We’ve done many, many testimonial videos for our clients over the years. In this article, we’re going to share how to create the best testimonial video for your budget.

Why video testimonials are a good idea

• Testimonials make for a great story – hearing someone’s experience of your business is a brilliant idea and not just for creating a level of trust. When done right, testimonial videos are entertaining as the customer tells their story, which leads us onto…
• Testimonials are evergreen – these are incredible assets to have that you can share around your online presence. You can also gather a lot of valuable content out of a single testimonial.
• They are cost-effective – unlike a high-end, underwater content shoot, you don’t need a whole lot of fancy equipment. We’ll be getting into what you will need further on in this article.
• They offer behind the scenes – there’s such a saturation of brands, and consumers don’t necessarily buy the cheapest or the best product anymore. Yes, they’re looking for high-quality, but are also searching for personality. If they enjoy your content, if they can connect with your business, they’re far more likely to become loyal supporters. 86 per cent of consumers say that authenticity is a key factor when deciding what brands they like and support (Stackla, 2019).

Top Tips for Creating an Excellent Testimonial Video

Before recording day

Here are tasks that are great to do in advance of shooting so that everything runs smoothly.

Get clear on the video’s tone

We’re mentioning this before shoot day because it’s key to having brand consistency online.

Is your brand humorous? Natural? A bit cheeky?

Even if you’re a B2B brand, there has to be more to your brand’s tone than ‘professional’. Once confident in the feelings you want to invoke in your audience from this video, then the next steps will be much easier to create.

Write a script

Collaborate with your customer about what aspects of the customer relationship you want to focus on.

As you’ve got the tone nailed, communicate with your customer how they can help bring this to life. For example, if your content often feels unscripted to the users, encourage your customer to make full use of their own personality– to smile, laugh and crack a joke!

Choose a Testimonial video format

There are a couple of formats you can consider. Each option will provide a different feel to the testimonial. The first is known as the talking head style. Typically, we’re shooting from the chest up. This is used so much in journalism because it portrays a sense of truth, reliability and professionalism.

Next, you have conversational interviews, and these instantly set a more casual tone. Note that even the type of chairs you sit in, straight back versus a couch, can be used for tone setting. The more welcoming the set, the better chance your audience will connect with the message.

Remote interviews are obviously handy if you and your client aren’t in easy reach of each other location-wise. Having a video production company create up a set in your client’s base saves time and prevents having to travel. In the end, you’ll have a high-quality testimonial video to have on hand.

The Set-Up

1. Camera

What sort of shooting equipment do you need?

You can use a smartphone camera if you’re tight on budget. The newer smartphones specifically are delivering higher quality footage. However, what you might struggle with is a shaky end-product. A mid- to high-range DSLR and tripod will produce a sleeker finish.

The last thing you want is to ask a customer of yours to come in and spend half a day recording just to realise that the footage isn’t usable.

For a professional and engaging finish, consider going with a video production company. They’ll have all the equipment and expertise to pull in the viewer. Stopping the scroll is an art form, and takes more skill than meets the eye. If you have the budget, outsourcing video testimonials enhances the look and feel of the finished product.

2. Sound

There’s nothing better than nice crisp audio. Research published in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society found that low-quality audio made people perceive the quality of a video overall as much lower. So how can we ensure high-quality audio? Using a lapel microphone, also known as a lavalier microphone, helps pick up the speaker’s voice. If you’ve got the budget or already own one, shotgun mics also work well in this scenario.

3. Lighting

Natural light, or a recreation of it, is often what suits this style of video. Softbox lights are wonderful for creating diffused light that is flattering and appealing to the eye. You can also sit the speaker facing a window and shooting with natural light, although it will be a little more unpredictable, and you have to contend with clouds.

4. Warming up to the camera

The first take won’t be the one that makes the final cut. That means that you need to set time aside for multiple takes, allowing the customer to relax and get used to the lens and lights.

5. Add graphics and text

Of course, this doesn’t have to be done but overlaying your testimonial with text has a few benefits. Captions make it easier to catch and keep your audience’s attention. View time increases by 12 per cent when videos have captions. Many people dip into their phones during the workday and will keep the volume on mute while accessing their favourite social media apps. Graphics are another really effective method of holding attention and also an opportunity to strengthen brand recognition.

6. Editing

Editing isn’t just snapping the snippets of footage together. Using techniques such as colour grading and transitions throughout the conversation helps to create a standout video that engages the viewer.

Also adding music, whether as an intro or outro or an ambient instrumental throughout the testimonial is a great way again to connect with the audience and invoke the desired feelings you want out of the testimonial.

Testimonials make a business trustworthy, having a video format makes them more engaging. They help your audience discover your brand and what makes it unique. Crucially, people can envision themselves availing of products or services. You can get in touch with us here at Videoworks if you’d like to collaborate on your next testimonial video.