Tests of TV spots and infomercials demonstrate that you can significantly boost response rates, sometimes by 30% or more, by letting satisfied customers tell your story. My own theory about why testimonial videos are so powerful? Simple…
Viewers expect you to say wonderful things about what you’re selling. It’s another thing entirely when someone with nothing to gain from your company’s success sings your praises. Suddenly the message doesn’t feel like advertising, but like a valuable piece of advice. A personal recommendation. A tried-and-true tip. Which is why testimonial videos are such powerful stuff.
But well-done testimonial videos can do a whole lot more than add credibility to your advertising claims. You can also use them to…
Grab the viewer’s attention. So much so, in fact, that many infomercials open with a dozen or more testimonials. Viewers hear satisfied customers talking about their experiences even before the on-camera spokesperson or voice-over announcer establishes what the program is all about. And it works like gangbusters! People are drawn in because they love to hear other people’s success secrets. If someone out there has the solution to a problem they’re facing, they don’t want to miss out on it.
Target your message. Testimonial videos help viewers get comfortable with your product by giving them an opportunity to see someone just like them discussing its merits. Dating services, for instance, used to be a difficult sell because of the perception that they were “just for losers.” But that perception is now a thing of the past, thanks to all those wonderful spots from eHarmony and Match.com. The spots feature intelligent, attractive, likeable, real people talking enthusiastically about their experiences. Viewers instantly warm to the idea of a dating website because they relate to those people. In a nutshell, customer testimonial videos not only answer the question, “What can this product do for me?” but also, “What type of person uses this product?”
Connect emotionally with your audience. When you see a timeshare owner hug his wife and say, “It was the best investment I ever made in my family because of all the things we’ve done together — and all the memories we have,” you get a comfortable feeling about the company that made all those great vacations possible. When a TurboTax user enthusiastically says, “I got a lot of cash, and that’s because of TurboTax!” you listen…and start thinking, “Maybe it could do that for me, too.”
No doubt about it. Testimonial videos really work. Which is why every infomercial is crammed full of them.
The truth is, customer testimonial videos provide one of the best returns on your marketing dollar. In addition to using them in commercials and infomercials, you can use them on your website, in video press releases, sales meetings, laptop presentations, stockholder meetings, partner pitches, new employee orientation…and more. You can also have the video testimonials transcribed – and use the print testimonials in direct mail and other media. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.
“So why doesn’t everybody use customer testimonial videos?” you might ask. Quite frankly, the answer is that getting great customer testimonial videos takes time, money and commitment. And that there are secrets to the process that not everybody knows.
Over the next few weeks and months this blog will give you the know-how you need to conduct your own “testimonial drive” and tap into the power of testimonials. You might also want to check out how The Testimonial Wrangler can help.
