The Importance of Video Testimonials

Happy customers are some of the best marketing resources you have at your disposal — who better to sell to your future customers than your current satisfied ones?

Capturing these positive experiences creates a powerful tool that’s practically effortless to use. Sure, you can put written testimonials on your website or in your marketing materials, but a video testimonial is an even better, more powerful format.

Video is one of the most efficient marketing formats today. They are attention-grabbing, engaging, and easily shareable in the current online world. What’s more, 91 percent of American companies already use some form of video in their marketing, up 28 points in the last six years alone. Simply put, if you’re not utilizing video, your competitors likely are, and you run the risk of falling behind in terms of reach.

Why use testimonials? Regardless of their style, testimonial-based marketing videos are impactful, improving brand awareness and engagement, among a host of other benefits. A few of the more significant benefits of testimonial videos in advertising include the following:

1. Reinforced Credibility and Trust

One of the biggest reasons you should use testimonials in your video advertising is the boost in credibility. Your customers are far more likely to believe one of their peers than they are to believe you. While a written testimonial might help convert potential customers who are on your site, they might not trust that the quote is faithfully represented. With a video testimonial, they hear it straight from the mouths of people like themselves.

Testimonial videos allow your clients to see others talk about your products, giving an honest, unscripted opinion. It puts a face to your business and gives your brand the credibility it needs within your target group. Not only can you present your goals, products and overall mission, but you can give examples of customer experiences that support each point.

Taking and using video testimonials is also a huge sign of respect to the individuals who give their opinions. You entrust your reputation to these clients, showing them that you value their opinion and want to document it. By valuing and trusting your customers, you add to your credibility with them and their friends and encourage them, in turn, to speak positively about your business, adding even further to your credibility.

2. Better Emotional Connection

Reading a quote can convey an idea or emotion, but not nearly as well as a video in which you are able to see the face and emotions of the testimonial giver. A written testimonial misses out on the subtle facial expressions and changes in tone that add resonance to a thought, while a video captures the full story, body language and all. This adds a level of authenticity to the video, which in turn helps you develop an emotional connection with your audience.

By developing this bond with the viewer, your testimonials can convince them that they can benefit in the same way from your product or service. This emotional connection is often the best way to draw interest or seal the deal with a client. It also improves the sense that they are getting a personal, one-on-one experience with your business.

3. Humanizes the Brand

One of the biggest problems online businesses face is a lack of human-to-human connection. Instead of getting the personal interaction you get with an in-store experience, you get a series of screens and pictures showing you the products available. While functional, many of these businesses lack the human factor. One of the best ways to avoid this issue? Using video testimonials.

Video testimonials help to humanize your brand, putting a face to your product. By showing your potential clients one of their peers who has benefitted from your product or service, you help to make them believe that they too can gain the same benefit. This helps them achieve something closer to an in-store experience, giving them added reassurance that you are the right choice to fill their needs.

4. Improves Your Exposure

Another benefit of testimonials in advertising is how much they improve your exposure. Online visibility is arguably the most important factor of business survival in our internet-based society. Videos are easy to share and visually striking enough to encourage users to do so. Combining this with their marketing power makes videos some of the best media to gain online attention.

Compared to text-based content, video testimonials are infinitely more interesting and unique than sales pitches, grabbing the attention of prospective customers. If a customer has never heard of your product before, you can effectively differentiate yourself from the crowd by presenting your sales pitch in the form of a video rather than pure text.

You can use videos effectively in a wide range of business media, including:

• Website: If a greater web presence is a priority for your company, videos can help you achieve it. By adding videos to your website landing pages, you immediately present your prospective clients with content that is interesting, informative and easily shareable. These videos can also improve your search engine rankings, if done correctly. This makes it much easier for potential clients to find and access your website, increasing website visits and continuing the customer attention grabbing cycle.

• Social media: An additional benefit of testimonial videos is easy sharing on social media. Videos on social media tend to be more visible, reaching a wider audience than your website itself. You can even post videos to industry-specific pages and forums, garnering a strong following within a more dedicated segment of your target market and effectively improving overall customer loyalty.

• Email: Even email marketing can be enhanced by testimonial videos, making your emails more interesting to read. Some testimonial statistics from Hubspot revealed that using the word "video" in an email subject line increased open email rates by 19 percent, and using videos at all increases click-through rates by 65 percent and reduces mailing list unsubscriptions by 26 percent. In this case, the statistics speak for themselves. Just make sure it’s easy to stream your video on a mobile device.

Start Using Video Testimonials

Video testimonials are examples of some of the most effective tools in your marketing arsenal. With78 percent of people watching online videos on a weekly basis, and 53 percent of the coveted 18-34 year old demographic watching online video every day, you can’t afford to miss out on such a powerful marketing tool.

Contact NextThought Studios today to learn more about the importance of testimonials in your advertising and how you can get a quality testimonial video created by our experienced production team.