A recent survey concluded only 46% of consumers trusted advertising on television, while a mere 19% trusted social media ads.
There’s no question—these numbers are bad.
So how do you close the massive percentage gap and boost potential customers’ trust in your offers? Whether you are advertising on the internet, in a magazine, or even on television, you need to be prioritizing testimonial advertising to put the numbers in your favor.
These testimonials can come in a couple of different forms. Written and video testimonials share many similarities and offer some of the same benefits. But they also have their unique differences.
In this article, we’re going to focus on using both versions throughout the internet with various channels. By the end, you’ll have a better idea of which testimonial advertising option you should lean into. We’ll also leave you with a tip so you can start implementing testimonial advertising right away.
Let’s get into it.
What is testimonial advertising?
At the base level, testimonial advertising is a marketing technique that harnesses the power of customer feedback and endorsements to use in promotional campaigns.
Just how powerful is this marketing strategy? In one study, conversion rates increased by a massive 67% after customers saw the online testimonials. This didn’t happen by accident (heavy air quotes). Testimonials from satisfied customers relay your marketing message in a way that you, as the marketer, just couldn’t pull off with sincerity—unless you went undercover.
The voice of your customer should be at the heart of any marketing campaign you are thinking of running. This simply means relying on your customer’s actual words and thoughts about the offers in an honest, yet revealing way. It will also give you ideas to weave into your content across the entire campaign that reflects real emotion.
Since it is the internet and you have various platform and location options, we need to go a little further. While both written and video testimonials can enhance brand credibility, they differ significantly in their presentation, delivery, and impact.
Written testimonials
Written testimonials are a powerful form of testimonial advertising that features your customer’s positive feedback to further promote the offer to a wider audience.
These testimonials can take multiple forms:
- Case studies
- Success stories
- Customer reviews
- Shared social media posts
The cool thing about written testimonials is they can be published almost anywhere on the internet. Think of places like your website to social media pages, and everything in between.
One of the main advantages of using written testimonials is they are relatively easy to produce and distribute—especially if you have a tool like UserEvidence. The basic process is to prompt the customer for feedback after they’ve made a purchase, then publish them wherever you think they’ll have the best results. A-B tests are a great way to find the optimal placement.
They also require way less effort compared to video testimonials, which can require a professional filming and editing crew to complete the product. And while they are easy for the customer to write and for you to distribute, they do have a few limitations.
Unlike video testimonials, written testimonials may not convey the same level of emotion, excitement, or overall sentiment toward the offer. They simply lack a personal touch that can come only by seeing and hearing the joy in a satisfied customer who is sharing their experience on camera.
Video testimonials
Video testimonials are also a great way to bolster your testimonial advertising campaigns. Similar to written testimonials, it uses satisfied customers to share their feedback through—you guessed it—a video.
These video testimonials can be produced in various ways, all depending on your desired outcome and budget. They can be heavily produced on professional sets with crews and a full team of editors to make them television ready. For a great professional yet cost-effective option, check out Testimonial Hero.
Conversely, you can also strip it down to only the customer and their phone’s camera. This is the easiest way to get your customer to open up, and also the fastest way to receive the marketing treasure you can start publishing right away. Software Platforms like Vocal Video, VideoAsk, Vouch, and Laudable are great tools to incorporate if this is the strategy you are leaning towards—or just want to test the waters.
One of the main advantages of using video testimonials is they can be much more engaging and impactful on the potential customer as opposed to reading a review.
Viewers have a much different experience when they can see and hear the emotion being relayed to them from your satisfied customer. Because of this, they are much more likely to be convinced of the quality and benefits of the offer you are advertising. This can also help create a personal connection between the consumer and your brand—thus creating a loyal customer base.
How are target audiences responding to these video testimonials? A 2020 Wyzowl study shows that 79% of consumers have watched a video testimonial to learn more about the offer they are considering purchasing. As peer reviews and trustworthy testimonials continue to increase in importance, so does the likelihood that video testimonials will remain a top influencer of consumers’ purchasing decisions today and beyond.
On the flip side, if you are set on producing high-quality testimonials, this can be much more challenging and costly. You may need to invest heavily in a production company to help you reach your goals. Be careful though, this may scare away the customers who were willing to film a simple “selfie” testimonial.
Also, unlike written testimonials, video testimonials are a bit more difficult to publish across multiple platforms and locations. Places like your website, social media “clips,” and YouTube ads are great places to share them with the target audience.
➡️ If you’re searching for the perfect tool for implementing testimonial videos, start here.
Final thoughts
At the end of the day, no matter which format you choose to go with, you’ll be humanizing your brand and showcasing the loyal customers behind it. By featuring real people in the videos or even just a photo by their written words, you are able to build trust and credibility within your target audience.
Easier said than done, though. You might hit a few stumbling blocks along the way in your testimonial advertising campaign. The real difficulty in this approach is finding the brand advocates who are willing to step up and deliver these testimonials.
By far the easiest approach is to employ a platform like UserEvidence to do the heavy lifting. UserEvidence’s Customer Advocates feature allows you to identify advocates who raised their hand to take sales reference calls, record video testimonials, refer a colleague, and more. You’ll even have a third-party verified public research library to house all of your glowing testimonials.
Ready to amplify your customer’s voice? Schedule your UserEvidence demo today.
