Trust is one of the most difficult things to acquire, not only for brands but also for people. Audiences are savvier than ever, and the traditional polished marketing approach is starting to fall flat. To truly connect with modern buyers, brands need something real. Authenticity should feel human, not scripted. That’s where video testimonials come in.
Video testimonials have quickly become one of the most effective tools for building trust and increasing conversions. They deliver raw, emotional, and relatable customer experiences. If you understand the psychology of UGC, you’ll know that compared to written reviews, they offer higher engagement, better memory retention, and significantly stronger influence over purchasing decisions, and you may need to collect video testimonials at scale.
Why Video Testimonials Are Winning in 2025
Marketing fatigue is real. The average consumer is exposed to thousands of messages every day. But in a sea of polished, studio-produced ads, authenticity cuts through. A short, unscripted video of a real customer sharing their journey resonates in a way a written review simply can’t.
We are hardwired to trust faces, voices, and stories. Video taps into all of those sights, sounds, and emotions and creates a bond between the viewer and the storyteller.
This shift is already playing out in real campaigns. Consider MasterCard’s “Priceless Moments,” where attendees at live events were invited to capture spontaneous reactions. These videos were used not only for social media but also internally and across paid channels, proving the power of unscripted experiences to deepen brand engagement and improve reach.
The Bottleneck: Collection Is Often a Nightmare
While the value of video testimonials is clear, the process of collecting them often becomes a major barrier. Brands struggle with complicated submission workflows, email threads, app installations, permission slips, and endless back-and-forth.
This is precisely the problem BrandLens was designed to solve.
BrandLens is an app-free video testimonial tool and, co-creation platform that allows brands to collect authentic user-generated content (UGC). It guides users through structured, branded video capture experiences with built-in permissions, moderation, and customization options. In short, it removes all the friction that typically stops great content from being created and shared. Whether you need legal testimonials, marketing, or any other sphere, the features of BrandLens are powerful.
Now, let’s go over some essential steps on how to get successful video testimonials from your clients!
Step 1: Identify Your Best Testimonial Candidates
Great video testimonials start with great customers. The key is to focus on advocates—people who have had a genuinely positive experience and want to share it.
Start with:
- Net Promoter Score (NPS) Surveys: Target promoters, those who score your brand 9 or 10.
- CRM Segmentation: Look for frequent buyers, high lifetime value customers, or users who engage regularly with your brand.
- Customer Support Feedback: Highlight users who submitted praise or positive feedback.
Instead of limiting outreach to one customer profile, aim to capture diversity. Different backgrounds, use cases, and journeys will help your future audience see themselves in the testimonials. This increases the overall impact and broadens the relevance of your campaign.
Dartmouth Health ran a successful internal campaign using BrandLens, asking staff to record appreciation messages for one another. The result wasn’t just a stronger workplace culture; it also served as a compelling recruitment and employer branding tool when those videos were repurposed on social platforms.
Step 2: Guide Participants Through a Clear Story Arc
Customers aren’t professional spokespeople and that’s a good thing. Their authenticity is the entire point. But that doesn’t mean you should leave them without guidance.
BrandLens makes this easy by offering on-screen prompts and timing cues. Each user is guided through a short video journey with a clear structure and brand-safe framing.
A typical testimonial format includes:
- Introduction: Who are you, and what do you do?
- The Problem: What challenge were you facing before using the product?
- The Solution: How did the brand help resolve it?
- The Results: What changed? What’s better now?
This storytelling arc keeps testimonials focused, human, and emotionally resonant.
In a BrandLens campaign featuring brand ambassadors, influencers were asked to follow this same structure. The result was highly consistent, authentic messaging delivered in each creator’s voice while maintaining on-brand storytelling.
BrandLens also allows brands to use visual elements like branded overlays, logo placements, and consistent typography to ensure each submission looks polished and professional, without removing its natural charm. Here is a detailed guide on how it works!
Step 3: Ensure Submission Is Simple, Compliant, and Brand-Safe
Nothing undermines a great experience faster than a frustrating final step. That’s why the BrandLens submission process is designed to be smooth and intuitive from start to finish.
Participants are encouraged to preview their video before submitting, which reduces errors and boosts confidence. If they’re not satisfied, they can easily re-record.
Content rights are handled automatically during submission. BrandLens incorporates a terms-of-service agreement into the capture process so users know their content is being submitted with permission. This streamlines compliance and ensures you have legal coverage to use the content across platforms.
AI moderation and sorting features take things even further. Videos are scanned for brand safety and quality. The best-performing videos can be automatically flagged, helping teams focus their efforts on top content instead of sorting through hundreds of files manually.
The Hershey’s Kisses campaign is a strong example of this in action. Consumers scanned a QR code on the packaging and submitted personalized video messages that were embedded into their chocolate gifts. Everything, from the video creation to the rights agreement, happened within a smooth, mobile-first BrandLens experience.
Step 4: Edit and Deploy Across All Your Marketing Channels
Once the videos are in, the next step is to make the most of them.
BrandLens lets you embed or export testimonial videos in multiple formats. Use the full version in a blog or sales page, and cut shorter highlight clips for social media, email, or advertising.
Here are some smart placement options:
- Product Detail Pages (PDPs): Add video testimonials directly on the product page to drive conversions.
- Email Marketing: Drop testimonials into post-purchase sequences or abandoned cart emails.
- Sales Enablement: Include clips in sales decks and demo calls.
- Social Media: Repurpose for Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, or YouTube Shorts.
- Interactive Galleries: Use BrandLens’s built-in, TikTok-style gallery to rotate videos on your website.
Retail and CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) brands have seen measurable lifts in conversions by embedding customer video reviews on their PDPs (Product Detail Pages). This isn’t theory, it’s proven.
Step 5: Keep It Going – Automate and Scale Collection
Video testimonial collection shouldn’t be a one-time campaign. With the right setup, it becomes an evergreen engine for trust-building and content generation.
Here’s how to maintain momentum:
- CRM Automations: Trigger testimonial invites after purchases, support interactions, or loyalty milestones.
- QR Code Integration: Add scannable codes to packaging, thank-you inserts, or in-store signage.
- Community Incentives: Offer small perks or recognition to encourage participation, while staying transparent about it.
- Feature Testimonials Regularly: Spotlight contributors in social posts or newsletters to normalize video sharing.
BrandLens supports ongoing UGC strategies with its Evergreen plan, which is ideal for brands that want always-on video collection flows tied to packaging, email campaigns, or employee onboarding.
Video Testimonies Are the Future of Trust and BrandLens Makes Them Work
Written reviews and static testimonials are no longer enough. Customers crave human connection, and video is the most powerful way to deliver it. But collecting great video content at scale requires the right system. Check out how to create budget-friendly branded video content with BrandLens.
BrandLens makes it effortless. From structured capture experiences to compliance, moderation, and publishing, every step is built for speed, ease, and scalability. Whether you’re a fast-growing eCommerce business or a global brand launching your next campaign, video testimonials should be a core part of your strategy and BrandLens is how you do it right.
Ready to unlock the full potential of customer storytelling?
Request a Demo and see how BrandLens transforms testimonials into a high-converting, brand-building engine.
