What do you think about video testimonials?

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jon_xx_x

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I have a product that is a very high priced ticket product. I was thinking about getting video testimonials made, as the product is kinda directed towards average joes, possibly not internet savvy.
Personally, I see video testimonials and they look fake as hell, and I put zero value in them. However, I (we) am a marketer,and I obviously see the fakeness to it.
How many of you guys use them? Do you think the average person sees them as having value? Or do you think they seem fake to everyone.
 
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I feel the same way, they seem unnatural. I mean who really ever decides to leave a genuine review by video.... :/

Personally I would go without them first.... and then split test with video later.
 
People connect with people.
Connection leads to sales.

It is very difficult to connect with a page of text and images, but seemingly real footage of someone is a great connectivity tool.
 
I personally value them Z E R O for the valid reasons already posted here, but the average joe might not put a lot of thought into the mental shenanigans that ultimately led some dude to make a video testimonial about some product, ESPECIALLY if the prospect is desperately looking for an excuse, any excuse to buy that product... I also honestly think the perceived value of the video varies significantly depending on the price bracket and specific niche of the product you're promoting... Bottom line is: to me it never really hurts to do some video testimonials when you need to make a launch, worst case scenario: they'll be neglected since there's no way even for a smart prospect to really tell if they're genuine or not..
 
I think they work if you have a person talking about gardening and they are out in the garden and then they walk over to their (high ticket priced rotor-tiller) and start saying how it has helped them dig the dirt like never before etc. And that they got a good deal on it at such and such a place that they just so conveniently link to in the description area.

Thats realistic.

A chick from fiverr sitting in front of her computer talking about how she loves gardening with her rotor-tiller....not so much:-)
 
Try and get someone who looks good at sales, or works in a relevant store, then just corner them somewhere in the store with your video camera, and get them to answer your list of questions while holding your product. It will look like its actually getting stocked in shops, and look like your actually speaking to the manger, of that store.

You'll have to edit the video so your voice comes out of it, and the person is answering just the questions. Then get a nice girls voice to introduce each of the questions.
 
This reminds me of video fellow member got from fiverr:
 
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I think it really depends on how you frame them. I find the professional looking testimonials always smell of BS. But if it's done on a webcam and you frame it as user submissions uploaded to your products youtube page etc... they can be quite effective. Also you can repurpose them for other channels other then your join page.
 
Just take a look at the late night Infomercials. They almost ALWAYS use
video testimonials. They must be working or they wouldn't use them.

Cheers! - "Wiz"
 
Touche.

Thanks for all the replies.
If I can get some legit looking ones, I think I will use them.
 
dated but good if you can optimise the videos meta data on your site so you get a video SERP result in google, makes it bigger and juicier than a normal result.
 
Ricky Roma said:
This reminds me of video fellow member got from fiverr:
Click to expand...

The way that girl says www. is the best! But yeah, probably the worst testimonial ever
 
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Panther28 said:
The way that girl says www. is the best! But yeah, probably the worst testimonial ever
Click to expand...

y.jpg
 
I have to say that video testimonials have now been abused so much that I will very rarely believe anything I hear in a video review like that. Whenever I see one of those testimonials now I just automatically think fiverr. I would probably give more weight to a written testimonial than video. That's just my opinion though.
 
RealEcon said:
I think they work if you have a person talking about gardening and they are out in the garden and then they walk over to their (high ticket priced rotor-tiller) and start saying how it has helped them dig the dirt like never before etc. And that they got a good deal on it at such and such a place that they just so conveniently link to in the description area.

Thats realistic.

A chick from fiverr sitting in front of her computer talking about how she loves gardening with her rotor-tiller....not so much:-)
Click to expand...

Well said - when buying a new high-end mouse or new digital camera, I would totally watch a guy unwrapping his mouse / camera and sharing his first impressions. On the other hand, watching a guy in $12 suite and $3.50 tie talking about making ten thousand dollars per day, yeah right....
 
Videos work period. They allow the customer to imagine themselves using the product and gaining a benefit from it. Much better form of persuasion than reading long text.

The day people quit buying from infomercials is the day video testimonials can be officially deemed dead.
 
Thanks again, really insightful opinion.
It's hard as us marketers can smell bullshit from a mile away.
Heck, I think even most average people can tell how cheesy the testimonials are on infomercials, but the infomercials still use them, and people still buy.
 
After you get a few reviews done, incentivize them.

What do I mean?

For example, buy a few "user submitted" looking reviews.

After you have these reviews up, give new members/buyers/clients (whatever they are of yours) the opportunity to submit their own to you.

Why would they submit a video review? Because you gave them some kind of an incentive to do so, maybe a discount, free bonus, tips, etc.. (your mind is the limit here).

Then filter out what ever reviews you don't like, upload the ones you do.

What if you don't get any video reviews submitted?

Doesn't matter, because your new customer can see why users would submit video reviews to you and makes it all the more realistic. It's important though that these reviews don't look as if your customers were bribed to do them, but received a gift because they were so kind to do so.

Win/Win/Win.

best of luck to you.
 
Like most of us I think video reviews are general BS. I use Amazon a lot to get reviews on stuff. Almost all their reviews are written although they are trying to push video reviews but there's not been much take up, not in the UK anyway.

Having said that I was looking to buy a juicer and Youtube was fantastic for this. I felt a written wasn't enough and I wanted to see some machines in action. One guy had two machines alongside each other and compared them both juicing at the same time.

He sold me one in just 5 minutes!
 
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