The Power of Customer Testimonials: How to Make A Testimonial Video [Winning Examples + Practical Approaches]

Nothing sways a customer’s decision to buy much like recommendations from other people. This makes testimonials a powerful tool when you need to build credibility, and trust and ultimately persuade an indecisive customer to hit that call to action.

Now imagine putting a face, a voice, and a relatable story that perfectly encapsulates the pain point-to-solution journey to that testimonial! This is what gives video testimonials an edge over written testimonials.

Reviews and testimonials are here to stay. A local consumer review survey by Brightlocal estimates 76% of people “always” or “regularly” read online reviews for local businesses.

77% of people who have watched a brands testimonial video say it has played a part in convincing them to buy their product or service.

While video testimonials can be incredibly effective to turn your leads into customers, many businesses struggle with creating video testimonials. And we get it. It can seem daunting to find the right people to feature in the testimonials, what kind of questions to ask, film the videos, and edit videos to make them look professional.

However, with the right approach, creating video testimonials can be relatively easy.

If you’re stuck at the drawing board wondering how to get past what story to tell, what customers to feature, what questions to ask, and how to keep it 100% authentic; here’s some help:

• Winning Examples of Great Customer Testimonial Videos
• A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Compelling Video Testimonials
• Tips to Get Genuine Video Testimonials from Customers
• Questions to Ask Your Customers When Asking for a Testimonial
  

Winning Examples of Great Customer Testimonial Videos

We’ve compiled some of the best testimonial video examples online and extracted simple lessons and takeaways you can learn from.

Instead of listing out best practices and tips, we’ll take you through great examples of customer testimonial videos to help you understand different approaches to creating customer testimonial videos.

Tell a story that inspires action - Dropbox

In this example, Dropbox takes you through the story of one of its users. The video delves into a well-narrated story of the customer, their ups and downs, and why his art matters so much to him.

It doesn't put the hard focus on Dropbox directly all through the video and instead allows the customer the time to talk about his journey, and his passions and then wonderfully moves into how Dropbox was able to help him streamline, store, and help him in a small but invaluable way.

Takeaways: It's ok to let your customer talk about their entire journey, it shows you genuinely care about them and their journey; rather than just projecting a part of their story where you stood out as a shiny solution.

Highlight specific results to emphasize impact- Google Ads

You’ll notice a different approach to the testimonial in this example. Google Ads starts off the video strong with Best Buy’s mission and how Google AI-powered ads help them drive growth. It’s a straightforward and powerful hook that keeps you latched on to know the ‘how.’

It moves away from a pain-point narrative and dives into specifics. It allows the customer to directly put focus on the specific use cases that they use Google Ads for and the direct impact this has made. This allows anyone watching with a similar use case to visualize the kind of benefit they might also gain. Use Cases with the potential to create a direct impact like this are powerful for short video testimonials, especially if you serve a number of customer segments.

Takeaways: Apart from good storytelling, specific results, and numbers are another great way to show credibility in a video testimonial.

Capture a relatable 'Before v/s After' - Zoom

Testimonials work best when they’re relatable. And in this example, you’ll see exactly how to keep it relatable and simple. The video starts with a ‘before/after’ narrative structure - what the customer has been using before being introduced to Zoom, the challenges they faced, and then moves on to explain how they’ve been able to scale with Zoom.

What makes this testimonial relatable is the shared hurdles many individuals like your potential customers encounter when considering a migration. Questions such as "Is it easy?" and "Will I be guided throughout the process?" are common concerns. The video testimonial captures the customer's firsthand experience during their transition to Zoom, by using impactful phrases like "Easy migration, “ documentation”, and “great support." (if you missed it, watch *time* of the video again).

Keeping the testimonial relatable will have your customers watching the video thinking: “I have the same concerns - I think this can help me.”

Takeaways: Be sure to use your video testimonial to answer the questions your prospective leads have about your brand. At times a simple, straightforward, no-fluff approach to video testimonials can be the most honest and powerful way to influence prospects.

Zero in on result and impact - Shopify

This example opens with the customer's mission. Quality products are central to their work right from sourcing to producing.

This approach stands out because it doesn’t just share the customer's happiness at finding a solution. Instead, it goes beyond merely expressing satisfaction with the product. It constructs a compelling story that guides viewers through the entire journey - what matters most to the customer, and how it was able to help build a comprehensive experience.

Takeaway: Prospects going through the same journey are more likely to listen if it sounds less salesy and more like you genuinely care about their mission and goals.

Tap into influential customers - Hootsuite

A couple of points stand out in this example - the high-quality production, well-lit ambiance, multiple perspectives from the team, and of course the fact that this video captures the story of WWF - one of the largest conservation organizations.

The video highlights how communication is central to their work and how Hootsuite enables them to streamline and allocate campaigns around the world on social media. It explains this rather simple but emphasizes the impact this has made on WWF’s organic reach on social media.

They marveled at the difference they were able to make with reach and shares (1:59) - seeing them so satisfied and eager to share their impact helps motivate potential customers.

Takeaway: Including different people in your video testimonial is a practical way to include perspectives and showcase impact across levels in a team. Tap into influential customers and well-known brands from your user base to build credibility and trust.

Capture genuine emotions - Airbnb

If you’re unable to get video footage of your customers or they’re simply not comfortable being in front of a camera but are still eager to share their experience as your customer - you can get creative with photos with a wonderful soundbite.

This example by Airbnb is not like the usual testimonial formats you see. No before/after narrative, nor problem-solution journey. Just a heartwarming, wonderfully pieced-together picture montage that narrates the experience of two travelers at an Airbnb stay and how their hostess offered them so much more than a stay.

And even without video footage - it works all the same!

Storytelling approaches like this can help when your brand has a lot to offer visually; whether it’s beautifully designed products or a wonderful ambiance like with this example. The sound bite also adds a nice touch, and even though you can’t see the speakers, you can tell from their intonation that they’re happy and laughing when they recount their stay.

Takeaway: Don’t shy away from trying something new. In the end, real stories from real people are best to compel emotions.

Finally, you don’t need to browse through 20+ different approaches before you get started. See how you can bring out the best of your brand from the perspective of customers genuinely happy to endorse you to help potential customers figure out if you can help them too.

Remember, these are general approaches you can explore to create video testimonials, and the effectiveness of a video testimonial ultimately depends on your target audience and the specific product or service you offer.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Compelling Video Testimonials

If the thought of adding video testimonials has enticed you but you’ve hesitated because you thought it had to involve hiring a professional behind the camera, drafting a crisp script, and having a pro video editor onboard- let’s change that.

One of the biggest challenges with video testimonials is figuring out how to make video testimonials quickly and affordably without compromising on quality.

How to make a testimonial video:

Step 1: Upload the raw video footage to Typito

Upload your video to Typito. If you’re using photos for your testimonial you can go ahead and upload these as well.

Once your footage is uploaded, head over to ‘My Media’ in the left panel to access everything you’ve uploaded.

Step 2: Piece together your story
Click to add the clip to your timeline. If you have multiple clips or photos you can drag these around on the timeline to rearrange them to tell your story.

Cut, trim, and crop your video as needed.

You can cut out any awkward pauses to keep your video short and to the point by placing the play head at the exact portion of the clip you want to cut and then clicking the cut icon.

Trim videos by adjusting the ends of the clip like this:

Step 3: Pull out details to enhance your story
To add context to your video you’ll want to use text cues to indicate who the customer is, what were their challenges, and what was the impact.

You can add lower thirds to share context about the speaker for example a name and designation -

Step 4: Review, Perfect Share!

Once you’re done with all the video edits, feel free to share your video with members of your team or a friend to ask for feedback. A little feedback goes a long way!

You can export your video and use the ‘Share link’ to allow others to preview the video you’ve just created. You can always go back to the edited version of the project and make more changes.

Tips To Get Genuine Video Testimonials from Customers

Consumers can relate better to videos from people like them. This means you may need to look into your customer base to ensure you include customer testimonials from different types of customers to appeal to all of your prospective leads.

✅  Keep it authentic and genuine: Testimonials are most effective when they’re reliable and believable. Focus on capturing the natural responses of your interviewee to keep it a genuine experience for the customer.

✅ Let the customer share their story in their own words: Don’t script it. Let your customers use their own words and language to share their experiences.

✅ Let your customers be prepared: Give them time to speak and let them share what they love about your product or service in addition to the questions you’ve asked them.

✅ Have a general structure in mind to guide your customers: This could include prompts or a basic flow that traces - common pain points, how they discovered you, what were the top 3 major differences your product or service made.

Questions to ask your customers when asking for a testimonial:

Asking the right questions is crucial for extracting impactful responses. Here's a good place to start with beginner powerful questions that prompt authentic and meaningful testimonials.

1. Who are you, and what does your brand stand for?
2. What are some of the main problems you faced before using our product/service?
3. Why did you choose us? Or What made you feel we were the right choice for you?
4. What is one specific thing you like best about our product/service?
5. How do we help you advance your own goals and mission?
6. How do we stand out as a solution to you?
7. What specific results were you able to achieve after using our product or service?
8. Would you recommend us to others?
9. Is there anything else you’d like to share with us?

Wrapping it up

By now we hope to have out of the primary questions about video testimonials to rest - Takeaways from some simple and practical approaches, kinds of questions to ask, and an easy tool to create and edit a video testimonial.

But there’s still one left unanswered - should you go for a professional video company or DIY it yourself?

Here’s our honest take - Having professional video quality could be a game changer. Moreover, having someone to film, plan, and share a polished video with you can save you a lot of time.

However, if you’re a small business or a small team with budget constraints, and you can’t afford to onboard a professional video team just yet, you shouldn’t have to miss out on making the most of video testimonials.

We built Typito to make video editing a breeze so that every business can tell its story by itself. Here’s your chance to explore easy and affordable video creation solutions to create your own high-converting video testimonials - without the hassle of complicated video creation software.

And if you stumble upon any roadblocks along the way feel free to reach out to us via email to help you out.

Make a Video Testimonial for Your Brand