Customer testimonials provided to any small business is gold. When a customer takes the time to provide positive feedback in the form of a Google review or an email, it’s like you just won the lottery. On the other hand getting a customer to record in their own words a video testimonial is like winning the Powerball Lottery.

Consider some of these video testimonial statistics:

• 37% of people believe testimonial videos are effective because they’re more authentic than a business’s own pitch.
• 47% of people say testimonial videos are effective because they help visualize how a product or service actually works.
• 39% of people say testimonial videos are effective because they help illustrate the impact a product or service can have on their life.
• 42% of people say testimonial videos are effective because they showcase an actual person and help the viewer understand their story.
• 95% of people say that reviews – whether positive or negative – influence their purchasing decisions.

Let’s take a look at five reasons why your business should be using video testimonials.

Reason #1: People Pay More Attention To Video Than Text

There is something powerful about watching a person in their own words express how a business impacted their life or helped solve a problem. We live in such a video-centered culture. Video is everywhere — Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Instagram, Snapchat and let’s not forget YouTube. And just this morning I learned of a new social media site called Parler. Video dominates every social media platform and so it’s very natural that people want to watch a short video testimonial about a product or service. People love to watch video!

Watch this video from an optometry patient. As you watch, listen to the problem Dr. Hopkins solved with her patient. Stories of people overcoming problems are particularly irresistible.

Reason #2: People Connect Emotionally With Videos

Videos have a way of getting to the heart of a person. When someone tells a story it is their story they’re sharing. It is very hard to downplay someone’s experience. When it comes to evoking emotions, nothing beats video. Text is often bleak and unemotional. Video on the other hand can tap into emotions that a text-based testimonial can’t. Don’t get me wrong, written testimonials are a great asset to have in your marketing toolbox, but they fall way short compared to a video testimonial.

When a customer is visibly thankful, relieved, or happy because of your product or service, prospective customers will feel that same emotion. All of the emotions and how your customers experience your business are achieved in seconds with a video testimonial.

When a customer takes the time to hit the record button and their testimonial makes an emotional connection with your audience, you’ve already won.

Reason #3: People Like To Watch Videos

Bottom line fact: People prefer to watch a video than reading content. It’s not just consumers, either. When surveyed 59% of executives would rather watch a video than reading text on the same topic.

When it comes to products, the numbers are even more notable: four times as many customers would rather watch a video about a product than read about it. (That same study showed that 56% of respondents also found customer testimonials helpful).

This preference extends beyond website content. Including the word “video” in an email subject line was shown to increase open rates by 19%. Click-throughs jumped an astonishing 65%. And unsubscribes went down by 26%.

People love videos.

Not just watching them, either. They also love to share them.

Reason #4: People Like To Share Videos

When people watch a video that they like, they share it. Consider some of these amazing Facebook statistics about video.

• 100 million hours of video are watched on Facebook every day.
• Facebook Gets Over 8 Billion Average Daily Video Views.
• FacebookWatch has a global daily user base of 140 million, who spend an average of 26 minutes per day watching video.

(Source: https://www.omnicoreagency.com/facebook-statistics)

If you want your video testimonials to impact future customers on social media, making a video is the way to go.

Reason #5: People Trust User Reviews/Testimonials

When viewers trust the reviews or testimonials that they watch, they’re more likely to connect with your product or service. People trust reviews from strangers as much or more than they trust friends or family members. Have you ever bought a product off of Amazon based upon the review of complete strangers? Sure you have. I do it all the time. When looking for a hotel room, have you ever made the decision to stay or not to stay in a hotel based on the reviews for that hotel? Yup. My wife and I do it all the time.

Glimpse Video has an incredible Video Testimonial tool that makes it extremely simple to collect video testimonials from your customers.

Watch a short tutorial I created for you that demonstrates how Glimpse Video makes collecting video testimonials from your customers simple.

Video Testimonials Work

So, have I convinced you yet that video testimonials work? I hope so. Most customers if they were asked to provide a video testimonial would gladly take a few minutes to do so. Glimpse Video has a great solution to collect video testimonials from your customers. There is no need to spend thousands of dollars to hire a video crew to shoot your customer video testimonials. For $49 a month you can get started collecting UNLIMITED video testimonials today.