How to Make a Great Testimonial Video

Creating a testimonial video. Hard. Creating a great testimonial video. Even Harder.

Why even bother, right? The hardest part of creating a testimonial video is just asking your customer. Once you get past the initial fear of asking for a testimonial, you can move forward with creating a great video.

Here are 8 tips to help you create memorable testimonial videos that will help promote your business or nonprofit.

1. Keep it authentic
2. Don’t script it; make sure it’s natural
3. Make your customer or client look good
4. Scout your location; clean it up (if possible)
5. Prepare your questions but make sure to keep listening to the responses you get as they can spur other questions
6. Give your interviewee time to prepare
7. Remind the interviewee that they need to restate your question in their own words
8. Put the testimonial in context and keep it on-brand

Authenticity is one of CutBoard’s core values, and we take it seriously. That’s why it is the number one tip for any videos we create, especially testimonial videos. We take pride in our ability to talk to you like you are an old friend, even if we just met you yesterday. 

Because of this, the testimonial appears natural. We tend not to fully script or act like an AI (Artificial Intelligence) robot that can lead to dead-end questions. 

One of the biggest reasons your customer or client may not be excited to do a video testimonial is because they “fear” the camera. They can be worried about stuttering, stumbling, and otherwise just coming off bad. You can ease their trepidation by discussing how careful you are when editing. Discuss how with video, you’re able to overlay b-roll to cut out an awkward pause or phrase. It’s easy to ease their fears and make them your star. 

Here’s a sample of a testimonial video:

One of the hardest things to do is just ask for a testimonial. Here are a few things to succeed in gathering your video testimonials.

1. Get the timing right
2. Give them a reason to say yes
3. Make it easy
4. Provide options
5. Pose sample questions
6. Let them know you’ll provide a link to their website on your site

If you are worried about filming and editing these testimonial videos yourself, we’d love to help you. Check out our Jump-cut Package. This video package can be used to create up to four 30-second testimonial videos a month.