Countless brands across multiple industries put a sizeable focus on collecting and showcasing customer testimonials. After all, why not let your already happy customers tell the story of your brand? For the most part, consumers look to reviews and testimonials as a way to really get to know the inner workings of a company including their customer service, product reviews and even how problems were handled. It’s easier to trust other paying customers describing their experience with a brand than having the company talk about how awesome they are…even though it is undoubtedly true!

When it comes to collecting and showcasing your customer testimonials, there are many ways to let these reviews do the talking (and selling!) for your company. Here are a few ideas to get the wheels turning:

Written testimonials

Perhaps one of the most common approaches to displaying a testimonial or review of your brand’s products and services is through a written testimonial. This is when a customer quote is added to your website, ads or other marketing materials. There are a few ways to collect testimonials: In some cases you’ll receive written testimonials simply because a customer had a great interaction and wanted to share it on their own, and in other cases they may submit a testimonial after your company asks for one. Either way, the more you can collect over time, the better.

A few tips on written testimonials:

  • See if you can collect an image of the happy customer to accompany their written testimonial. Even better is if you can get a shot of them interacting with your product or brand in some way. These photos can inspire potential customers and build even further trust – they also make great social media posts.
  • The more specific the better. Try to showcase the testimonials that help demonstrate a more full experience with your brand, product or service rather than a quick, “I love this product” review.
  • Be sure that any sales or product pages on your website have woven in written testimonials to help the potential buyer come to their decision to get on board.
  • Recycle written testimonials throughout your marketing materials and social media. You don’t have to use different testimonials for each landing page, advertisement, brochure or social media post that you make.
Video testimonials and interviews

With video still being one of the most effective and easy ways to consume content, it’s no wonder that video testimonials and customer interviews are also an extremely favorable means of displaying reviews. Much like a written testimonial, videos can be embedded onto your website and displayed on social media platforms to help sell your products and services. They can also be played in trade show booths or at other appropriate events for an interactive experience.

Tips for collecting and displaying video testimonials:

  • You don’t have to post every single video your company receives. It’s best to sort through and focus on the few that offer the most value to potential customers based on what you’re selling or showcasing.
  • As with written testimonials, be sure that your company is recycling and reusing videos within various marketing channels including your website, social media platforms, email campaigns and experiential marketing.
  • If you have a video production team, you could consider adding images and audio to boost the impact of a customer’s video testimonial. Keep in mind though, not every testimonial video needs to be professionally edited – candids are great too and are often construed as being more authentic.
  • For interview style testimonials, it’s best to consult with your customer prior to the interview to see if they would prefer to have the questions that will be asked ahead of time, or if they would rather let the conversation flow naturally without preparing answers. Either way, your company will need to be ready and willing to guide your customer through the interview process.
Case Study

For a more in-depth look into the experience between a brand and their customers, you could consider creating a case study. This tells the complete story of the customer and how your brand helped them achieve success. Case studies typically include the full scope of the work done together, the analytics that show the success, and clearly demonstrate how your company, product or service helped this customer achieve their results.

Tips and facts for curating case studies:

  • Case studies are more classically suited for B2B companies that are selling products or services.
  • Case studies require much more thought and execution time than say a written testimonial so be sure that your team is able to see this type of project through to the end. It’s best to create a strategy and plan to collect all the facts, analytics and information needed to present a powerful case study on your website or even through an email campaign.
  • Create a designated place on your website that features your case studies. Not everyone will want to read these but it’s important to have it displayed prominently for businesses that are considering working with your company.

All in all, it’s important for your company to determine which types of testimonials are most aligned to your brand. Always think from the potential customer’s perspective as to what they need to know most when it comes to their decision to purchase a product or service from your company.

As always, be sure to reach out to our team of video and marketing experts if you’re looking for help in showcasing and presenting the most powerful testimonials from your happy customers. We’re here to help!