A link to the comprehensive white paper we've developed on video testimonials:

The Complete Guide to Recruiting and Producing Fantastic Video Testimonials:

http://cinemastersind.com/white-papers-testimonials/

A link to the comprehensive white paper we've developed on Video Endorsements:

The Complete Guide to Negotiating and Producing Great Video Endorsement Videos:

http://cinemastersind.com/whitepaperendorsements/

Thanks for taking the time to have a conversation with our producer about your experience with the product or service you’ve agreed to do a video testimonial for! We’re looking forward to meeting on the day of the shoot, but in the meantime we’ve compiled this list of answers to common questions to help you prepare:

1. What should I wear? Wear something that you would be comfortable in for a loosely formal occasion. Think of a low-key business meeting or a casual night out with friends. This might be a blouse and or nice sweater for ladies with a skirt, slacks or nice jeans. For gentlemen, a collared shirt of some sort and slacks or nice jeans would work well. Solids and not overly bright colors are best as those tend to look strange on camera. If the shoot is in studio, most likely it will be on a green screen in which case, no green or yellow but those colors are fine for location shoots. If you’re not sure, bring a couple options and the producer or stylist will help you decide.
2. How long will it take? Depending on the shoot, video testimonials generally take around 45-60 minutes of your time. We’ll likely put a bit of powder on you, adjust the camera and once you’re settled in the producer will have a 10-20 minute conversation with you.
3. How does it work? You’ll have a casual conversation with the producer. You won’t be expected to memorize anything. The producer will simply ask you about your experience with the product or service you’ve agreed to give a testimonial for and later we’ll edit the conversation down to just a few minutes or seconds of your best reactions and answers.
4. What if I’m nervous? Don’t be! Your producer will do their best to just have a casual conversation and the editing team will only choose the most flattering and articulate shots of you. It’s in our best interest to put you at ease and help you look your best.
5. What kind of questions will I be asked? Easy ones! “How do you like the product or service?”, “What’s your favorite part about it?” “How long have you been using it?” etc. All easy stuff that’s intended to just let you talk about your experience in your own words.
6. What if I have more questions? Don’t hesitate to contact the person that asked you to participate. That may be a producer, that may be a representative of the product or service you’ve been asked to talk about. If they don’t have an answer they’ll get you to the peron who does.

Above all, relax and have a great time. Remember that the reason we asked you to give a testimonial is that you probably really like the product or service and you’re the kind of person who is fun to talk to, trustworthy, articulate and more often than not, all of the above!

We hope that you’re as excited to help us spread the word as we are to meet you in person. If you have any additional questions, feel free to let us know and we’ll do our best to answer them before or at the shoot.

One of the best ways to create legitimacy and reinforce your marketing message is to get customers to make the statements for you. In the advertising world we call this “Social Proof” and in production we refer to these loosely as “Testimonials”.

I always encourage clients to include testimonials in their sales videos, separately on testimonial landing pages and on social media. However, sometimes budget doesn’t allow for a separate video testimonial shoot, or like many of my clients, they have customers all over the world and it’s just not efficient to send a crew out to shoot them. While we’d love to get the call to fly to Antarctica and shoot a penguin talking about how great your mail order tuxedo cleaning service is, we realize that’s not always practical.

Sometimes it’s even better to have the customer submit amateur quality videos. In certain cases it gives an air of authenticity to the testimonial. That’s especially true in certain BtoC (business to consumer) products and services. So how do you go about getting customers to submit great, useable testimonial videos? Checkout the primer below for some ideas.

Q: How do I entice customers to submit testimonials?

A: Give them some product! You want to use customers who already love your product or service and what better way to motivate them than by offering a bonus to anyone who submits a testimonial that meets your guidelines. Place the offer on your social media feeds, sales landing pages and the testimonial page after it’s live.

Q: What sort of guidelines should I set/require?

A: Make sure you get great results before you start giving away freebies. If it’s a health or fitnes product, require before and after shots. If it’s a tech product, require them to say how it’s made their life more efficient. Ask them to include video of the product in action if possible. Remember, this is to back up what you are already telling prospects and reinforce your branding.

Q: How do I, or the customer get decent quality from self shot testimonials?

A: Modern smart phones have impressive video capabilities and are so ubiquitous that they’ve become the obvious choice for self shot video testimonials. We love them… But for the love of God, please shoot with the phone horizontal! When you hold the phone upright it creates a visual frame that is the opposite of the naturally wide perspective of human vision and it looks pretty terrible when played back on another device (like your webpage). Beyond that, encourage your customers choose a quiet, well lit place and if possible, use a tripod. Smartphone tripods can be found for as little as $10 and dramatically improve results.

Q: What should they say?

A: They won’t be interested in doing a video testimonial if they don’t already love the product. Just encourage them to give their thoughts on it, talk about why they like it and what they like best about it. It can actually be helpful to have a few drawbacks stated so the testimonial feels real and honest, you can always edit them out later. Whatever you do, don’t try to get them to read a specific script or make a tailored pitch. That will kill the credibility and authenticity of a testimonial. Honesty is the best policy.

Q: How can they send me the testimonial?

A: There are too many file transfer services to list here but chances are you’re already using something like DropBox or Microsoft OneDrive. Encourage (or require) the customer to send the videos to a private folder rather than posting them to YouTube, FaceBook or anywhere else directly. That will allow you to screen and edit the video.

That’s about it. If you have additional questions, or want to know how you can incorporate and leverage video testimonials into your marketing, feel free to give us a call or use our ‘Get A Quote’ form to reach a producer. We’re happy to help and hope you get some amazing video testimonials!