Social media. It’s changed the world. It’s changed how everyone advertises, sells, and buys just about everything. It’s changed the marketing and business development paradigm completely. It’s the new word-of-mouth.

The reason word-of-mouth was so effective was because a real human told you a real experience. And your willingness to participate, patronize, or make a purchase could be decided from just one story, good or bad.

Then came Yelp, which has been a great online source. But its relatively anonymous reviews, where someone can hide behind a keyboard and could be anyone – the business owner, a competitor, or even a personal rival – made it very difficult to know the trustworthiness and validity of reviews. Who is this person? IS IT a person, or a bot? 

The limitations of the online written reviews have prompted a better way. A more honest, real, true experience being shared because someone truly cares about sharing their experience. 

The video testimonial. A return to human experience sharing.

Dan Lievens, President and Co-Founder of Share.One has been at the forefront of the video testimonial movement, and his clients have shared with him the increase in business after using video testimonials as a part of their social media marketing, website content, event media, and broader applications.

“I named our company Share.One,” Lievens said, “because that’s exactly what we want people to do: share one experience. I have clients telling me what a game-changer it’s been for their business, which is so fulfilling. We love helping businesses grow by creating tailored, authentic, useful testimonials.”

Customer testimonials have an incredible amount of influence. Word-of-mouth advertising, known as “earned advertising” in the marketing world, is a great way to build your company’s reputation, attract new clients, and reward existing ones. It’s found that 9 out of 10 people say they trust what a customer says about a business more than what that business says about itself, and a whopping 79 percent of people prefer video testimonials to learn more about a company or product. Because of this, testimonials are frequently cited as the most effective form of advertising by marketers.

The Proof is in the Data

A study by Brightcove, a Boston, Massachusetts–based software company that produces an online video platform, found that video testimonials can increase conversion rates by up to 80% because they provide potential customers with a legitimate understanding of the benefits and value of your product or service.

According to another study, 72 percent of customers reported that positive testimonials improved their trust in a company.

Then, in October, 2021, a team of psychology professionals and professors which had set out to test the effectiveness of testimonials, published an article to share their findings on the persuasive effects of testimonials. They found that:

• Exposure to testimonials was associated with higher usage intentions and more positive attitudes, and

• Group differences in intentions were significantly higher after exposure to testimonials.

The conclusion of this study was that the acceptance (of a product, service, or program) can be substantially increased by providing a simple, context-sensitive testimonial.

Costs of Video Testimonials

The costs of producing video testimonials will vary depending upon what method you use: DIY software platforms where you do the work or ask your interviewee to self-conduct their testimony, or full-service video testimonial companies where questions are tailored, and interviews are conducted by trained professionals. The range can be a few hundred dollars per testimonial to tens of thousands. Pro tip: listen to what their clients are saying in their own testimonials! 

With the necessity of video testimonials as an integral component of your marketing efforts, one thing’s for sure: the bigger cost here is in not doing testimonials.