How To Get Your B2B SaaS Customers To Volunteer For Video Testimonials
How critical are online reviews, case studies, and customer testimonials for the success of a B2B SaaS business?
According to the data provided by the G2 website, 90% of buyers are more likely to convert after reading and viewing reviews and testimonials.
As people are increasingly relying on endorsements, the importance of high-quality reviews and testimonials for SaaS businesses cannot be overstated.
Would customers sign up for a SaaS tool if they came across a string of poor reviews? Probably not. The same goes for lack of testimonials from happy customers?
Online reviews and video testimonials are the primary sources of guidance used by SaaS customers today.
Taking the cue, many SaaS companies are concentrating on getting their customers to provide testimonials and leave reviews to help them attract new business.
Numbers too echo similar sentiments: Studies show that nearly two-thirds of customers are influenced by online reviews, case studies, and testimonials when they buy a software.
The study also found that customers are more likely to express their opinion if they are unhappy with their purchase, so a SaaS company should do everything to look after them.
In the business-to-business (B2B) world, customer reviews and testimonials have become more important than ever. They can make or break a company, especially the software as a service businesses.
According to a SocialMediaToday study, 63.3% of consumers trust businesses with an overall rating of 4.0 or 4.5 stars.
One bad review or testimonial can make customers shun a company, while one good review can lead to more customers.
Customer testimonials are nothing but a form of word-of-mouth marketing that is favored by a lot of online buyers. They can make or break a company because:
Many businesses don’t realize the value of Customer Testimonials. They don’t put in the required effort to get more of them.
For business-to-business (B2B) software as a service (SaaS) companies, Customer video testimonials, Online Reviews, and Case studies should be an integral part of their marketing strategy.
Here is how such endorsements can help:
Video testimonials are the most effective method of generating social proof, as videos are more likely to be seen than text-based testimonials.
However, many businesses are unaware that they can be used as a powerful marketing tool when used the right way.
In fact, there are not many better ways to influence potential customers and get them to convert.
Fortunately, SaaS businesses are beginning to understand their power to gather social proof which they are using in their marketing campaigns.
For example, this video testimonial created by Content Beta for Metadata.io features multiple customers talking about Metadata’s marketing software. This video can be shared on social media to great effect.
Video testimonials are a powerful tool for understanding customer behavior that can help SaaS businesses to:
This Content Beta created video testimonial for Galley has Cate Smith, Corporate Chef, discussing how the Galley Restaurant Management app can help restaurant staff to do their daily tasks efficiently. This client video testimonials are invaluable because it is a first-person account.
Not many customers would be willing to get in touch with a SaaS company on their own to tell them what they really think about their products. They might if asked for a review.
However, the results can be a pat on their back or a wake-up call. Either way, they would be richer for the experience.
If it is the former, they would have a potent marketing tool on their hands. If it is the latter, they can consider it as an opportunity to improve all aspects of their business.
Implementing customer feedback earnestly can only benefit the business in the long run and result in improved products and services, increased sales, and enhanced reputation.
Suffice to say that testimonials can help identify areas that need improvement to stay competitive in a crowded marketplace.
This video testimonial features Arianna Gonzales, Growth Marketing Lead with Lawcus. Here Ms. Gonzales talks about the apprehensions they had initially about how the videos created by Content Beta might turn out.
This is valuable feedback because it provides insights into what your customers think. It also offers a good use case for video testimonials.
Improving the reputation and brand value can help establish a SaaS business as thought leaders in their niche.
For a video testimonial to be a powerful tool, it needs to be authentic, factually accurate, and provide something that is important to potential clients.
Potential customers want information about a company or product that they might not be able to get from any other source. Testimonials can fill that gap by showing them how your product or service is trusted and effective.
They also help reinforce Brand authenticity, which helps show customers the extent to which a company is willing to remain true to its business ethics and values.
Using a video testimonial service can be a game-changer for SaaS businesses, especially start-ups. Content Beta received it from the founder of ScaleX.ai, Mr. Chad Burmeister.
Video testimonials are an effective way to show potential customers that your product or service works well for others.
A customer video testimonial can help you attract new business in several ways:
By including customer video reviews on your website, you can attract new business and build trust with potential customers. You can even use remote video production for this process.
Marketing professionals always advise you to pay close attention to your current customers so that they will continue to patronize your business, thus minimizing customer churn.
Looking for new customers is time-consuming and resource-heavy. So it makes eminent business sense to look after your customers well so that you can realize their full Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).
Video testimonials act as a reassurance to current customers that, after all, they have invested their money wisely.
There is one caveat here, however: For this to work, businesses have to provide exceptional customer service at all times.
Customer Support videos can be put to great use to provide value to customers. The following video is created by Content Beta for ChiroTouch:
Video testimonials can help sell more products and services in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
This is particularly true for B2B SaaS businesses because the market is already saturated with similar products and services, so a business can succeed if it can offer something different.
Adding video testimonials from happy clients can soften the hard sell, creating a stronger emotional connection with prospects and encouraging buyers to trust you over your competitors.
For example, this customer video testimonial is from Melissa Perry, Senior Marketing Manager, Cooleaf for Leadfeeder, one of the Content Beta Clients. The testimonial giver does a great job of answering the questions prospects might have.
B2B SaaS businesses are competitive and standing out from the crowd is difficult. Online reviews and remote video testimonials are a great way to tell your company’s story, especially if you have invested in creating a solid company culture.
A customer onboarding video like this step-by-step instructional video from Raken can be that differentiator. It shows your prospective customers that they can trust you to look after them.
Customer case studies and testimonial videos are excellent marketing and sales tools you can use on your website, in email marketing campaigns, and on social media to get your message in front of potential customers.
Testimonial video production can do word-of-mouth marketing on your behalf. When potential customers see how happy and satisfied other customers are with a product or service, they are more likely to be interested in learning more about it.
This can help create a snowball effect, where more and more people learn about the product or service and want to buy from you.
You can use a Product Demo video like the one from Lyne.ai to educate customers about a product or a service.
Customer video testimonials let you showcase your best customers and close deals faster.
When prospects see that other companies like them are using and benefitting from your product or service, it improves the chances of them taking the plunge and giving your solution a try.
Testimonials help show off the features and benefits of your offering in a real-world context. This is much more impactful than simply reading about your product on a website or in a brochure. Seeing it in action helps prospects visualize how it could work for them.
Did you know you can convert a document to a video? Here is an example from Ironscales.
Case studies and testimonials can be a powerful form of social proof, which can help increase conversion rates. When prospects see that others have had success with your solution, they are more likely to take the next step and become paying customers.
They can provide insights into how well the product or service works, what benefits it provides, and any potential drawbacks.
This information can be invaluable when making a decision about whether to purchase a particular product or service.
Customer Success stories are a good choice to show value to customers. Like this story featuring Direct IQ. Content Beta worked with DirectIQ to improve their Customer Education videos.
Content Beta helped DirectIQ produce a series of videos that reduced customer support tickets and increased user adoption. Here is a video from the series.
Probably the single most important benefit of case studies, online reviews, and video testimonials is their ability to connect with people.
There is something about the human touch that can provide the impetus needed for other humans to trust something like no other prompting can.
Video testimonials work because the prospects know that a real person is speaking, and a human voice gives them confidence that the product is trustworthy.
“Nothing is so healing as the human touch – Bobby Fischer, Chess Grandmaster”
Negative Online Reviews can damage a company’s reputation, discourage customers from buying its products or services, and even lead to the loss of potential customers.
To protect their businesses, companies should take steps to mitigate the effects of negative online reviews, by responding to them quickly and politely, addressing the concerns they raise and working hard to improve their customer service.
If a customer of your SaaS service is unhappy, they may take to the internet to write a review. Negative online reviews can be harmful to your business, but there are ways to handle them that can minimize the damage.
Here are some tips:
Fake reviews have become the bane of businesses today. Luckily, as discussed earlier, the law is catching up with unscrupulous elements. But it won’t hurt to be able to spot them when you see one.
A fake review can be anything from a five-star rating given to a service or product when it wasn’t received, to a fake review posted anonymously from an IP address in another country.
1. The profile: Bona fide reviewers usually have a profile along with a picture of themselves and a bio. Some sites such as Amazon label those reviews as ‘Verified Purchase’.
2. The outliers: These are either 5-star reviews that don’t mention any negatives or 1-star reviews that nitpick without pointing out the obvious good features of the product.
3. The ‘gushers’: Look for words and phrases like ‘amazing’, ‘life-changing’, ‘You wouldn’t believe’, or ‘I don’t normally write reviews…’
4. The complainers: They usually find a way to criticize, and almost always pick a trial, non-related, or irrelevant point to base their criticism on.
5. The greedy: Many SaaS businesses offer free credits in exchange for a review. Some overenthusiastic reviewers believe that they have a moral obligation to leave nothing less than a 5-star review to justify the “faith” reposed in them by the company.
6. The Language: The use of polished or crude language is another red flag. The former might be the handiwork of a “professional” review writer and the latter could be a troll doing what trolls do best.
You can use fakespot.com to find if the review is legit by entering the URL. This site works for Trip Advisor, Yelp, Amazon, and others.
No matter how hard you try, you would usually have disgruntled customers that are hard to please and harder to convince.
Prevention is better than cure because one cannot stop people from posting negative reviews. Neither can you please everyone.
But you can keep such instances to a minimum by:
As the sales cycle is getting longer and more competitive, the need to have endorsements from satisfied customers has never been higher.
Online reviews and testimonials are vital for any business and SaaS companies should request customers to provide a testimonial after they have had a positive experience with the product.
But, how to get those customer endorsements?
There are two ways to get customers to agree to do a customer testimonial or review:
Before we wrap up, let us recap the importance of online reviews and customer video testimonials:
A B2B SaaS business can benefit immensely from customer testimonials because more and more customers are relying on online customer reviews and testimonial videos before they buy a software product.
Customers find them useful because:
If you are not already using online reviews, case studies and testimonial videos as part of your marketing and sales efforts, now is the time to start. These powerful tools can help you close more deals and grow your business.
They are absolutely critical to a B2B SaaS business because traditional marketing methods are proving to be inadequate. Many customers prefer to go by what other users are saying before making a purchase, so companies need to get as many testimonials as possible.
In the world of SaaS, the need for customer testimonials has become critical. After all, customers are the ones using the products, and they are the ones who can convince others about a company’s products, service, and brand value.
Customer testimonials guard a company against negative reviews and misconceptions about its products. In the age of social media, word gets around fast, and customers are spoilt for choice. So, customer testimonials can help a company to educate prospects and customers.
Customer testimonials need effective marketing to be successful. In addition, the companies should optimize their website for search engines and leverage social media to increase the company’s reach and attract more visitors to the website.
Customer video testimonials provide potential customers with real-world examples of how the software has helped other businesses achieve their goals. This helps build confidence in the product and encourages potential customers to consider using it for their own business needs.
