An effective customer review on a credible site can make or break your sales. It may sound harsh, but that’s the reality of today’s business playing field – online and offline. Consumers are itching for social proof of products and services more than ever and it’s a beneficial business exercise to prioritize and take advantage of those online praises. That’s why using customer reviews in marketing videos is so critical today.
Sharing real-time, authentic customer feedback about experiences with your business will show potential buyers what they can expect and offer information much more powerful than generic marketing activities. It’s been proven that user-generated feedback is priceless, and I hope to show you how easy and simple it is to leverage it for your brand’s reputation and business growth.
As people look for trust and social recommendations regularly, here are a few interesting stats to put into perspective the weight of online customer reviews:
- Nearly 95% of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase (according to Spiegel Research Center)
- 72% of consumers say positive reviews make them trust a local business. (Source: Moresocialsuccesspartners.com)
- 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations (Source: Mdgadvertising.com)
- A customer is likely to spend 31% more on a business with “excellent” reviews. (Source: Webfeat.net)
While of course, the web is full of varied opinions about everything under the sun, brands included, not every opinion is heard as loudly as others, and that’s a good thing. There are distinct platforms that rank as the most popular review locations for potential customers to peruse before making a purchase, and that’s where a business owner wants to focus their efforts.
Here are a few of the popular review platforms:
Google My Business
This platform is the source for reviews that show up instantly when you Google a business. It’s a big one to have in your arsenal. In addition, Google Maps pulls those reviews into the app, so having a robust Google My Business profile with reviews and visual content will make your business look more reputable as well as more easy to find.
Anyone logged into Facebook can post a rating or review of a business. They can make that review public, visible to friends, or visible only to them. Facebook has been accounting for 50% of total social referrals and 64% of total social revenue. Making it a no-brainer to manage your reviews here carefully.
Trustpilot
The fast-growing platform helps companies from all over the world proactively collect customer reviews. It’s the customers who write both product and seller reviews, keeping it third-party verified. The site is free for consumers and it offers freemium services to businesses.
Amazon
Even if people buy a product elsewhere, if it’s sold on Amazon.com, then many people will look up its Amazon review before they decide to buy. eCommerce business owners should keep your eyes out here.
G2
(formerly G2Crowd) -Users sign in with a LinkedIn account and can review the products they use. To encourage reviewers to participate, some users are compensated by G2 with gift cards, contest rewards and reputation points on the website.
Yotpo
Yotpo is a unique review and marketing solution for eCommerce brands. On this platform, customers can include their reviews on their personal social media pages.
Yelp
Yelp is a free crowd-sourced review site that lets consumers rate businesses on a five-star scale. Any business can set up a profile on Yelp for free, and users can set up their own free profiles to review a business. Careful, reviewers can be harsh here so you don’t want to leave your page stagnant too long.
Capterra
Capterra offers a robust, user-driven perspective on software, in order to match companies with the best software for their needs. Capterra is free for users. Vendors pay the platform when they receive web traffic and sales opportunities.
Now that you are aware of all major platforms for collecting customer reviews, make sure to track and monitor the reviews you get online carefully. Your customer feedback matters and it can make a great impact on your sales. I strongly recommend encouraging your customers to provide their feedback online and to respond to reviews as quickly as possible to showcase your top-notch customer service throughout the web. By engaging with your reviewers you can very easily turn them into your brand ambassadors and your best “salespeople”.
Using Customer Reviews in Marketing Your Business
The next important step is to leverage these positive reviews to market your business and build credibility among new potential customers.
There are quite a few ways to leverage positive reviews, including sharing written reviews on social media, in newsletters and placing them on your website. Another impactful method is to add these reviews into videos.
Using customer reviews in marketing videos is a new, proactive approach to showcase the best reviews and testimonials to your potential, new and current customers, in the most engaging content format which is video.
You probably know by now that video is one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal. It continues to outperform textual posts and static images for engagement. When coupled with social proof in the form of authentic customer or sponsored reviews its potential is exponentially higher.
Here are a few stats to show you how strong the power of videos is when it comes to marketing and brand awareness:
- 64% of consumers make a purchase after watching branded social videos (via tubularinsights).
- Video marketers get 66% more qualified leads per year (Optinmonster, 2019).
- Studies show that 54% of consumers want to see more video content from a brand or business they support (HubSpot, 2018).
- Videos help keep users on your website longer and also keep them more engaged. The average user spends 88% more time on a website with video (Forbes, 2018).
Creating Videos with Customer Reviews
Vision is our most dominant sense. The majority of the information we collect is visual. So, just imagine – if photos already boost our engagement, what kind of impact can a video have on your brand. Cisco projects that global internet traffic from videos will make up 82% of all consumer internet traffic by 2021. By adding testimonials to your video, you’re putting yourself ahead of the game with a winning recipe.
With so many video creation tools and platforms available, you can easily add reviews into your video ads or even create videos just for showing customer reviews. The large variety of online video creation tools make this task easy, fast and affordable.
One such platform with a large content library, ready-made templates and an easy to use editor is Promo.com, (disclaimer, this is the company I work for). Promo.com just formed a partnership with Trustpilot to make it effortless to add your customer reviews into your videos.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind when creating your review video:
- Use a credible reviews site, such as mentioned above. It will strengthen the impact and loyalty to your brand.
- Add the name of the reviewer and if possible add their photo.
- Choose the best reviews – hopefully, you’ll have a large selection so make sure you choose the strongest and most persuasive ones.
- Write captions – 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound, so the written word in videos is absolutely crucial.
- Try to find short reviews that are easy to read in a video – since you would like the video to be authentic don’t edit the review your showcasing, if possible. Keep it true to what was said.
- Add the date of the reviews. People care about relevancy and would like to be up-to-date when it comes to customer’s feedback.
- When you choose the video – use professional high-quality footage – the quality of the video has a lot of impact on its performance and the engagement it attracts.
- Try several versions and options. It takes several tries to find the winning recipe. Create as many videos as possible in order to test the impact of different reviews, footage, music, and formats to find those that will be the most successful for your business.
- After creating these videos use them on all social channels and digital assets of your business. Adding a review video to your email signature or even showing it in your physical store, if you have one, can create a lot of impact across the board.
Your turn!
Start leveraging your customer reviews in marketing campaigns today. People are constantly looking for social proof. Now you know how easy it is to share what other customers think about your business and service.
If you want to double the impact, add your best reviews into videos. It is the optimal way to boost sales and add credibility to your brand. These videos leverage the power of your existing customer’s happiness to attract new ones while increasing your brand value and customer loyalty.
Today, thanks to a new integration between Promo.com and Trustpilot, it is even easier to create review-based, beautifully designed videos.
Have you ever tried creating videos for your brand and have questions about that? Or, do you know of any examples of brand videos with customer reviews, that you liked? Please share in the comments below.
