The science behind testimonial videos

Having a third party endorse your business is far more powerful than simply talking about it yourself, and the science behind why this works goes far beyond the obvious.

The obvious answer that you'll often see it that it's better to have someone else talk about your product or service, because that way it's more credible. Anyone could talk about themselves and there is very little to validate that one's own comments are actually truthful, but if someone else is doing the talking, then the same message becomes a lot more powerful.

Humans are social beings. We inately seek to fit in and be part of a crowd. It goes back millions of years to when our ancestors stuck together to seek safety in numbers. Natural selection meant only those who were living in groups would tend to survive and procreate, and so we have evolved with this piece of survival instinct within us - whether we like it or not.

What has this got to do with video testimonials? Well, because we have been inately programmed to follow the crowd, we seek for social proof or validation in others with everything that we do in life. There are plenty of examples of this in every day life. Notice how when you are crossing a busy road, often the masses of pedestrians will start to walk if just one or two people have dared to go for it before the light goes green. On an aircraft when one or two people unbuckle their seatbelts and you suddenly hear everyone in the cabin doing the same, even though the seatbelt signs are still on and often the plane is still moving. Another example is fashion - when certain clothing items become fashionable, and suddenly everyone loves the same thing. Testimonial videos can create the same feeling and chain reaction about your business.

By having testimonial videos in your marketing mix, you are providing social proof, or validation, that your products or services are working for other people. For a prospect who is trying to make a decision on which supplier to go with, this will subconciously sway their decision towards working with your company - they will want to be part of the crowd of successful people that have gone before them - and that's why testimonial videos are one of the most powerful types of videos.

If you'd like to learn more about how we create testimoinal videos for our clients, please do reach out to us. We're currently working with clients all over the world using our remote testimonial video service, and it's proving to be a super useful too for businesses, helping them nurture their sales pipeline and convert leads.