Customer Testimonials
Part 1
One of the most frequent types of videos we make at DCA is the customer testimonial, and for good reason. These short, story-led documentaries can be the most effective tools in any marketing plan, whether it’s for large capital equipment, smaller items like consumables, or service partnerships.
As an example, let’s say you’re going to make a major purchase like a car, TV, or appliance. The first thing you might do is look up the specifications, but those are often dry and uninteresting, and lack information about the user experience. Then maybe you’ll read online reviews, but you don’t know how many of them are fake. So where do you turn next?
Often, we look for opinions from people we trust. We ask our friends about their experiences with the product. We ask our neighbors about local services. We find out what experts think, like a celebrity chef about a kitchen appliance, for instance.
Alia sits in the interviewees’ chair for a lighting check
All of this translates remarkably well to marketing scientific instruments, products, or services, too. A scientist seeing themselves reflected in other scientists who have solved problems like theirs, using the solutions you offer, is incredibly powerful for a potential customer.
The impact is even greater when the featured customer is a key opinion leader in the field. Knowing that someone with an excellent scientific reputation uses a certain product or service—and even more importantly, why they do—can be a key component of a customer’s purchasing decision.
The Reason for the Purchase
We’ve found that when speaking to scientists, that “why” needs to include more than just the technical capabilities of the product. Take this video, for example, in which a respected university professor tells us why he uses a product:
You’ll notice that nearly half of the video is dedicated to the impact Dr. Gates hopes his research will have on neurodegenerative diseases. This context is important; it not only establishes Dr. Gates’s research field within the story, but also connects his lab’s need for new technology with the likely effect on human health. That connection—the need for tools to help them improve the human condition—tends to resonate very strongly with life scientists.
For more stories that you can tell using a customer testimonial, and how they can be used, click here to keep reading.