Nearly every place on the internet selling a product or service will have some sort of a review or testimonial. Why? The data shows potential customers are usually swayed to buy after looking at other people’s satisfied feedback. For example, one poll from Dimensional Research found 90 percent of respondents were influenced to buy after reading positive reviews.
However, scrolling through endless pages of reviews and long text isn’t exactly engaging. Now, some reviews are even automated, and usually lack color and emotion.
To stand out from the noise, here’s how to use video testimonials to engage potential customers and drive more sales.
Enter: Video Testimonials
A lot of businesses have not implemented video testimonials, which means an untapped opportunity to set your business apart from the competition.
Video testimonials help drive sales because they ask for more than just text. A good video testimonial includes emotion and is engaging. Plus, people watching a video are going to stay on your website longer, which means the odds for future sales will go up.
Why should you turn to video testimonials?
They’re a great way to get people to buy something. Studies show 64 percent of people are more likely to buy after looking at a video, and 80 percent of customers can recall a video advertisement they watched in the previous month.
In fact, customer testimonials are the most effective type of video content, edging tutorials and demonstrations.
Many people would rather watch a video than read text. They are also easier to share and consume. A staggering 92 percent of mobile consumers share videos with others. If you can create engaging testimonial videos that get shared, it’s more likely others will buy your products as well.
Video content also ranks well when it comes to SEO. Forrester Research says video makes your site 53 times more likely to be rank on the first page of search engine results. Incorporating video might seem like a daunting task, but a wide variety of programs and platforms has made it a lot easier to record, customize, and post videos.
How to incorporate video testimonials
The easiest way to get customers to participate is to give them an incentive, like a gift card if they complete a review. You could even redirect someone to a video review page right after they buy a product of yours.
Make sure to keep things simple. Always give the customer clear and concise instructions about what devices to use, video length, and content, especially if they’re doing the testimonial on their own. The best video testimonials feel natural, authentic, and relatable. Robotic or rehearsed reviews will not be effective since people will not see them as credible.
The most important part of a video testimonial are the things other people will identify with. For example, if you sell makeup you might encourage people to speak about their experiences with other brands and how your product ended up being the great solution for which they were looking.
One easy way to create engaging video testimonials is to interview customers. Sitting down for an interview gives people the ability to answer questions naturally and often establishes a good connection with viewers. Ask insightful questions to get the best responses. The ‘Rule of Three,’ where you ask three questions before making a statement of your own, is an effective strategy to get people to share about their experiences.
After you have the video content, edit and enhance it. Make sure everything is still focused around the customer’s words but trim it so viewers can quickly get the important parts.
Make your videos more shareable with some clever editing strategies, such as layering music, adding transitions, and improving the sound in areas where people might be speaking quietly.
Once they’re produced, advertise your video testimonials on social media, your website, and any other video-sharing platform. The medium has a lasting emotional impact, especially when compared to text. Our brains process images 60,000 times faster than the printed word, and 90 percent of the information sent to the brain is visual. Given these stats and the research above, using video testimonials can obviously be a compelling way to get your brand attention and drive more sales.
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