Another vote against Audio/Visual.
Hmm…
Debbie
Testimonials of any description, written, audio or whatever, on a website are generally useless. I doubt very much if someone thought whatever product/service you are selling is a pile of junk that you would put their testimonial on your website - hence why you rarely see a negative testimonial on any website.
Unless you also provide a means for your visitors to somehow verify the authenticity and accuracy of any testimonials, I think the vast majority of visitors will at best see them as a waste of time and at worst wonder what you are trying to hide by getting people (or paid actors) to talk up your product/service.
I do like videos of a certain kind … manly those that show how a product works, like a CMS, a shopping cart etc. In such scenarios, a picture/video can can be worth a thousand words. With testimonials, meh, probably not so. And to be honest, audio only is even less appealing.
So it really boils down to how much people want/need your product, and how much convincing they need. I’ve decided over time that advertising only works for some products, and it’s probably the same for video.
Here is a “slice of Americana” that you might appreciate if you have a deep voice…
Ha ha, 
. Too much high culture there for me. 
Same here. Whether professionally made or not, no one would get me to click on a testimonial video.
I’m not against video per se. In fact, I’ve seen a design firm (quite a popular one) doing videos of their work space. They even filmed a semi-professional video, where one of the co-workers had a cam installed on their bike and the video showed this co-worker riding from his home all the way to the design firm. That was quite a nice idea and the way it was made did transport a powerful message.
So, I’d say some self-promotional videos can work, if the execution is creative.
Indeed—creativity is the key. Something that is interesting, quirky or surprising, that makes you want to see more, can be quite effective.
Perhaps someone could run a poll in a thread to get a guesstimate of what people think of video/audio testimonials on a website and whether they would watch/listen to them. My gut feeling is that the vast majority would say they would not watch and/or listen to a testimonial on a website whose main purpose is not to get people to watch videos in general.
If the testimonial was on something like youtube, then that might be different because people go to youtube type sites to actually watch videos.
Personally, I see testimonials (written, video, audio) that can’t be verified by a visitor as parasites on a web page
Wow!!! I am really surprised by your guys’ mindsets…
Ha ha,
Ha ha! I told you I was embarrassed to have mentioned it after watching clips I haven’t seen in over 30 years!!! Oh well?!
Debbie
So you didn’t like any of the videos in Post #6??
Debbie
We’re guys - we build and make things and occasionally break them as well 
Most blokes will watch a “How to…” video if it’s something that interests them. But watch someone on a video blabber on about how good something is without being able to verify it, NO WAY!! :). Then again :scratch:, it might depend on how scantily clad the interviewer/interviewee are 
I’m not a guy…
This is called market research. Mind you, you’d be better off running these questions by your potential market/audience to get a real sense of how effective this would be. (Polling a bunch of cranky web developers is probably not your best option. )
[ot][SIZE=1]
There was a discussion about this a few years ago. The consensus was that “guys” applies to men an women as a group, but “guy” is just for males. [/SIZE][/ot]
[ot]
It’s another Americanism.
“Guys” is the same as “You all” or “Y’all” or “You’ens” depending on where you are in the U.S.
I know you are a female, Kohutek. 
Debbie[/ot]
Quality-wise the videos are good, but they’re neither interesting nor compelling. If I wanted to get an idea about a University, I’d want to read up on it, the study plans, the courses, modules, educational staff and so on. I certainly wouldn’t want to know what one or two students think of the University because, a) I don’t know who these people are and what they value, b) Just because others like it doesn’t mean that I would, and, c) how would I know what they say is actually true? It looks like an ad, feels like an ad, and it is an ad. And ads very rarely are persuasive or convincing to me, minus one or two exceptions, perhaps.
I’m not against video at all, but testimonial videos just aren’t something I’d want to watch.
[ot]
That’s ok
‘guys’ can mean both men and women collectively or just the men in a group of men and women.[/ot]
Off Topic:
Ok, but blokes? That’s exclusively addressing males, isn’t it? Why can’t learning ever end? Not that I’d want it to…but geesh
[ot]
Yes, “blokes” is just for males. But don’t worry about learning Australian slang. It’s not worth your time. ;)[/ot]
[ot]
I don’t see what you are complaining about.
If you’re not a bloke or a guy, then I wasn’t including you at all :)[/ot]
Off Topic:
The term bloke is Australian slang? I didn’t know that, either.
Off Topic:
So you consider asking what certain terminology means complaining? That’s strange. I was curious, simply curious.
[ot]
ok, my bad :bawling:.
Sometimes it’s not easy to interpret correctly the tone of a post :([/ot]