Picture this: you’re the owner of a small company, and you’re trying to cultivate leads. You have already attracted an audience, engaged them on your site, and encouraged them to follow your social media accounts, but they are still not ready to buy. How do you turn those leads into customers without being pushy?

Video marketing is the way to go when you need to persuade your audience to take action. While most video types will be useful in this context due to the general usefulness of video as a tool, many brands use customer testimonials because they drive buying intent and boost sales.

A client testimonial features a past or current customer sharing their experience with your brand. There are many types of customer testimonials, but written testimonials and video testimonials are the two most popular. Video testimonials add an extra element of persuasiveness and personality, especially if they are given by an industry authority.

Authenticity is the secret to a great video testimonial. To maximize the testimonial’s impact and credibility, you need to let the customer tell their user story in their own words. 

Why is video marketing important?

Video is a highly efficient form of content, and it has soared in popularity in the past few years. Curiously, though, many marketers still do not include video in their digital marketing strategy or don’t get the most out of it, even though most internet users consume video content on a daily basis.

One study shows that 92% of marketers in 2020 believed video was an important component of their marketing campaign. Compared to only 78% of marketers who used video marketing in 2015, that’s quite an increase!

Source: HubSpot

Despite the increased popularity of video marketing, you might still have your doubts about it, especially given the potential costs involved. Is video marketing worth the expense? Do you have enough resources to create and promote video content?

Most marketers would agree that video marketing is worth the investment. Video is one of the most versatile and profitable tools out there for digital marketing, whether you run a SaaS company, an ecommerce website, or something else entirely. 

Here are 8 reasons you should start using video in your marketing campaigns, if you haven’t already:

1. Video boosts conversions and sales.
2. Video generates great return on investment (ROI).
3. Video builds trust.
4. The Google algorithm loves videos.
5. Video appeals to mobile users.
6. Good video content can explain almost any concept. 
7. A fun video engages even the most uninterested buyers.
8. Video encourages social shares.

Video marketing offers marketers the ability to easily highlight their company’s essential features while adding fun visuals, an informative script, and catchy music to keep their audience interested.

5 companies that nailed video testimonials 

As you start your video testimonial campaign, getting inspiration from brands that have done it well is always a good idea. We’ve collected 5 great examples of amazing video testimonials. Regardless of your company’s size, the product or service you offer, and the marketing budget you’re working with, the concepts these videos use are very effective. So pay attention and learn from the best! 

1. Slack

Sandwich Video, a video content production company, produced a video testimonial for Slack called So Yeah, We Tried Slack. Before switching to Slack, Sandwich Video used to coordinate projects using different channels, including email, Dropbox, and WhatsApp. One team member even held meetings in the utility closet. Predictably, the company’s project management and collaboration were all over the place.

Source: Slack YouTube

When the team switched to Slack, though, everything was in one place – messaging, file sharing, collaboration – and planning projects became much easier. In fact, the testimonial video in this example was also coordinated using Slack. This story-within-a-story adds a fun touch to the video, and it works because we actually see the product changing the way a company does things.

In addition, powerful film and graphic elements drive the point home. The video explains how Slack works, and how the app interacts with other widely used software. It’s a shining example of storytelling and the “show, don’t tell” approach that any writer will tell you is critical.

2. Zoom

Zoom has enjoyed an incredible surge in popularity since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic – so much so that “to Zoom” is now widely accepted as a verb! 

Even before Zoom became a household name product, audio equipment manufacturer Sonos was using the tool. As a large organization with sites spread across the globe, Sonos needed a solution that could allow them to discuss projects and tackle common problems in real time. 

In Zoom, they found a videoconferencing partner that was dependable, scalable, and flexible. It’s a big deal for a manufacturer of audiovisual products to endorse Zoom because it means the solution has passed the client’s high standards for video calls where everyone can see and hear each other clearly. 

Source: Zoom YouTube

The video testimonial above was posted in February 2018 and has received over 885,000 views. It utilizes a “behind the scenes” approach, showing viewers how Sonos manufactures its products and how the team works together across time zones.

People love a glimpse behind the scenes of their favorite brands, so ask your customers and clients to create video testimonials that show how they use your product or service to make their daily operations easier. 

3. Dropbox for Business

Dropbox attempted an unusual strategy: instead of using a testimonial from a single satisfied client, it collected a range of stories from many happy customers and combined them into one video.

Source: Dropbox YouTube

The video above features testimonials from at least five companies of different sizes and industries. These testimonials have one common thread running through them: the ability to collaborate, share, and scale their operations seamlessly thanks to Dropbox. One client, Dictionary.com, even states that it cannot imagine operating without Dropbox. 

As if these testimonials aren’t enough, the last few frames feature the logos of well-known companies that use Dropbox: National Geographic, Kayak, Spotify, and Foursquare, among others. Knowing that these companies all depend on Dropbox might be enough to convince a potential customer to sign up for the service.

This is the power of social proof in action. If you have a big-name or well-known client, do not be afraid to leverage that in your video testimonials. 

4. Codecademy

Codecademy is an interactive learning platform that provides free coding courses. Its free learning content has helped thousands of people shift to lucrative careers in coding. The video testimonial below features Tommy Nicholas, the co-founder of Knox Payments, a payment platform that has raised more than $1.6 million in funding since 2015:

Source: Codecademy YouTube

Like more than 24 million Codecademy users, Tommy was looking for a change of career. He started out with a “Hello World” program, then quickly realized that he could use code to make computers work for him. The premise of this video testimonial, which is just under a minute long, is simple yet powerful: Codecademy can transform your life.

The video testimonial above is proof that your marketing content doesn’t need fancy editing or complex graphics. All you need is the right person telling a true story to inspire your target audience.

5. Hubspot

HubSpot is one of the biggest names in the digital marketing space, but that doesn’t mean it can’t benefit from video testimonials. Customers are more likely to trust testimonials that talk specifically about how a product has changed the way it does business, and one of HubSpot’s testimonial videos, featuring the story of Endless Entertainment, does just that:

Source: HubSpot YouTube

This video testimonial is effective because it identifies a key customer pain point and tells viewers how the product solved it. Endless Entertainment was pouring a lot of time and resources into blogging, but didn’t have the tools to know whether its content marketing strategy was working. Fortunately, HubSpot has an integration with a solution the Endless Entertainment team were already using, which made it easy to measure the effectiveness of the campaigns.

The lesson here is to focus on benefits, not features. In other words, don’t tell your target audience that your product is great because it has X, Y, and Z features. Instead, let your happy customers share the benefits and value your product has provided for them. 

What we can learn from these companies

If you are thinking about diving into testimonial ads, here are some things we’ve learned from our examples above that you can apply to your own content:

• Make the video as natural as you can: Customers look for something natural, not branded. They want to see real-life applications of your product. When they can tell that a video testimonial is heavily scripted, they might not believe it.
• Give your interviewee some time to prepare: If you give your interviewee the questions you will ask them in advance, they will have time to prepare good answers.
• Lay out a framework for your video: You can use a storyboard or a simple outline to make editing easier. You can make life easier for your editor by using a still image from your raw footage to indicate where you want a clip to be inserted.
• Let your customers speak openly to you: Give them some time to talk about their experience with your product and your business. Let the interview be a chat, so they feel free to share their thoughts. That way, when you edit the video, you will have more great soundbites and clips to choose from.
• Scout the area you’ll be filming in: Take a walk around the site before you start shooting. Make the setting tidy yet lively and interesting. You should ideally choose a place that your interviewees are familiar with so they will feel relaxed.
• Emphasize your customers’ pain points and how you solved them: What were your client’s problems? How did your product help them solve them? Your audience will likely have similar problems, and if your testimonial video can address them, they will be more interested in your product.

Going to a professional video firm for your testimonial promotional efforts can be a game-changer. Viewers will take your testimonial videos’ quality as a reflection of your products’ or services’ quality. Even if testimonial videos don’t have the reach or virality of other forms of video content, you should still invest in quality video production.

Hiring a top-notch video production service will ensure that your business testimonials resonate with your audience. The video company will do all the heavy lifting to make your company’s testimonials perfect. All you have to provide is a customer who’s willing to vouch for your brand.

The bottom line

The video testimonial examples above show us how brands use best practices to tell entertaining stories that catch their viewers’ interest and demonstrate their products’ advantages and services.

Of course, this isn’t an invitation for you to copy their content. Instead, you can learn valuable lessons from their experience so you can create video testimonials that speak for your brand and customers. Feel free to experiment with styles, techniques, and formats until you find a visual language that’s uniquely your own.

Good luck with your first testimonial video!

About the author: Jimmy Rodriguez is the COO of Shift4Shop, a completely free, enterprise-grade e-commerce solution. He’s dedicated to helping internet retailers succeed online by developing digital marketing strategies and optimized shopping experiences that drive conversions and improve business performance.