Almost nothing works better than a good customer testimonial – or worse than a bad one. After you’ve gone to the effort and expense to set up a shoot, the last thing you want is to wind up with is testimonial videos of customers who don’t come off as passionate, sincere, credible, or even likable.

So what makes the difference between an unconvincing testimonial and a powerful one? In a nutshell, great testimonials generally have the following characteristics in common…

1.) They are real. Don’t try to substitute actors for actual customers. They look and sound too perfect. Employees and friends don’t work either. Viewers can spot a “testiphonial” a mile away. What you need are real customers expressing their honest thoughts and opinions about your product.

2.) They sound natural. Your testimonial videos shouldn’t sound scripted or rehearsed. So resist the urge to feed your customers specific lines during the shoot. A great testimonial sounds like it came from a customer, not a writer. When editing, don’t limit yourself to only using sound bites that are flawless. A few “uhs” and “ums” actually add to a testimonial’s believability.

3.) They convey passion. Ever see a commercial in which positive words came out of a customer’s mouth – but they just weren’t believable or convincing? When identifying testimonial candidates, you need to keep in mind that you’re dealing with real people, not actors. Sometimes customers with great stories to tell will freeze up in front of a camera. Or they just won’t have the energy level – or ability to express themselves — that you’re looking for. Let’s face it, some customers – and their stories — just make for better TV than others. Identify them in advance, so your shoot day is as productive as possible.

4.) They provide specifics. Don’t let customers say your product is the greatest thing since sliced bread and leave it at that. Have them tell you why. And make sure you give them enough time to do it. Allow at least 30 minutes per person – more if your subject is complex. And encourage testimonial providers to include lots of detail, as this will give you the greatest depth and breadth of material to work with, as well as increasing your chances of getting them to relax on camera.

5.) Include attributions. To further enhance credibility, include at least part of the testimonial providers’ names whenever possible – plus other relevant information, such as what state they live in, or how long they’ve been using your product.

6.) They reflect diversity. Does your product have special appeal to women? Is it used by people of different ages? Or by people in different areas of the country – with varying income and education levels? Or by people from different ethnic and racial backgrounds? If your product or service appeals to a broad demographic, your customer video testimonials should reflect that.

7.) They are visual. When you hire employees, you want to see them, not just talk to them over the phone. And it’s the same when shooting testimonial videos aimed at viewers who are thinking about “hiring” your product. They want to see the people who are recommending it. To be able to look them in the eye and check out their body language, their gestures, and their appearance. That’s why it’s so important to use customer testimonial videos whenever possible – and to use customer photographs when you can’t.

8.) They’re from people viewers can relate to. When you air a spot containing video testimonials, you’re inviting viewers to “join the club” of satisfied users of your product. So the “current members” you introduce them to should be people they’ll like and trust and find they have something in common with. For this reason, it’s essential to choose testimonial providers who are believable, attractive, articulate, and appealing. The kind of “winners” you’d want in your own club!

9.) They demonstrate your product’s features and benefits. An attractive young woman is talking about how pleased she is with her exercise equipment. As a professional athlete, she used to do 2,000 sit-ups a day. Now, she gets a better work-out…in less time. Very impressive, you think. But what really cements her story in your mind is when you see her perfect abs in action, on the exercise equipment, then slamming a volley ball over the net. Now you haven’t just made a claim; you’ve proven it! Whenever budget permits, shoot b-roll footage of customers using your product, and intercut it with their testimonial footage. It will not only lend additional credibility – it will also add energy and visual interest to the finished testimonial video.

Remember that Trendwest Resorts infomercial I mentioned in my last blog post? We put a lot of work up front in identifying the “true believers” and we got some absolutely amazing testimonials. But what really put the testimonial videos over the top was the vacation footage we intercut with those testimonials. You see, after the stage shoot, we sent a small, documentary-style film crew on vacation with several of our “star” testimonial families. The result? In the finished infomercial, we were not only able to show the families speaking to camera about the resort amenities. We could actually show them enjoying the amenities! In a future blog post, I’ll be talking more about using b-roll to add energy and visual interest to customer testimonial videos. In the meantime, if you’d like to see examples of customer testimonials with b-roll, click here.