Testimonial videos: how to make them honest and powerful

A testimonial video lets someone outside your communications team say what difference your work made. For an NGO, that may be a beneficiary testimonial from a farmer, a nurse or a young entrepreneur. For a company, it is usually a customer explaining a problem you solved. Either way, the power comes from the same source: a real person speaking about a real experience.

That is also why testimonials are fragile. Audiences can tell when a speaker is reciting lines, and advertising regulators expect testimonials to be genuine and not misleading. An impact video that overstates results, hides a paid relationship or edits someone's words into a new meaning damages trust in everything else you publish.

Start with the story you need to tell and then find the people who lived it. The Dóchas Guide to Ethical Communications asks organisations to enable individuals and communities to tell their own stories, to centre stories on the people seeking change, and to avoid representations that stereotype people, situations or places.¹

Look for range rather than one perfect speaker. A short film with a participant, a frontline worker and a local leader is more credible than one polished voice. Bond's ethical guidelines ask organisations to respect people's right to refuse to be photographed, filmed or interviewed, so treat every "no" as a normal answer and have more than one possible contributor in mind.²

Consent is the foundation of an honest testimonial. Dóchas says all content should be obtained with the full understanding, participation and permission of those featured, that consent must be meaningful, that people must be free from pressure and must not expect to benefit financially, and that they should be told they can withdraw consent at any time.¹

Bond's guidance adds that information must be clear and in a language contributors understand, and that people should know their images and stories could be seen by anyone, anywhere.² It suggests that content should usually stop being used after a set period, typically three to five years, unless you go back and ask again.² A Bond article on informed consent puts it simply: asking "can I take your photo" is not enough, and people should know how their images will be used and how long you will keep them.³

If your testimonial promotes a product or service, advertising rules apply. In the UK, the Committee of Advertising Practice says marketers must hold documentary evidence that a testimonial is genuine, must not use one without permission, and must ensure testimonials relate to the product advertised and are not presented out of context.⁴ Claims within a testimonial must not mislead.⁴

The US Federal Trade Commission takes a similar line. An endorsement must reflect the honest opinion of the endorser, and someone cannot talk about their experience with a product they have not tried.⁵ If a testimonial features an employee or relative, the ad is misleading unless that connection is made clear.⁵ The FTC also notes that phrases like "results not typical" do not cure a misleading impression: you need evidence that the results shown are typical, or a clear statement of what people can generally expect.⁵

Never script a testimonial. Ask open questions about what happened, what changed and what is still hard, then let people answer in their own language. Bond's guidelines warn interpreters not to probe for the information they think content teams want to hear.² If a contributor is more comfortable in Kinyarwanda, French or Swahili, interview in that language and subtitle it.

Film people in their own surroundings and doing their real work. Bond acknowledges that photographs and films are to some extent staged, and says they should replicate people's real circumstances.² Ask someone to repeat an everyday task for the camera if you need to, but do not invent a scene that is not part of their life.

• Ask what life was like before, what changed and why.
• Ask what has not changed, or what is still difficult.
• Ask what they would say to someone in their position.

Editing is where testimonials most often go wrong. Cutting a long answer is normal; joining two halves of different sentences to make a claim nobody made is not. Bond states that it is not acceptable to change an image, photograph or film in a way that changes its context or meaning.² The CAP guidance likewise treats misleading edits as unacceptable.⁴

Keep a simple log of which answer each clip comes from, so anyone can check a quote against the full recording. Use lower thirds to give people's names and roles accurately, and say if someone is a staff member or partner. Bond also recommends comprehensive captions that answer who, when, what, where and why, which is a useful rule for the description that accompanies a video online.²

Before publishing, show the finished film to the people in it. Bond's guidelines commit organisations to returning copies of finished content to contributors where possible, and to budgeting for this at the planning stage.² It is the best moment to catch a mistranslation or a detail someone now wants removed.

Make the video accessible. The W3C notes that captions give people who are Deaf and others who cannot hear the audio access to the content, and that automatically generated captions do not meet user needs unless they are confirmed to be fully accurate.⁶ Finally, record the consent period with each file, and review or retire testimonials when that period ends or when someone withdraws consent.

• Contributors chosen for their experience, not their polish
• Consent explained in their language, including use, duration and withdrawal
• Signed record of consent kept with the footage
• No scripted lines and no staged scenes outside their real life
• Staff, paid or partner relationships disclosed on screen
• Results shown are typical, or the usual outcome is stated
• Edits checked against the full answer for meaning
• Accurate captions and the finished film shared back