignore.
More recently, third-party review sites like Amazon, Facebook, Google Business Profile, Yelp, Angi’s List, TripAdvisor, and Glassdoor have begun to support video uploads - from both businesses and customers.
Judging by current video marketing trends, those sites that don’t support video most likely will in the future. Get ahead of the game by sharing your video testimonials on review sites. Since we know customers trust each other more than your business, encourage them to post their video testimonials to your page directly. This will enhance coverage of your product/service and allow your customers to connect on a more personal level.
Webinars are a powerful platform for engaging with your audience: they showcase your expertise and drive conversions. Integrating customer video testimonials into your webinars can significantly enhance their impact.
Choose testimonials relevant to the webinar’s subject matter and introduce them at key points where they can reinforce your message or address potential objections. Keep things short and simple—a concise testimonial snippet can end up being more impactful than a long-winded story.
Testimonials are persuasive in all phases of the sales process, especially in the decision-making stage when you’ve got a prospect on the line. According to Forbes, 59% of senior executives prefer video over text, and there are countless reasons to take advantage of this. When prospecting, videos can help move deals closer to contract, provide personal examples for prospects to relate to, and even strengthen your follow-up communications. They allow prospects to envision what their experience working with your business could look like while serving as an added layer of social proof.
However, when using video testimonials while prospecting, remember to choose them carefully. The goal is to make your business seem credible, not to show off, so don’t share your testimonials unless they are relevant to your prospect’s interests. Editing your testimonials can help keep them on brand and to the point.
One out of four marketers are already using video in email campaigns, and you should be too. Specifically, customer testimonials are a very effective marketing tool you can use to nurture emails, vamp up your newsletters, or even make your one-to-one communications more inviting. This article features a great example from Trunk Club of how to share a video testimonial via email.
Like with social media, those signed up for your email newsletters are most likely already invested in your business. Regularly seeing proof of the positive effects of your product/service through testimonials will help keep your customers engaged over time.
Your partner’s success is your success. Partner websites/marketing channel collabs offer a fantastic opportunity to leverage video testimonials.
Embed testimonials on partner sites, feature them in joint email campaigns or create co-branded landing pages. Incorporate testimonials in partner newsletters and share them on social media channels to tap into their audience. Collaborate on webinars or events, using testimonials to showcase real customer success.
Customers are more likely to trust a business endorsed by a brand they already know. Using video testimonials collaboratively enhances the reach and impact of your marketing efforts. It can also improve your search engine optimization (SEO) through high-quality backlinks, driving more organic traffic to your website.
Videos are a great way to build trust and enhance the onboarding experience.
Clear, positive testimonials highlight how your product or service can address specific needs or challenges which, during the onboarding process, can encourage new clients to confidently navigate through any initial challenges that may arise.
Regularly updating onboarding materials with fresh testimonials to keep content relevant and reflective of your evolving customer base. This will ensure that common questions and concerns are always addressed.
Start the onboarding process with a welcome video that includes testimonials from happy customers. This sets a positive tone and immediately builds trust. Feature-specific and problem-solving videos are also optimal onboarding materials for sharing video testimonials from your clients.
Sharing video testimonials at trade shows is highly effective in engaging potential customers and showcasing real experiences with your product.
Booth displays, kiosks, QR codes, and presentations for industry professionals and prospects are all opportunities to promote customer testimonials. Digital and interactive displays where attendees can browse through customer testimonials and case studies will engage potential clients and stand out at industry events.
Video testimonials can truly differentiate your course or resources from the competition. By showcasing authentic, positive experiences from real students, you build trust and engage your audience, leading to higher enrollment and completion rates.
Incorporating personal stories adds a human touch, making your course content more relatable and engaging. When you feature videos that illustrate real-life applications of your educational material, you not only demonstrate its value but also highlight the impact your offerings can have on learners' lives.
Bonus tip: Prompt course participants or resource downloaders to review their experience working with your material. Online courses offer a key touchpoint/review opportunity that should be taken advantage of.
Knowing where to share your videos is key when it comes to increasing conversions and widening your outreach. Share your testimonials wherever you engage with your customers, especially at key decision-making points. For more information on all things video, check out our Complete Guide to Video Testimonials for Businesses.
Originally posted on November 24th, 2021, and updated on August 2nd, 2024.