Customer testimonials are one of the most effective marketing tools. It’s social proof and strengthens trust in the brand.
They’re also relatively inexpensive to produce – a solid ROI for a company of any size.
Considering the simplicity of these videos, there’s the temptation to DIY. But before venturing on this endeavor, it’s important to do it right in order to avoid wasting your customer’s time and shining a bad light on everyone involved.
It’s of course ideal to hire a professional video production company, but if you are giving it a college try, here are a few things to consider.
Make sure your customers look good
Most importantly, you want your customer to look fabulous. They’re doing you a favor and so you want to make sure it’s something that they will want to share.
Allow your customer to talk about their company and include that in the video. It doesn’t have to be long – just a few seconds – but they should be able to talk about who they are and what they do.
Make sure they keep a good consistent eye-line. We prefer that they look slightly off camera at the interviewer (or where an interviewer would be), but they can also be looking straight at the camera if that’s the preference. Encourage them to gesture but aware of any large movements.
As for wardrobe, solid colors work best on camera. Avoid tight patterns and pure whites and blacks.
Frame your subjects in a favorable way with a nice background.
Powder out any shine and be careful of reflections on glasses.
Make sure your customers sound good
Nothing ruins a good video like bad sound. It’s ideal to have a dedicated audio person to make sure they catch any unwanted noise. It seems easy but there are many times we catch a siren, a slamming door, or an AC going off during an interview. And the rule is it always happens during the most interesting lines. It’s not often easy to ask a client to repeat, but must be done.
At the end of the interview, ask clients to repeat certain key words like the company name or product. That way, you have clean material to use if needed when editing.
Edit out all the ums and uhs. Through editing, try and make them as articulate as possible.
These are just a few simple tips to make your customer testimonial video the best it can be.
Of course, there are many other considerations such as lighting, camera settings and b-roll, but that will be covered in another post.
If you would like more information about how Picturelab can help with your customer testimonials, contact us at info@picturelab.com.
Picturelab is a full-service video production company based in Silicon Valley and Irvine, CA.