People are often advised to spend their money on experiences, not things. The reason being that memories last far longer than material objects. Following this mindset, most effective Los Angeles video marketing strategies focus on selling the experience tied to the product rather than the product itself. For instance, toothpaste companies often release commercials that focus on all the relationships you can win when your smile is nice and shiny. Very rarely do they focus on what the toothpaste is made of or what sets it apart from other brands.
There are multiple video formats that can showcase the consumer experience. However, testimonial videos remain—arguably—one of the most powerful.
FLOW OF AN EFFECTIVE TESTIMONIAL VIDEO
As far as The Forbes Agency Council recommends structuring your testimonial videos like so:
Start off with a brief Company Introduction, such as your logo, brand name, or stock footage of your building/physical storefront. Move on to introducing your client—name, profession, situation, etc.—before having them explain their problem. This part shouldn’t be too long, either. Have them explain the issues they had in such a way that people watching can sympathize or relate, but don’t have them blow it out of proportion. Have them be as raw and authentic as possible.
Once the problem has been summed up, ask the client to describe how you, your product, or your company resolved it for them. At this point in corporate video production, it’s important to focus on the solution. It’s important to focus on how their lives were changed because of you. They should also mention how they feel other people can benefit from your product/service as well.
So, what makes testimonial videos so powerful, and why does it seem like we human beings are wired to trust them implicitly?
TRUST
As of 2013, 79% of consumers admitted that they trusted online reviews just as much as they did personal recommendations—proof that word-of-mouth still remains one of the best forms of promotion/advertising.
This is perhaps the biggest reason why online retail and ecommerce sites such as Amazon encourage verified shoppers to post feedback and comments on their purchases. Navigating the world of online shopping becomes much less arduous and sketchy when there are other actual human beings sharing their honest, unbiased opinion about the product because we inherently trust their experience more than the product description (it also helps knowing that they have nothing to lose/gain by posting their reviews).
The same study mentions the other side to this; reading reviews has become an integral part of an online consumer’s pre-purchase research, and it plays huge deciding factor in their buying decision. But because of people’s growing trust in online feedback, they now only need to read a handful of reviews to formulate their own opinion about a business. This means that the first couple of comments or featured comments on a product page can make or break a company’s reputation.
By putting testimonial videos at the forefront of your website or product page, you fulfil the consumer’s need for quick, easily-digestible feedback. After two or three videos and maybe a handful of positive comments, there is very little chance left that the viewer won’t purchase your product. As Hubspot puts it, quality testimonials “bypass the skepticism and immediately build trust.”
SOCIAL PROOF
A social experiment performed in the 1960’s explains yet another aspect of the power behind testimonial videos. Gathering a group of people and getting them to stare pointedly at something (doesn’t have to be anything specific—could be a building, a tree, a spot in the sky, whatever) practically guarantees that random passer-bys will stop and look at what they’re staring at. The larger the original group of gawkers, the greater the chances of bystanders joining in.
What does this mean? Human beings are curious by nature and we have a certain level of inclination towards the ‘monkey see, monkey do’ effect. When we see a large group of people looking at something, we automatically assume that that something must be worth looking at. In comparison, seeing one or two people looking at something wouldn’t warrant the same level of assumption.
Buyers want to be reassured that they’re purchasing something worthwhile, and this is reassurance that Los Angeles video marketing can provide through testimonials. Video testimonials offer that certain social proof that consumers are looking for. If enough people are buying a product and singing its praises, then it must mean that the product is worth purchasing.
