Why are video testimonials one of the best ways to promote your business?
When it comes to views and conversion rates, quality content makes all the difference in a marketing campaign. The video testimonial is the easiest type of promotional material to be understood by your audience. It exemplifies a similar experience of an existing customer, with the needs, challenges, and fears of a potential consumer.
Statistical data shows that 90% of people who watch a video about a product, find it useful in decision-making, and 64% of those who watch video content are more likely to buy the product. At the same time, Facebook has an organic view rate of 135% higher for posts that include videos than for images. Facebook even recommends the use of videos in sponsored campaigns.
What are the key elements in making an efficient video testimonial?
1. Carefully choose the client
Choosing the right client that can deliver a positive, non-influential message about your brand must be the first step. It is necessary to carefully choose the clients, selecting the satisfied ones, that have solved a problem by using your product or service. You should allocate some time to contact them and explain the purpose of the testimonial, the type of media to be distributed to, the steps in making the material and the effort required from them.
2. Help the client prepare
A questionnaire with a few key questions will be the basis from which to start the video testimonial. The questionnaire will be sent to the client in advance so that he can prepare the information and data he needs. The questionnaire should be short, with a few essential questions, to convey a clear message. The same way the video will come in the end. Nobody has the time and patience to watch a long video testimonial, 2 and a half minutes are enough to concentrate the message.
Example of a questionnaire:
Your name, the function you hold within the company, some information about the company (area of activity, existence on the market, customers’ background)
What problems did the company face before using this product or service?
How did you find out about this product or service?
What was the reason you chose this product or service?
How did the product or service help you solve the existing problem?
What do you most appreciate about the product or service or the collaboration itself with the company? Can you exemplify 2-3 benefits you have had?
Would you recommend the product or service to other companies? If so, for what reason?
Would you like to add other information?
3. Choose the right set
The choice will be between indoors and outdoors.
Indoor alternatives will sum up to an office, a conference room, a specially designed studio or a space in a hotel café or lobby. The decision is influenced by the available budget because choosing a filming location outside your own office or your client’s will lead to additional costs.
The exterior provides advantages related to space dynamics, ensures a fresher environment, natural light and in some cases, the exclusion of location costs. But in this case, the background noise is much higher. It can be excluded by an additional editing effort, but in some cases, it does not entirely work. Also, unforeseen situations may occur, such as the appearance of some people or unwanted elements in the frame, as well as the safety of the equipment, the weather conditions, all culminating in a greater logistic effort.
Regardless of the chosen location for filming, it should provide a comfortable setting, without adding additional stress to the person in front of the camera, which is not to be neglected.
4. Help the client feel comfortable during filming
Ideally, a rehearsal should be done beforehand and draw several frames. Speaking in front of the camera may seem a little or not at all complicated, but even for people with experience in giving statements, interviews or speaking in public can be a challenge. For those who are inexperienced in this type of activity, the stress being in front of a camera, overcoming emotions and following the script may be overwhelming. That’s why it’s necessary to create a comfortable environment, a person to ask questions during filming, to notice elements that need correction or resumption, and last but not least, a warm smile that offers moral support, reassuring that everything is going well.
5. Use quality equipment
If you don’t have professional equipment for sound, image and light recording, it’s ideal to rent or call a professional. The quality of the equipment has a big influence on the quality of the video, in addition to the delivered message. At present, there are a lot of options on the market, and we will list some of the common ones in the following.
For a small budget, filming can be done even with a high-performance phone, however, given that the material is to be used publicly, it’s preferable to use professional equipment.
Sound
Choosing the right microphone for recording is important. One of the usual options is the shotgun washer, a small omnidirectional microphone, capturing the sound from all directions with the same intensity and that easily grasps the clothes. The cardioid microphone captures the sound especially from the front, slightly from the sides and not at all from the back.
Lights
The most used lights for filming a video testimonial are in three versions: the main light, which illuminates the subject, the outline light or the back that defines the contour of the shoulder and head/hair, providing volume, and the third, of fillers that remove the surrounding shadows.
Video camera
It is recommended to use two video cameras, the main one to record the image of the subject from the front, and a secondary one for details. Filming can be done, of course, with a single camera, so the editing effort is reduced substantially.
The frames will generally take the subject from the waist up, but the close images will bring the dynamics and diversity of the video, recording moments of greater emotional intensity that will contribute to the editing process to obtain good material.
6. Transform the raw video into the desired result
The raw material will be edited so that the final result includes the best frames, which convey the authentic, clear message and at the same time captures the emotion of the interviewee which adds truthfulness.
Through editing you can adjust light aspects, by adding filters where necessary, cutting the material where the content is irrelevant or if several frames have been pulled for the same question and stuck together at the right second, you can add background sound that enhances the dynamics or accentuates certain moments.
The company branding is added to the material, by a logo or other visual identity elements. You can bring a sequentiality, by inserting a slide with each question, before the interviewee’s answer.
To make sure the video testimonial will be viewed until the end, its duration should be of 150 seconds maximum.
The video testimonial is ready and can be used in promoting campaigns, distributed to your business partners and uploaded on the company’s website. It’s a marketing material of value with a long duration of use, which can be employed in further communication campaigns or projects.
Let us help you
If you would like our help in making a testimonial campaign from your clients, make sure to contact us at comunicate@junecom.ro.
PS: Here is a video testimonial made for our client Instant Factoring, featuring Cezar Verziu, from Activ Promotion.