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We’ve all seen those commercials on TV that seem like true customer testimonials, but we can tell that they’re actually scripted. Or the ones that seem like the friendly face on the screen is telling a true story of how great of an experience they had with a particular business… until you see the little disclaimer on the bottom saying that they’re a paid actor.

It can be hard to tell if a testimonial is a real statement from a real customer about their real experience with that brand, or if it’s merely a scripted attempt to boost morale.

Making a good testimonial video isn’t hard, but it’s important to do it right. Sure, those TV ads with the paid actors make that brand sound great – but do you really trust it when you have no idea if that person has even done business with that company? Or if they’re simply doing the commercial for the money or the publicity? It’s much easier to have a positive image of a business and want to do business with them yourself if the testimonial is a real one, coming from someone you can trust. We’re much more likely to trust someone we see as a peer, rather than a paid representative of a company.

So, I’m going to cover a few of the main steps we take here at Michigan Creative Video towards making the best testimonial videos that we can for all of our clients.

It’s important that the person in the video (the person giving the testimonial) feels comfortable. Don’t give them the questions or talking points before the interview – it will only make it seem rehearsed, and they will probably feel pressure to remember their “lines”. The video will be much more natural if you just have a conversation with the person you’re interviewing.

The questions that you ask are important – you want them to highlight the key parts of the business and their experience with it, but you also don’t want to just jump from question to question. Ask follow up questions! If they say something interesting about their experience that you didn’t know beforehand, ask them to expand on it. You’ll get some great extra lines to use in the video.

This one is probably pretty obvious, but we like to ask them what they would tell someone watching the video about the business, and why they would recommend it. However, this is one of those questions where it’s important to have the subject repeat the question before the answer – otherwise you’ll get something like “I’d recommend ‘it’ because…” What is “it”?! You need something more along the lines of “I’d recommend _____ because…”.

If you follow these steps you’ll get a natural, relaxed testimonial that paints a picture of what a business is actually like, and it will make other people want to go there as well. If you see a peer in a video going on and on, unscripted, about how great their experience was, why would you want to go anywhere else? You’ll want to have your own wonderful experience there as well.

~ Alli

Brought to you by Michigan Creative Video

(Image: http://www.medworldlive.com/Testimonials)