If there’s one thing a new prospect is most likely to check out before deciding to go ahead and become your customer, it is a testimonial from your previous customers. Research shows that new prospects are comfortable spending 31 percent more when a new business can show solid testimonials from their previous customers.
In recent years, the format of providing testimonials has changed. Instead of written testimonials that are less engaging due to a lowered attention span, many opt for bite-sized video testimonials. These videos are easy to consume and keep the viewers hooked right till the end. So it is a no-brainer that businesses these days like to post video testimonials on their website to steer new visitors in the right direction.
Not all testimonial videos that you receive from your clients are ready to be uploaded right away. That’s why editing them to refine the overall look is not an uncommon practice. But here’s the catch — any editing exercise should not change the core message as testimonials are meant to lend more credibility to your business and should closely resemble what was actually provided by the customer. Even though a testimonial is meant to highlight the positive experiences of a customer with a business, embellishing or fabricating a testimonial is an unethical practice.
So here’s a quick rundown on the rules to follow while editing video testimonials:
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You can shorten the length of the video
A long testimonial speaks volumes about your company. However, shortening the testimonial is important as you want it to be easy to watch and capture the viewer’s attention.
If you have an incredibly long testimonial video, you cut off the unnecessary parts to make it crisper. So if a testimonial is over 7 minutes, you are free to use a video editing tool to bring it down to 2-3 minutes. But make sure that while doing so, you don’t change the core message of the testimonial. Make sure to provide a list of questions to your customers so that they know the type of responses expected in the testimonial.
2. You can change the order of the message
Reordering the sequence of the footage is allowed if that helps to improve the flow of the testimonial. For instance, if the opening and the final frames are perfect but the middle frame is a bit off track, you can simply slice the middle part without getting the customer to reshoot the entire testimonial. If you want to use audio dubbing to replace their voice for clarity or translate the video to other languages, be aware that you need a consent form. Ideally you should also give the customer a chance to approve these to avoid future challenges.
Once again, bear in mind that any recording shouldn’t compromise the meaning of what the customer is trying to say. The objective of reordering should be to create a more polished testimonial.
3.You can add captions to add more explanation
When your customers are recording a testimonial, certain things may likely get lost in translation, making the overall message confusing. Take, for instance, you have designed a website for a client. In the testimonial, the client focuses on the about us page as their favorite part of the new website. However, the about page is named ‘Our Story‘ on the website. In such cases, you can add a caption to explain that the customer is talking about this page — doing so doesn’t change the meaning of the testimonial. Instead, it provides additional context to a viewer who may want to check out the website after watching the testimonial.
4.You can add transitions to the video
The addition of artistic transitions can enhance the narrative of testimonial videos. Transitions are particularly helpful when you want to jump between scenes or rewind to a particular frame. For example, you can fade to black right at the end to add the name of the client, organization, title, logo of the company, etc.
However, make sure to use transitions leniently. They should only improve the storytelling and not take the focus away from the primary purpose of the video.
Engage your prospects with testimonial videos
Testimonials can help you maintain your customers and nurture a new one with your prospects. With a testimonial video maker, you can get the customers to record their thoughts using our webcam recorder and send it across to you!
They don’t need to invest in fancy equipment to record a killer testimonial video. Once you receive the video, you can use the video editing tool from Clipchamp and the tips we shared above to create the final product.
Just make sure to get your customers’ consent before you upload the testimonial videos on your website or social media channels. You should also let your clients know that you may edit the testimonial and upload the edited or parts of the testimonial. Without the explicit consent of the clients, you may find yourself in a legal soup.