Statistics show that testimonial videos are one of the most effective and highest converting forms of marketing. Despite the effectiveness, there's bit of cynicism about testimonials as well.
Some marketers and consumers are quick to say that testimonials are "cherry-picked" to make the business look its best rather than to provide a proper snapshot of a company's services. However, this mostly applies to bad practices around some written testimonials. Great video testimonials are able to show prospects a real story and alleviate concerns over "cherry-picking".
In the world of B2B, where logic and details are king, it's important to make sure your testimonials focus on concrete points for your audience. Every good B2B testimonial should have four key elements—real world statistics, an exciting narrative, concrete details, and relevant context. Let's explore how these can be applied to your testimonials.
1. Real World Statistics in Testimonial Videos
If you were to present an investment opportunity to the leadership team of a company, they would ask you for some concrete numbers on how you can help the company.
The same theory applies to B2B testimonial videos. Your testimonials should include solid numbers describing how your product or service helped the company in question. This can be difficult if the testifying customer is unable to access those types of statistics.
If you're able to dig up those numbers, it's well worth it. There's a drastic difference between:
- "I enjoyed x company's services" and
- "Working with x company raised our revenue 20%."
Presenting these these statistics visually within the video increases the value of the communication as well.
This is part of the reason why it's a good idea to build a solid relationship with your clients before requesting a testimonial. There will likely be some level of effort needed on their part to provide you with the real world data you want to inform your content. This is an easier ask to make if they're very happy with your services over an extended period. If it helps, you can also throw in some type of incentive.
Additional Tips on Using Real World Statistics
B2B marketing materials, by nature, are going to be more technical than their B2C counterparts. It can be difficult to avoid overly dry written materials in this case. Adding too many statistics repeatedly can actually make your testimonial difficult to read or come off as inauthentic.
Using video makes it a lot easier to add visual elements like charts or footage from your clients to complement the statistics, making them easier to understand.
2. An Exciting Narrative in Testimonial Videos
This may sound like a bit of an odd thing to place after statistics. How do you combine cold, hard facts with the notion of "telling a story"?
A narrative in a testimonial should be about creating a persuasive argument through a compelling story. By the end of a testimonial, your prospective client should know why it makes sense to go with your business above anyone else.
Additional Tips on Creating An Exciting Narrative
All you have to do is go to a movie and you can see the power of film with narrative. In a B2B context, it's far easier to lay out a comprehensive argument for your business when you're able to edit together a video, versus a raw interview or written statement. Along with this, you can also put supplementary material into your video to support the narrative, versus having to link to an outside page in text.
3. Concrete Details in Testimonial Videos
This is especially important in the B2B segment, where chances are your clients are probably entertaining multiple options at the same time. Your testimonial videos may literally be up against another company's to sway their decision. As a result, your testimonial should have a series of points that build off of each other, creating a potent case for your business.
In the world of B2C, people are a bit more willing to ponder hypotheticals, but it pays a lot more to get down to brass tacks with a B2B video testimonial. Generally, the best format to go with is:
- Present the problem faced by the customer.
- Establish how your solution helped the customer solve the challenge.
- State the final results.
Don't be afraid to give details throughout and especially in the final result. The more information you can provide, the more useful your testimonials will be to prospects.
There is one situation where hypothetical situations may be okay—talking about projections. For example, if your client can state their financial growth in the first year (or similar time period) of using your services and then project their expected additional savings in the next year, this can be an effective addition to the testimonial.
Additional Tips on Using Concrete Details
Similar to statistics, when you are explaining what your business did for a client in a testimonial, the visual format of video makes it easier to keep your content from being overly clinical or dull. Be sure to utilize visual elements to help tell the story.
4. Relevant Context in Testimonial Videos
Any B2B client understands they service specific market segments. Therefore it's important for testifying customers to give an explanation of their company. The customer can simply give a brief explanation of their:
- name and role at the company
- company's service or product
- company's market segment
These small details are essential to provide context for your audience. For example, prospects will be more likely to relate to the video if they're also in the same market segment and role. This goes a long way to making your videos more persuasive.
A secondary area to consider in your testimonial videos is to provide additional context to the statistics. Percentages are great but many people will want to know the actual starting and ending numbers. Why?
Doubling revenue from $100,000 to $200,000 is a lot different than doubling from $10 million to $20 million. Referencing the original numbers will help your target prospects make a more educated decision.
Additional Tips on Providing Relevant Context
The visual element helps a lot here for adding context. Go to YouTube for a while and look at the thumbnails. You should be able to instantly tell what a video is about. With a list of customer testimonial videos, the logos and colors you use can instantly make it clear to viewers what testimonials are most relevant to them.
Your Turn to Utilize These Elements
We've established four main components every testimonial needs to have to do its job effectively.
A video testimonial, especially in the B2B world, can be a difficult balancing act to manage. Push the benefits too hard and it may come off as insincere. Provide an insufficient amount of technical details, and the testimonial isn't useful. This is why it's important to have ideas like prepared questions, story outlines, and other factors. Then the video will provide a stimulating visual and useful content for closing your prospects.
Take a look at these top-notch testimonial video examples of how to utilize these elements.
When you're ready to create top-notch testimonial videos, you'll need a partner who understand the B2B mindset and have video expertise.
Testimonial Hero can give you a leg up on the competition with:
- Local crews near you who can capture testimonials with zero travel fees.
- A frictionless production experience for you—we'll take care of all logistics and create the perfect edit in-house.
- Comprehensive strategy planning for capturing and editing the story.
