Including a voice from outside the company gives your organization a “stamp of approval” from someone without a vested interest in your success. The people watching expect the CEO and employees to say positive things. Having a third party speak on your company’s behalf appears more genuine, seems less promotional and has more value for today’s savvy viewer.
We’re all very busy – just the fact that a customer takes time out of their day to talk about their experience leaves the viewer with a positive feeling. When that customer has something stellar to say about your company (you wouldn’t use a testimonial that’s less than stellar, right?) the viewer is left with a very positive feeling about your organization.
Prepping the customer for the testimonials
We usually talk with interviewees before a shoot to discuss what they feel comfortable talking about. We talk about high level topics, but we never share a list of questions with them. Talking points work much better. The goal here is to give people enough to be comfortable, but not enough information that they try to memorize their responses. Memorized responses can come off sounding too rehearsed or robotic. Remember, we’re looking for authentic and natural answers. –– this needs work.
What do you want to get out of the testimonial?
If you’re using the testimonial in a longer piece about your company, you’re only going to use a short soundbite. If it’s a standalone testimonial, you can probably go up to a minute if it’s a strong and compelling interview.
So you’ve got a great soundbite that you can use for your website. Why stop there? When will you be able to get that person to sit for an interview again? We’re always looking for opportunities to ask questions that we can then edit for use on the web, social media and presentations. Think beyond just this one video and try to identify other things they can talk about.
Using testimonials
Testimonials are great for your company’s website. But they also have great value for social media. We’re often able to pull small “social media friendly” bites from interviews. Certain bites may not work in the overall testimonial, but can stand on their own. We often build a library of clips that our client can use to send out over time.
A customer talking about how their vendor went the extra mile and delivered fantastic results is much more powerful than the company telling the same story. It isn’t always possible, but it is something to keep in mind when you’re working on your next promotional piece.
