B2B Guide to Testimonial Videos: Why It’s a Launchpad for Your Business

Here’s a question…

Think back to the last time you tried a new product or service. Maybe it was a yoga class, or an up and coming online clothing brand or a shiny new computer after your last one packed it in after six months.

Did you head to the product page and straight through to checkout?

Well, if you did, that’d be extremely rare. Most of us need social proof. 87% of buying decisions begin by conducting online research. We search for evidence that the yoga teacher has a majority of positive reviews on Facebook or Google reviews, or maybe they have a reviews section saved on their Insta Stories.

Clothing brands can be hit or miss and one of the highly searched terms for any online clothes store includes – “is [insert brand name] legit? We’ll likely check out online reviews comparing the new laptop to the heap that we purchased last year.

For your business, you need to see your brand in the eyes of your prospectives. How much evidence have you, clearly visible on the internet that your brand is a cut above? And how much of that doesn’t come from the horse’s mouth?

Testimonial videos are where you can get ahead of the game. They hold much better in the recipient’s memory compared to a lengthy review that discusses the exact same points. Stafford in a Forbes article on incorporating video into a social media strategy states that “Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it on video, compared to 10% when reading it in a text.”

So here’s what you need to consider to get the ball rolling and increasing your share of the market.

What’s the question?

Think outside of the box. A lot of testimonial videos come across as bland as scripted.

If you take away one piece of advice from this article, let it be this: highlight benefits, not features. Clients generally aren’t all too interested in how your services are better than your competitors. Instead, they’re going to be interested in how your company is going to improve their processes. One technique is to tackle the reason why one of your clients mightn’t have gone with you and why they did in the end. And it’s no bad thing to discuss with your client how you can work together to make the testimonial colourful and engaging.

Another thing to avoid is getting the testimonial to sound inauthentic. Anything scripted from the brand’s purpose statement or anything similar isn’t going to feel natural. It’s better to let the client speak from their experience with some collaboration so that they can touch on important USPs of your business.

Sample questions

Getting the questions right makes for a video testimonial that actually converts. Here are some that work well to intrigue your audience:

• Tell us about your business?
  It’s great to have a client that targets your market – that way they’ll relate to the common struggles of running such a business.
• What made you choose our business?
  Here’s the chance for your customer to discuss what your competitors were missing. You can also speak a bit about the onboarding process here if you are an SaaS, for example.
• Have you noticed any differences since working with us?
  What has your company achieved since onboarding with us?
  The real sell. It’s what matters most – have you solved the problem? And how. How does this impact the business, what has changed? Perhaps speak about relevant savings on cost or time. Keep it natural, however, and resist the temptation to make this part sound overly scripted.
• What was the obstacle that almost prevented you from buying our product or service?
  Tackle the fact that this is a big decision for potential customers head-on. Ask the big question. What’s the major factor that would hold a company back from choosing your business. And allow your client to explain their thought process and why they finally decided to take the plunge.

Relatability

Well now you know what not to do, here’s the core of why a testimonial video will work. Customers are more trusting when they don’t feel under pressure to make a purchase. A satisfied customer talking to someone in the same boat helps them to decide whether your brand is right for them. Testimonials allow your hard work towards leading customer service to speak for itself.

Talk about the extra mile.

Obviously, you’re going to ask a client that you have a good business relationship with, and there has to be a reason for that. Allow the client to discuss this – was your customer service helpful? Were you able to create an innovative solution for a problem that caused headaches for the company? Whatever it is, showing the human side of your customer relations to potential clients.

Social

Now it’s time to talk about placement. You can place the full testimonial on your website and share snippet s across social media. That is what we call in the marketing world evergreen content. Using your asset cross-platform, even including it in your newsletter helps garner trust in your brand and drive conversions.

Quality

Having crisp audio and a high-quality image with good lighting can’t be underestimated in providing that professional polish. If your branding is all about providing a quality service to customers this is going to be especially true. Also, background music and eye-catching transitions all help in making your video stand out. Video testimonials need this edge to stand out from competitors and make a memorable impact on viewers.

You can create your own video testimonial. However, it’s a lot of work from scripting, designing the content, filming, editing and optimising for various platforms. If you’re looking for experts to take over the entire process of creating a video testimonial, you can get in touch with us at VideoWorks.