Shoot Your Customers - ten things you should know about video case studies

03 August 2010

While we would never recommend you actually shoot your customers (not good for business) we can't stress enough how effective a video case study is when compared with a written case study.

There's nothing inherently wrong with written customer testimonials and case studies - and, in fact, there's no reason you shouldn't do both. The issue is really one of immediate impactfulness (no such word. Ed.) (Don't care, it sounds good. Auth.)

We believe a video case study acts as a taster, designed to whet the appetite rather than fill you up. It should engage the viewer quickly and give them enough high quality information to enable them to decide whether they want to know more about the story, your business or your products, and whether they want to develop a relationship with you. Then - and only then - give them the traditional written stuff. If you present first time visitors to your website with page after page of written material it stands a very good chance of becoming overwhelming and a real turn off.

Keep in mind that more and more we are turning to the TV for information, as opposed to books. Your website could benefit from reflecting that trend. Make it easy for your visitors. Let them gather information from your site the same way they like to do it at home.

Here, in no particular order, are ten things you should know about making a video of your customer success story.

1. A video case study has greater and more immediate impact than its written counterpart.
2. A video case study is more likely to be viewed in its entirety than a written case study.
3. A video gets your story across more quickly.
4. Video enables better comprehension and retention than the written word.
5. A video case study is a simple and cost effective way to set yourself apart from your competitors and will be remembered long after a written one has been 'filed'.
6. A link in an email is all you need to get people looking at your case study video.
7. Host your video case study on YouTube with appropriate tags so the whole world can search for it or stumble across it and view it. And then click to your website, of course.
8. Video case studies can be as affordable as written case studies (call for prices!).
9. Video on the web is now vastly better than it used to be thanks to fatter broadband pipes. It just works.
10. A video case study (or any other video for that matter) can be viewed in a web browser at your desk, on a TV at home, on a video wall at an exhibition, in a Powerpoint slideshow at a presentation, on a plasma screen in your reception area, on a mobile phone on the train home, on a portable DVD player in a caravan at the seaside or on an iPod while crossing the Atlantic at 40,000 feet.

Bonus Thing You Should Know:

  11.  More people who have appeared in video case studies go on to appear in Hollywood movies than those who are mentioned in written case studies.