Most marketers intuitively understand the effect a good testimonial video can have on a prospective client.
Prospects at the bottom of your marketing funnel are primarily concerned with risk. At the bottom of the funnel, prospects understand that they have a problem, and they’ve narrowed down their solution options to one or two companies.
Now they want to make sure that you’re actually going to do what you say you’re going to do. They want to be able to trust you. They want to hear from other customers. They want to make sure that they’re spending their money wisely.
Video testimonials help prospective customers trust you. And, that helps them buy.
So, if video testimonials are so powerful, how many of them do you need?
Of course, it would be nice to have a testimonial from every one of your customers but, let’s face it, not everyone is likely to be as satisfied as you’d like them to be. Others don’t have a good story to tell, and still other just can’t be bothered. Plus, producing that many testimonials might be cost prohibitive.
While there are no hard and fast rules for how many video testimonials you’ll need, it’s a good idea to keep the following in mind.
The Importance of Relevance and Recency
Like any other piece of marketing or sales collateral, video testimonials are made more effective when they are relevant and highlight recent solutions.
If your solution solves the same problem for everyone, every testimonial you produce will be relevant. But, if your solution solves different problems in different ways for different people, you have a relevance challenge, because telling one satisfied customer’s story won’t be relevant to all your customers.
Software provides a useful analogy here. Imagine a simple app that helps people find nearby parking garages. Most users likely use the app in the same way. So, having people talk about how satisfied they are with the app is a pretty straightforward proposition.
Contrast that with an enterprise solution that helps parking garage owners manage multiple properties. Chances are that the same solution is used in very different ways by different customers. There are customers with a handful of garages, and other customers with dozens of garages. There are customers with garages in one city, and other customers with properties located in multiple cities
Different customers, with different challenges requiring different solutions.
Telling those customers’ very different stories is something you’re going to have to do if you wish to be relevant to the different types of customers searching for solutions that meet their particular challenges. So, you’re going to need testimonials that address those different experiences.
Similarly, as problems change and solutions evolve, you’ll want to have testimonials that address those changes. Back to our parking lot solution, the emergence of charging stations within garages for electric vehicles calls for new testimonials that address that and other new solution features.
Remember, customers need help imagining how they will use their solution to solve their particular problems. If their challenge is charging stations, and none of your testimonials address that challenge, you’ve got a problem.
So, you’re going to need enough testimonials to be relevant to the various market segments you serve. Similarly, you’ll need to produce testimonials that demonstrate how your solutions are evolving to address challenges that have recently emerged.
[bctt tweet=”Remember, customers need help imagining how they will use their solution to solve their particular problems. ” username=”gannonpaul”]
Other Things to Consider
When it comes to relevance, having enough customer testimonials to cover the various solution sets that you provide is paramount. But, there are other considerations that may affect the number of testimonials that you need.
In some markets, geographical coverage is an important consideration. If your geographic location is important to your customers, you’ll want to make sure that your video testimonials cover the right geographies.
Demographic factors may also be important. Even though everyone may be using your solution in roughly the same way, having testimonials that represent companies of different sizes, business models, and other demographic features may be extremely important to prospective buyers in the markets you serve.
So, you’ll want to make sure that you have testimonials that represent geographical, demographic, and other considerations that are important to your customer base.
Solving for Relevance and Recency
The challenge of regularly producing good testimonial videos is a real one. For many, producing even one quality video testimonial is a big deal. And, with the scheduling and the shootings, the editing and the distribution, it can be, in fact, be a big deal for companies not prepared to commit themselves to the regular production of testimonial videos. Lots of moving parts, and potential points of failure.
However, there is another way.
If you are ready to commit yourself to the regular production of relevant and recent testimonial videos, you might want to partner with a video marketing agency.
The most complicated, most expensive testimonial video you’ll produce with any agency is always the first one. Subsequent videos are always less taxing because the agency understands what you do, and how you serve your customers.
More importantly, the agency will have learned what works for your company, when it comes to testimonial videos, and should be able to produce them more quickly and with less burden on you and your customers.
And, if you’re able to commit to more videos over time, your video marketing agency should be willing to partner with you on saving a little money.
Build Your Own Video Testimonial Package
At Thoughtcast Media, we’re working to take testimonial video production out of the realm of the “big deal.”
We make it as easy as possible for companies to source and order their testimonial video, with our online Video Testimonial Package Builder.
The base package provides everything necessary for a quality testimonial video, but we’ve added some additional features as options, for those companies who want a little something extra.
And yes, we do offer discounts for three or more videos. We’re also happy to provide even steeper discounts, and an innovative planning/payment option, for customers wishing to budget for an extended period. Contact us directly to customize a bulk video testimonial package.
Learn More About Building Your Own Video Testimonial Package
Planning Your Testimonial Video Production
As you plan your video testimonial coverage for the year, keep relevancy and recency in mind. Factor in any geographical and/or demographic considerations, and build a relationship with a video marketing agency that understands what you’re trying to accomplish, and can work with you to build a video testimonial program that serves your needs.
Thoughtcast Media’s online Video Testimonial Package Builder is a good place to start.