Every buyer looks for social proof before making a purchase. They need product reviews, customer testimonials, or any solid proof that a product or service is a good buy. 

This is what testimonial advertising does. 

It helps generate credibility around a product by providing unbiased, real customer insight into its features and benefits. 

The following article is your ultimate guide to creating a foolproof marketing campaign with effective testimonial advertising techniques.

We’ll use Trust – an affordable and simple video testimonial software – to help create effective testimonial ads.

What is testimonial advertising? 

Testimonial advertising is an age-old marketing tactic that uses customer reviews to attract potential customers into purchasing or engaging with the brand.

It promotes the authenticity of using satisfied customer voices to showcase why their brand, product, or service stands out from the crowd. 

Apart from marketing, inserting testimonial ads into sales material is also a great asset for sales teams to convert high-quality leads. 

Understanding video testimonials

Did you know video content is 1200% more successful than other forms of content? So, it makes sense to leverage more video testimonials in your next testimonial advertising campaign.

Video testimonials are super effective advertising tools for many reasons:

• They are engaging as you can see a real face talking about their experiences with using your product
  
• They can be re-used. You can convert them into customer quotes for sales and marketing collateral. For example, Instagram Reels, testimonial quotes for sales presentations, and more
  
• They capture the genuine endorsement and emotions behind customer experiences in an effective way
• They can be tailored to create brand awareness. For example, asking very specific questions about the product’s unique selling proposition
  

Types of testimonial advertising 

Apart from video testimonials, here are the most popular testimonial ad types to build trust:

• Written or text testimonials
  
• Image testimonials
  
• User-generated content (UGC) screenshots and videos
  
• Influencer testimonials
  
• Email marketing ads

Below is a classic influencer testimonial advertising example from the 1950s (yes, testimonial advertising was cool since then!)

Examples of successful testimonial ads and tips to bring them to life

We’ve seen what should go into high-performing testimonial ads. Now, check out some real examples of brands using real customer voices to curate testimonial video ads for various online platforms. 

Let’s use a simple video testimonial tool – Trust to create each of them. 

Testimonial ad examples from top brands

1. Instagram testimonial ad

Instagram is all about eye-catching images and videos with precise copy, captions, and a direct CTA. You can repurpose your collected written or video testimonials as ads for Instagram stories or sponsored posts.

Here is an Instagram Reel that showcases various customer testimonials in a short video. This is perfect to use as a sponsored ad:

Steps to implement this testimonial ad with Trust:

• First, sign up for Trust’s 14-day no-credit-card free trial.
• As you can see, each testimonial within the above Instagram reel highlights a benefit each customer experienced using the product. For this, you must be asking the right questions. Trust has Interactive Forms that help you create stepwise questionnaires that yield accurate responses
  

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• Frame questions so you catch a unique product benefit that solves each customer’s pain point. For example, “What percentage of subscriber growth did you notice after using our product’s X feature?”
• Next, you can choose to collect a video or a written testimonial. Don’t forget to ask the submitter to upload a picture for our Reel. Also, collect their consent so you’re free to use their responses on socials—this can also be done on the form.

Tip: A video testimonial can be used for multiple purposes. For example, you can use these videos as Instagram Reels or Stories, or in our case, you can also collect text reviews and turn them into a Reel.

• Once your Trust testimonial request form is ready, you can quickly copy the link to the formand share it with your target customers.

• Once they submit their feedback, you can proceed to edit the video and extract reviews for your brand-new Instagram Reel.
• Once they submit their feedback, you can proceed to edit the video and extract reviews for your brand-new Instagram Reel.
  
• Trust has an in-built video editor called Video Studio, where you can generate captions automatically and repurpose them into “quoted” testimonials post-download. It helps you generate professional-quality, marketing-ready video testimonial ads in a few clicks (literally).

• Once you’ve extracted the best quotes to use for your engaging Instagram customer testimonial Reel, use a tool like Canva to put the quotes together into a short video.
  

And you’re ready to use your customer testimonial Reel or Story as sponsored posts. You can read more about Instagram advertising here. 

2. LinkedIn testimonial ad

LinkedIn is perfect for B2B engagement. You can leverage the platform by turning your testimonial videos or reviews into rich images and sharing them as sponsored posts or LinkedIn ads, like so:

The above LinkedIn post uses both testimonial video and text to attract attention. What is also great is how well-branded the post is. Let’s see how to replicate this with Trust. 

Steps to implement this testimonial ad with Trust:

• Sign up for Trust’s 14-day no-credit-card free trial if not already done.
• Create a Trust Smart form and request the customer to submit a video testimonial and a written one as well. You can customize the form as you like using the simple drag-and-drop editor.
  

• Once customized, share the form’s link to your target customer (available on the Trust dashboard). They can now record their response without having to log in or install the app!
  
• Trust will notify you when the submission is complete. You can then download the video as is or use Trust’s in-built editor app – Video Studio to polish the testimonial (highly recommend!)
  
• Video Studio lets you trim and add intros/outros to the testimonial video, cut scenes, add auto-generated captions, change the mode to make it more LinkedIn-specific, add brand colors/logo, etc.

• Our LinkedIn example also has a text testimonial. So, you can convert the auto-generated caption into a short quote or ask the customer to submit a text review, too.
  
• You can now upload this polished video testimonial to your LinkedIn page with a relevant caption!
  

Tip: Use tools like Canva or Visme to combine the edited and downloaded video testimonials along with the written review. 

3. YouTube testimonial ad

YouTube is a go-to video platform for product research for most buyers. You can make the most of this platform by showing off your product and brand credibility by curating video testimonials as long-form videos ( 1 to 2-min) or short video ads.

A testimonial video by LinkedIn Recruiter collages multiple self-recorded customer video testimonials and quotes talking about the product’s various benefits:

Steps to implement this testimonial ad with Trust:

• Sign up for Trust’s 14-day no-credit-card free trial if not already done.
  
• Create and customize an Interactive form as shown in example #1. Frame questions diligently so you receive the most accurate responses. Since the YouTube testimonial video contains about 2-3 customer testimonials, ensure you’re customizing the testimonial form for each customer.
  
• Once your Trust testimonial request form is ready, you can quickly copy the link to the form and share it with your target customers.
• You can find the submitted testimonial videos on your Trust dashboard under “Testimonials” as well as under “Video Studio” – a built-in video editor by Trust.
  

• We highly recommend you use the Video Studio for this YouTube testimonial example. With this editor, you can upload the required intros, outros, and in-between-scene transitions.

• What’s more? Add auto-generated captions, your brand colors, and video thumbnails, and set the correct video aspect ratio to fit YouTube.
  
• Post-rendering, download the finished video to your local device and upload it to your YouTube channel as a standalone video or turn into a sponsored ad with YouTube advertising. You can learn how to convert this into an ad here.
  

How to create effective testimonial ads?

When can I ask my customers for a testimonial? How do I begin creating a compelling testimonial ad? Where can I edit my video testimonial ad?  

Let’s dig in to uncover every dilemma you may have.

More tips for creating engaging testimonial video ads with a fully automated, all-in-one tool like Trust

Trust is an easy-to-use platform for all things testimonial. It can collect written, video, or product ratings or import online reviews from external platforms and display them with a readily available code snippet.

Just follow these simple steps, and you’ll have an engaging testimonial video in no time:

But first, sign up for Trust’s 14-day no-credit-card free trial. 

Some prerequisites to have a stunning testimonial ad:

Start from scratch – refresh your testimonial requesting strategy using Interactive Forms

Trust has Interactive Forms that help you create highly engaging step-wise questionnaires that yield exactly the kind of customer feedback you envisioned.

More benefits of using the Interactive form to collect and create a testimonial video ad:

• A super user-friendly interface that requires zero designing knowledge
• You can collect customer consent right on the form to reuse their words as disparate marketing material with permission

• Record a customized welcome and thank-you message to let responders feel special
  
• Direct customers to external sites like Google, Facebook, etc., to leave a star rating
  
• And more!
  

 The customer submits a video or text response to your testimonial request, and you’ll be notified and directed to your Trust dashboard to check it out and take next steps.

Bonus tip: Ask customers the right questions to encourage storytelling 

Potential customers hate overly promotional content and prefer watching the customer’s side of the story. So, make it a point to encourage testimonial videos that form an emotional connection with the viewer.

Don’t fret about these big words, as this is easy with a tool like Trust.

Trust’s Smart and Interactive testimonial forms have exclusive Q&A features so your customers are never left confused about their responses.

For example, Smart Forms lets you add multiple questions and use AI to curate an appropriate response. The user enters a few keywords and lets AI whip out a testimonial script.

Conversely, Interactive forms let you create a pre-set Q&A-based video survey that takes customers through their experience using your product or service step-by-step. 

For example, the first set of questions can start with you asking them to explain their initial challenge and end with whether they plan to recommend your product to others in their circles.

You now have one or more testimonials ready for publish. 

Using customer testimonials for higher conversion

Have you ever had a friend highly recommend a product to you, and you instantly went on to purchase it? That’s how powerful word-of-mouth marketing assets like product reviews and customer testimonials are for conversion.

Here are some ideas for using customer testimonials and ads to achieve higher conversion rates:

• Display them on your website
  

Studies show that the average time spent on a website is 45 to 50 seconds. That’s just under a minute to impress customers, but customer testimonials could change this statistic. 

Add video and image testimonials to your web pages, such as the home page, products page, and specific landing pages that receive high traffic.

Here’s an example testimonial website pop-up that you can add using Trust:

• Highlight benefits and not just product features
  

Considering cutthroat competition for ad engagement, ensure your customer testimonials discuss the top benefits of using your product, such as how the product eased a specific pain point. 

• Keep them short and to the point
  

Testimonials must consider the short attention span of ad readers/viewers and should be precise and engaging without beating around the bush.

• Add them to your emails
  

Email campaigns are the most used marketing and sales assets for lead generation. Sprinkling in your email copies with social proof, like customer testimonials, can drive more conversions and click-through rates. For example, you could convert a video testimonial snippet into a GIF and add it to your email body.

Elements of a successful testimonial ad campaign

We’ve analyzed some of the top-performing testimonial ad campaigns from brands like Semrush, Zapier, and others to identify the must-have elements:

1. Diversified formats

Most brands don’t stick to just one format of testimonial ad campaigns. For example, they may have a video ad campaign, text (quotes) ads, and some videos converted into voice-overs as well.

This is beneficial because not all consumers are the same. Some prefer watching a video, while others love skimming through a written testimonial.

2. Use of visually compelling designs

Ad campaigns, especially with videos, require many high-quality visual elements. These include up-to-the-mark graphic design, video production, layout, and consistent branding like fonts, colors, etc.

Visually appealing and consistent designing speaks volumes of your brand’s attention to little details.

3. Highlighting specific outcomes

“Product Z helped me onboard 30% more users” sounds better than “Product Z helped me onboard more users.” So, ensure your customers highlight specific outcomes to make your ad campaigns stand out. 

4. A direct call to action (CTA) tailored for each testimonial ad 

What should your potential customers do after watching your ad campaign? Ensure you’re directing them towards your ultimate end goal, such as booking a demo, subscribing to your newsletter, placing a call, etc.

What are the best formats for testimonial videos?

Here are some of the best testimonial video formats capable of fetching the most engagement from your potential customers:

1. Interview-style customer testimonial videos

You can record video surveys by curating targeted questions that help the customer better collect their thoughts. For example, a productivity SaaS company can create a short questionnaire asking the customer how the product changed their team communications.

For such survey-like testimonials, you can use Trust’s Interactive Forms and download video responses recorded by submitters to each of the survey questions:

2. Product-in-use testimonial video

Your customers could upload a short video of themselves using your product in their daily lives and discuss how it benefits them. For example, an eCommerce brand’s customer unboxing a product.

You can use Trust’s Smart forms and add a “Welcome title” indicating that the customer can record a product unboxing-style video. Once the form is shared, they can click the “Video” icon to launch the recording screen.

3. The before and after

The “before and after” bridge is a popular marketing tactic that discusses how it was before and after using a product. For example, a coaching business student could record a video testimonial about the program’s effectiveness and after effects it had on their professional skills.  

So, testimonial videos can take many forms. How should you choose the right format for your business?

Choosing the right format for your testimonial ads

Some pointers to keep in mind: 

• What’s your target audience’s demographic? For example, if they are in their twenties, influencer testimonial videos or short social media posts / image ads can garner more engagement.
  
• What is your end goal with using testimonial ads? If it’s getting more conversions, it’s best to use interview-style videos as customer stories. And if it’s to generate more brand awareness, you can use influencer testimonials on social media.
  
• Where is your target audience most likely to convert? If it’s a website, your testimonial videos can be uploaded as widgets or created and run as engaging paid testimonial ads on Google.
  

How to measure the effectiveness of testimonial advertising?

As a marketer or business owners, the best and most efficient way to maximize the impact of testimonial advertising accurately is to measure your efforts and make gradual changes.

Key metrics for tracking testimonial ad performance   

1. Conversion rate: Track the average conversion rate of website pages where you’ve displayed your testimonials and paid ads to see the number of visitors moving to the next consecutive stage of their buyer’s journey. 

2. Bounce rate: Measure the bounce rate of web pages showcasing customer testimonials to understand if they are effective in keeping visitors engaged. 

3. View count: Track the total number of times your testimonial video has been viewed. A low video count may require you to re-strategize video and content quality. 

4. Click-through rate (CTR): A high CTR indicates your testimonial ad is driving good traffic to your website or landing page.

5. Return on ad spend (ROAS): This metric measures the revenue generated for each dollar spent on your ad campaign. It helps identify the profitability of your testimonial ad campaign.

Understanding conversion rates in testimonial campaigns

Conversion rate is easily the most crucial metric for any marketing strategy as it dictates your testimonial ad campaign performance. 

It is the percentage of users who take a desired action after watching or coming across your testimonial ad, such as clicking the CTA to book a product tour, subscribing to email brand updates, or purchasing the product.

How can you improve and optimize testimonial campaign conversion rates? Simple: A/B test two or more campaigns until you achieve the best results. 

You can A/B test testimonial campaigns and optimize conversion rates by:

• Changing the testimonial format
  
• Changing the product placement
  
• Updating questions asked to the customer
  
• And refining the CTA
  

Wrapping up

Remember, you can never go wrong by leveraging social proof and user-generated content.  

Whether you use a written or video testimonial, adding testimonial advertising in your next marketing campaign is sure to convert more doubtful potential customers into qualified leads or even customers.

Start your video testimonial advertising journey with an easy-to-use, end-to-end automated tool like Trust.

Grab the 14-day free trial today!