Testimonial video is one of the most powerful tools to grow your business, which can help you get prospects to pick up the phone and land your deals quicker.
By capturing your client talking about their experience of your product, in a candid and credible way on video, you can share their thoughts easily with any prospect.
At Napoleon Creative, we specialise in asking the right questions in interview that allows the client to speak their mind, while revealing the reasons why people should invest in you.
How to capture a Testimonial Video
Planning something unplanned
The testimonial should be given free rein to say what they like. However, to make sure you get what you need from them, we follow a simple process. We start by working with you to write the perfect testimonial. What are they key things you want them to say? What was a particular challenge in their story that you want people to know about?
From this ‘perfect testimonial’, we list the questions that will inspire the contributor to give these quotes. Of course, in the actual interview, we change and adapt the questions as the interview progresses.
Establish the pain you solve for your clients
One of the first questions we ask is why they needed to engage our client. What challenge were they facing? Did they have pain points in their business? What problem were they looking to solve?
This helps your potential customers see that they’re not the only ones looking for your solution, and helps them empathise with the speaker.
Why did your Client choose you?
By asking about your client’s selection process, we establish what sets you out from the competition. We often get quotes like “they understood our problem” or “they have the most flexible solution.” This all shows that you stand out against your competition.
What was it like to work with you?
There are two sides to this question. Of course, there’s the practical – did the product work, was in implemented well. Then there’s the human side – did you listen to their needs? Did you take a collaborative approach? Did you go above and beyond?
What were the benefits of the benefits?
With the product or service in place, we ask your client what the benefits have been. This answer is often one of many of the key product features that our client uses to advertise their product. So then we ask, what were the benefits of those benefits? This is where it gets really interesting, with your client revealing new tasks they could achieve, or the benefits of the faster decision making, or the impact of new insights.
Spoiler Alert: Our Favourite Question when making a testimonial video
Our favourite question is a simple one: what surprised you about this project? This always opens up a rich seam of conversation, and often reveals new things about the product or service. It also reveals the features and benefits that you might not be telling your client about during the sales process.
Ask for a referral
After we’ve talked through their experience of working with you, we ask your client a simple question:
Imagine someone in your network asked you about your experience, what would you tell them?
What makes this a great question is by asking them to “imaging someone”. Straight away they’re thinking of friends and colleagues. When they answer, they start talking very personally, as though one-on-one. We find this questions gets a less ‘corporate’ answer, and it almost always ends up in the final cut!
B-Roll is essential for a Testimonial Video
B-roll is the name given to those shots which play under the person talking, like the ones you see here. These were filmed for a client testimonial film we made for Infosys. Our client’s client who gave the testimonial not only have up time for the interview, but also gave us another 45 minutes filming b-roll. We set up a few scenarios: looking over a document with a client, sat at their desk, on a conference call, and, as shown, having a catch up meeting. On a technical level, it allows you to cut different takes of the interview footage down to shorten a long quote, or change the order the answers came in. It also brings the testimonial to life, with footage of the person at work. When you’re asking someone to do a testimonial for you, always ask if you can shoot a few shots like this.
