How to Get Video Testimonials from Customers Without Being Spammy

Customer testimonials and reviews are the backbone to any effective marketing campaign. Without them, generating conversions can be tough! As the prominence of customer testimonials and the importance specifically of collecting video testimonials continues to take over, more businesses wonder how they can go about actually figuring out how to get video testimonials from customers without coming across as spammy or worse yet, making the customer feel off put by the entire process.

Most tutorials on how to get video testimonials from customers focus on “the ask.” They tend to remind businesses that if they ask the right way and at the right time, make it easy on the customer, and provide some valuable to the customer to fulfill the “what’s in it for me?” then all should be golden in the world of collecting testimonial videos from customers. But is it, really?

We’re certainly not going to deny the importance of making the process simple for the customer, nor are we saying that asking at the right time and in the right manner isn’t of great importance, but when exactly IS the right time and what exactly IS the right way to ask and how exactly CAN the process of filming a testimonial be simplified for the customer?

At Beverly Boy Productions, we frequently work with business owners and brand managers to assist in the process of producing video testimonials from customer responses. It has been our experience, over more than two decades of video production for businesses, that the biggest problem with figuring out how to get video testimonials from customers is a failure to actually make the process easy for the customer or coming across as spammy along the way. 

The bottom line is, if you make the collection process extremely simple, and you make your ask extremely personalized, you’re going to learn how to get video testimonials from customers like you’ve never done before!

Personalizing the Ask

It really should be common sense that when you ask your customer for a review you’ve got to be nice and go about it in a way that is going to make them feel special. Yet many brands overlook this and they end up making the entire process of asking for testimonials feel disconnected, automated, or anything but personal. Certainly, you could ask anyone on your social media to post a video testimonial for your brand, but is this the best way to ask? 

Not exactly! While it may garner a few reviews for you, personalization is going to go the extra mile. Why exactly do you want a review from this particular customer? What do you love about your relationship with them? By formulating your ask such that it shows your customer you’ve done your homework and value their business in particular, you’re going to be more likely to get them to feel good about leaving you a video testimonial. 

However, you’ve still got one more major challenge to overcome – the simplification of collecting the video review from the customer!

Simplifying the Video Testimonial Process for Customers

The reality is, you can be as nice as possible, you can be as personalized as possible, but if the process of actually filming and submitting the testimonial video to you is complicated, time consuming, or otherwise uninviting to the customer you’re going to hit a ton of roadblocks in figuring out how to get video testimonials from your customers. Plain and simple.

Your customer may genuinely want to leave you a review, but if it means they have to schedule a time with you or your team that might not work for them, and it’s going to take an hour to do, and they have to work around your schedule not their own – you’re going to lose their interest rather quickly.

Few customers are going to have the time, or the interest, to spend upwards of an hour or more of their time, on your schedule, to provide YOU or your business with a testimonial. What’s in it for the customer? 

Instead, make sure that you’re be open with your customer about the steps you’ve taken to ensure the process is simple for them. Before you request their video testimonial, you should:

• Provide the customer with a list of the questions that you would love for them to answer (keep it short and focused).
• Consider providing an outline that configures the questions into the expected order that you would like them to be answered in. Remember, keep it short and simple!
• Let the customer know that you have taken the initiative to handle the pre-production planning by providing the questions & details of the shoot as well as an easy way for them to film their review and that you will handle all post-production duties including video and audio editing, for them. Remember, it needs to be simple!
• Explain the process, and point out to the customer that it should only take them 5-10 minutes of their time to record the video which you will then do the rest of the work with.

The more you can prove to your customers that you have taken the time to make this process as simplified and minimally intrusive to them as possible, the more inclined your customer will be to play along.

Don’t Forget the “What’s in it for Me?” 

Ultimately, your customers will be wondering along the way, “What’s in it for me?” They know how valuable a testimonial can be for a brand, they know that it’s going to take them time and their time is precious, so you need to be clear with your incentives to show them that there’s something that they will gain out of the process – what is it?

Perhaps you will provide them with a free product or service, a discount on a purchase, a free gift, or some other incentive. Just be clear with it! You want your customer to know that you’re trying to get their testimony, you want the process to be simple for them, and you want to provide them with an incentive for their time. 

Knowing how to get video testimonials from customers is an important skill for any business owner, but if you follow the tips provided and you make the process easy on your customer while being as personal as possible, you won’t come across as spammy at all and you’ll see the number of video testimonials that you receive increase. Ready to put those testimonials into finished cuts that you can use on your website or blog? Give Beverly Boy Productions a call to get started on the post-production editing your customer testimonial videos need!