Getting video testimonials without a production budget

Video converts better than text and is far harder to collect, which is exactly why it is worth having. Almost all of the difficulty is in the ask, not the filming.

Lower the bar out loud

The reason people do not send video is that they imagine something polished and conclude they cannot do it today. Say explicitly that a phone selfie video is what you want, that ninety seconds is plenty, and that they should not re-record it. Every one of those sentences raises your response rate.

Send the questions first

Two or three, a day ahead. Unprepared video testimonials ramble and then get deleted by the person who recorded them. Prepared ones are shorter and better, and people are much more willing to press record when they know what they are going to say.

The technical minimum

• Face a window, do not stand in front of one. This is the single biggest quality lever.
• Phone horizontal for a website, vertical if it is going to social. Ask for the one you need.
• Quiet room beats good microphone. Bad audio is unwatchable; mediocre video is fine.
• Phone propped up, not handheld.
• Say the whole thought in one take and do not worry about a stumble — it reads as real.

What to do afterwards

• Caption everything. Most video on a website is watched muted or not at all.
• Cut the first five seconds. They are almost always throat-clearing.
• Publish a text pull-quote alongside it — most visitors will read that and never press play.
• Keep the raw file. You will want a different cut of it within a year.

Common questions