When you think of testimonials, marketing may be the first department that comes to mind. But as showcasing company culture becomes more important to HR and employee experience teams, demand for employee testimonials is increasing.
We’re big advocates of it ourselves, and love using testimonials to show behind the scenes glimpses of what it’s like to work at Vouch, like below.
But uncovering the right information is key. Asking your employees to share a general testimonial about your company might not deliver the specific insights you were after. Plus an unstructured testimonial request can spark a mind blank in even the most enthusiastic of employees, sending it straight to the bottom of their to-do lists.
The answer is a short, but thorough, list of questions that will uncover the magic of working at your company and deliver the kind of video testimonial you need.
Why should you ask your employees for a video testimonial?
Testimonial videos are the best way of giving people an idea of what it’s like to work at your company. If you are investing in a great employee experience, testimonial videos are the perfect way to showcase that. They bring the adage ‘show, don’t tell’ to life.
You could use the videos on your ‘about us’ page, ‘careers’ page or your recruitment platforms. They also make engaging social posts, helping you widen your net and attract more top talent.
Ultimately your employees are your customers, and sharing their real story of someone that works within your organization, in their own words, is incredibly powerful.
Five testimonials questions to ask your employees
1. Please could you introduce yourself, your role, and tell us how long you have been working at [company name]?
This simple question does two things. Firstly, it adds context and credibility. It introduces your employee as a real person and gives them a chance to share if they are a long-serving employee.
Secondly, it helps to warm them up on camera. An easy question gets them in the flow so they are ready to confidently answer the rest!
2. What's the best thing about working at [company name]?
Time to uncover the magic. Give your employee space to talk about the thing they love the most about working at your company. It’s likely to be their most animated, enthusiastic answer - employee testimonial gold!
3. What has surprised you most about working at [company name]?
If they didn’t expect it, it’s likely a prospective employee wouldn’t either. Uncovering something unusual or unexpected can help your video testimonial - and company - really stand out. Plus it could provide an insight that even you didn’t realize!
4. How does your current job compare to previous jobs you’ve had?
No need to name names or bash the competition, but giving your employees a chance to say what’s different, and hopefully better, than their previous roles makes for a nice point of comparison.
5. What advice would you give to new recruits?
These answers will be dual purpose. Firstly they’ll give prospective applicants an idea of what to expect, with some friendly, welcoming advice. Secondly, they’ll provide content for video compilations that can be sent to every new recruit on their first day. We do this at Vouch, so they get to see every team member, even if it’s not face-to-face.
Steal these five questions for your own employee testimonial campaign
Select them from Vouch's question template library to get your campaign up and running in just a couple of clicks.
Tips for asking your employees for a video testimonial
- Set a deadline
Let your team know when you need responses, so it doesn’t slip off their radar. If you’re using Vouch, you can suggest they use the calendar integration, so they can schedule their recording for later, or make use of our auto reminders. Either way, make it a realistic deadline. Not everyone will be camera-ready immediately!
- Set some questions as optional
If some of your questions are ‘nice to haves’, then mark them as optional. Letting people move on if they don’t have anything to say boosts your response rate and can be particularly helpful if you’re asking a long list of questions.
- Include all levels in the business
You’re likely to be hiring for lots of different positions, so give a varied perspective of what it’s like to work at your company. Send a video request to everyone, from your CEO to your intern, the oldest serving member of the team and the newest. Each will be able to offer you a different, and valuable, insight.
- Compile a Playlist to showcase your best answers
If you’re asking everyone the same questions, showing all of the answers side-by-side makes for an engaging edit. On Vouch we call this a Playlist. They take just minutes to make and you can share them on your website with an embed, download and post on social media, or host on a dedicated Playlink.
If you’re ready to start sharing your company culture with the world, jump into Vouch and access all of the tools that make capturing employee testimonials easy.
