by 
It’s no surprise that video continues to grow, and YouTube continues to get millions upon millions of views hourly, as video is now one of the more effective content mediums in today’s digital marketing landscape. However, simply knowing this fact doesn’t do you or your insurance agency any good. If you want to maximize on the value that video marketing has to offer, you must first believe in it enough to do it, and do it well. Here in 2016, we at Paradiso Presents believe that you’re going to want to focus on video testimonials for the continuing success of your insurance agency.
The Value of Video Testimonials
In order to fully understand the value and power of video testimonials, you must look at t videos and testimonials separately. Video is one aspect of marketing that has quickly become one of the most effective content mediums in the fast-paced internet world. Whether it’s a product video, live streaming event, Google Hangout, Skype, or a video testimonial, video content engages users in a way that all of the other alternative forms of content simply cannot.
The second half is the power testimonials. Testimonials, whether written and used on your insurance agency’s website, video, visual, or auditory, will always hold great value with your prospects. When people make a purchase with your insurance agency, they want social proof from unbiased sources. Testimonials, of all sorts, provide just that.
So it stands to reason, when you combine video with the testimonial, that the result will produce high returns. I hope that you’re sold by now, but if not, let’s look at some statistics that might make you a believer. The statistics come from www.boast.io, and are as follows:
- 65% of your audience is inclined to visual learning.
- Website visitors to your site are 64% more likely to follow through with a conversion after watching a video. Engagement is key.
- Online shoppers are 63% more likely to purchase if there are reviews and ratings, so get your agency rated by your customers.
- 90% of online shoppers say their buying decisions are influenced by online reviews, which is why you need to have online reviews and video testimonials.
These are just a few statistics I wanted to share to help you become a believer. When you look at video testimonials in action, it’s clear that they provide credibility which brings high returns.
Here are Four Tips for Better Video Testimonials
The problem is that most insurance agencies don’t know where to start with video testimonials. Sound familiar? Well, don’t worry, because we’re going to look over some tips and best practices to push you and your agency in the right direction.
1) Contact Your Most Satisfied Customers
Your insurance agency should be very selective in who you choose for your customer testimonial videos. You don’t just want any customer or client to volunteer to be in a video for you. Carefully identify the most satisfied customers you have, and then set up some interviews to see if they’re interested in being featured. Make sure that whoever you choose for your videos will come off as real and trustworthy, because video testimonials are there to help prospects make them feel good about doing business with your agency.
2) Guide without Writing a Script
There’s a major difference between giving your customer free reign to say whatever they want and/or putting a script in front of them and asking them to read it. You don’t want to do either actually, because this video will be out there in the internet world, and you need to make sure it’s a great video. A script or guided choice of words can tamper the message and/or delivery of the testimonial altogether. Ideally, you should give the customer a chance to speak from the heart, while only somewhat guiding the direction of their story with the questions you choose to ask, and allow them to be real and to be themselves with their answers. As we know, transparency plays a big role in the sales process.
3) Keep it Brief
In most cases, you want to keep testimonials to around one to one and half minutes, but no longer than that. If your video runs longer then you may notice that viewers will lose focus and most likely move away from your video before the end. On the flip side, if your video is anything shorter than a minute, you really don’t have time to get the message across to your prospects.
4) Choose the Mood of the Video
The last tip is to make sure you use a good background. Lighting matters, so make sure there isn’t too much light or not enough. Additionally, there are two different strategies we use here at Paradiso Insurance for shooting video. One involves the splicing of scenes between the customer talking. This is the approach we love to use most often, but at times, our other approach is to have a style where the entire video features the customer talking and there is no editing done. Either way, capitalize on the strategy you so choose and focus on effectively getting the message of your testimonial across.
Winning Customers with the Power of Video
There’s no question that video is one of the highest returning content formats in modern internet marketing in 2016. And while there are many different types of video content, the customer testimonial is very valuable. It gives your agency website visitors an authentic behind the scenes look at how your products and services work, and how much value they offer your customers, or the people they can relate with.
As your insurance agency pursues different video content marketing strategies (client videos, testimonials, holiday videos, etc.), make sure you put video testimonials at the top of your list. We live in a world where video isn’t the future, it’s the present. Capitalize on video marketing before you and you get left behind!
