Video vs Text – Straight from The Horse’s Mouth

Today I’ve been doing some research on video testimonials. Do they work? And if so – why aren’t more websites using them as part of their marketing strategy?

The Research

I remember meeting an academic at some networking breakfast somewhere in the late 90s and we ended up talking about video conferencing. I made the comment that I didn’t need or want to see someone’s face when I was talking to them. This guy (obviously thinking I was a retard) pointed out that all of the research indicates that a very significant component of our communication is non-verbal. That’s how we communicated when we were still hairy little monkeys fighting over the large black monolith that appeared suddenly on the Serengeti. We pulled faces. We smiled. We snarled. We raised a hand.

So I went looking for research this morning to back that up. This is the best that I could find:

Humans intuitively grasp the power of images to convey meaning, as can be seen in the old  adage that values a picture at a thousand times the value of a word. Research in the past two decades has proven what we intuitively know: our brains deal with images differently than print (Merringoff, 1983). Words are processed in the neocortex where the higher thinking capability of the brain resides. Pictures, however, are handled in the limbic system, rapidly, and trigger instinct, emotion, and impulse (Bergsma, 2002). Because brains are programmed to remember experiences that have an emotional component, television has a powerful ability to relay experience through the emotions evoked by images (Noble, 1983). Television, of course, offers information in multiple forms: images, motion, sound and, at times, text. The richness of these forms of information benefits learners, by enabling them “…to learn through both verbal and visual means, to view actual objects and realistic scenes, to see sequences in motion, and to view perspectives that are difficult or impossible to observe in real life” (Wetzel, 1994). Early fears that these multiple channels might overtax the viewer’s capacity for comprehension seem to have been unfounded, and now most researchers agree that “…when presented together, each source provides additional complementary information,” thus increasing the chances that comprehension will take place (Kozma, 1991). Watching television may seem a very simple act, but it actually involves a rather complicated thinking process. Like any communications medium, the content of television is composed of symbols, in the form of discrete units of information. As literate humans our cognitive task is to decode those symbols. But with broadcast television, the symbols are more transient, more fleeting than with static media like books or pictures. Thus, television offers a “window of cognitive engagement.”.

(from the report Television Goes to School via the Corporation for Public Broadcasting)

Okay, that makes sense. So video seems to work in a learning environment. But what about for marketing? Back in the early 90s (before I discovered the interwebs) I made corporate videos for a few years. Clients would spend $50,000 – $500,000 to make a slick video that we would run off onto thousands of video cassettes (kids, ask your grandparents what a ‘video cassette’ was). These videos would tend to be very high end and shiny, more like television commercials. What about videos produced with a much smaller budget, like video testimonials?

Exhibit 1: MyHome

MyHome is a New York based full service design and remodeling firm. They could have settled with writing the same basic marketing information on their site that I’m sure all of their competitors have – you know,

“We are a full-service, owner operated construction firm with an outstanding team of trained remodeling professionals and our own crews of skilled trade professionals. We promise quality and service – and we keep our promises…. zzzzzz.”

But instead they have video testimonials from happy clients. Check out a couple of the video testimonials on the MyHome site.

I don’t know about you, but these work for me. They are unscripted, natural, compelling. When I watch them, I think “these people seem genuinely happy with their MyHome experience”. If the same testimonials were written as text on the site, I don’t think they would have anywhere near the same impact. I can’t tell from text whether it was written by a real customer or someone in the marketing department. With a video, on the other hand, I think I can tell pretty easily if the person speaking is the real deal or a fake.

I also don’t think these would work anywhere near as well if they were scripted. I don’t believe someone who is reading a script (well, unless the person reading it studied under Lee Strasberg). Most people reading from a teleprompter sound flat and fake. To see what I mean, check out these examples. I think these are genuine customers who had a good experience, but they are obviously reading prepared statements and it just leaves me cold.

Exhibit 2: Case Doctors

Production values don’t seem to matter much in terms of credibility, either. Check out these videos on the Cash Doctors site. The audio is a bit soft, lots of background noise, most are shot in a park. None of that seems to matter. My immediate emotional response is “these people are happy customers, Cash Doctors worked for them”.

Videos are Social Objects

Although I wouldn’t typically classify video testimonials as “social media”, they can be social objects. They can be passed from friend to friend, via email, Twitter or Facebook. They are probably unlikely to go viral (unless there’s an unusually great story involved), but they can work for a client as a sales tool. And we all know that word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing, especially in this era of DIGITAL word of mouth on social networking platforms. So why not make it easy for our customers to tell their closest thousand friends/contacts/followers exactly how much they enjoy doing business with us?

It carries so much more weight when it comes from the horse’s mouth. (And if you want to know where that idiom comes from, watch the below clip!)

If you have any good or bad examples of video testimonials – of if you have a different perspective on their utility in marketing – let me know in the comments section!