With online shopping on the rise, many customers are concerned with the integrity of the online stores they are buying from. This is why customer reviews are so heavily relied on when shopping on places like Amazon and Shopify. However, scammers have caught on to this, and it is very simple to fake a good review. The answer to showing authentic customer testimonials that work and are convincing is to video them instead.

Who should be in your customer testimonial videos?

Try not to use actors. Advertise that you are looking for customers to give their testimonials on camera; you can do this by offering some sort of incentive like a gift card or entry to a giveaway.

You can film your testimonials anywhere, but a natural setting would be best; it gives the clips a very genuine, authentic feel. This could be the customers home or within your place of business. Think about how your environment may affect video quality; outdoors provides a lovely backdrop, outdoor sounds like weather and animals can affect the audio quality.

What equipment do you need?

Along with your camera, you should have appropriate audio recording gear. You may even want to set up lighting to give off a very professional consistent feel to the video. Ensure that your camera tripod is steady too, this will make it much easier to manipulate clips in editing to get rid of silences etc.

What should you ask?

You’ll want to allow them time to prepare when you get your equipment set up too. It can be very daunting to be on camera for those who aren’t used to it, especially if they are the main subject.

Have questions prepared for your testimonials. You are interviewing genuine customers and not actors. Therefore, it can take a while for them to feel more comfortable with being recorded. Being able to prompt them with questions will allow them to speak clearer too. It is best to get them to talk away from the camera and towards you; this gives a more relaxed feel. It will also allow the testimony to translate a lot more naturally. It will also naturally distract them from the camera equipment. The testimonial will flow a lot more like a casual conversation rather than an interrogation. Which in turn will be more palatable to watch for your audience.

Get as much content as possible.

Try to record as much as possible for your customer testimonials. It is always easier to cut down lengthier clips than go back and rerecord because you didn’t get enough content.

Editing

Try to keep your testimonials short and sweet, identify which parts are crucial whilst watching the footage back and place it in an order that flows well, even if this is not chronological. By keeping it relevant and not long-winded, you have a better chance of captivating your audience’s attention.

You may want to add appropriate music in the background or as an outro and intro; this is simple using websites like Envato elements. Ensure that the backing track does not overshadow the dialogue. You’ll want to select something that isn’t distracting and keep the volume a lot lower than the dialogue audio.

When it comes to transitions, try not to overpower the actual videos themselves and enhance them instead.

Overall, video testimonials are a great way to convince potential customers that you are trustworthy and of the quality of your products/services. Customer testimonials work well if they are real and unscripted.