We emailed 1,500 customers asking for a video testimonial. My team hoped for 20. So I asked Jon how it performed. "Three testimonials. Two video testimonials." He said it's like pushing a boulder uphill. Jessica thinks people are just apprehensive about recording a video. And at this point we've emailed them pretty frequently. We had a goal of at least 10. We didn't reach it. So I made the call. We stop emailing our customers and asking for testimonials. An experiment that did not work out. The good news about experiments is we try, and if it doesn't work, we move on. Here's Plan B. Jon reminded me we already collected 30 to 40 really good video testimonials on site at Social Media Marketing World. Professionally shot. Good audio. My AI editor already edits this show. So I'm going to have it spin off a separate testimonial editor, train it, and hand the skill to my team. We start with three of the biggest names we have. While I'm trying to get 3,000 people to my conference, I'm still learning which ideas to kill. Would you have kept emailing? Reply "Yes" or tell me when you would have stopped 👇 Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #VideoTestimonials# #EmailMarketing#

We tested a testimonials tool. It didn't go so well. We just launched Senja to collect video testimonials from past attendees. Jon's bar: if we get 10, great. If we get 20, fantastic. Before the real ones come in, Melissa on our team recorded a test. Problem one: it wouldn't play. "Oh, it's buffering. That's weird." And we couldn't find the download button. Problem two: it's supposed to put both of her answers together into one video. It only downloaded two separate clips. "I thought you said it sewed them together." Problem three: its AI reel. It started mid-sentence with the word "Claude." At least we got a whole sentence. To be fair, those weren't real testimonials. Jessica's verdict: "For zero direction, it's not bad." And if the edit never works, Plan B already exists. Jon knows how to have Claude do it. As for the scoreboard: 949 to 950. We've got work to do. If you've ever picked a tool for the feature on the box, you know this feeling. What do you use to collect testimonials? Tell me below 👇 Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #RoadTo3000# #VideoTestimonials# #AIinMarketing#

What if we ask our best customers for a video testimonial and only five say yes? That's the question I put to my team. The testimonial form is done. Jessica updated it with the new copy. Jon's plan is to start small with last year's attendees, test the messages, then expand. So I asked what success looks like. Jon said send it to a thousand people and expect 10 or 20 at a minimum. Jessica hopes for at least 20 video testimonials. Jon thinks we'd get more than that. I think it's harder than they think. You're asking people to show up on video. Not everybody's willing to do that. Then I asked the other question. How do we go from having testimonials to actually using them? Jon had a fun fact. He took a one minute and 45 second testimonial from one of our attendees, told Claude what he wanted, and it came back with a 29-second video. "It looked like it was done by a video editor." It even moved her introduction to the front and made a vertical version. Next step: the emails go out to last year's All Access customers. If you've ever asked a customer for a testimonial, you know the gap between people who love you and people who'll say it on camera. Would you record one? Tell me in the comments, starting with "I'd..." 👇 Press Start: The Road to 3,000. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #RoadTo3000# #VideoTestimonials# #AIinMarketing#

Would you record a video testimonial for a conference? Or bail the second you saw the record button? My team built a way to collect video testimonials from past Social Media Marketing World attendees. Jon and Jessica set it up in Senja and used Claude for the messaging. Really simple. Then I walked through it like a customer would. And I found the holes. The first screen says "record your testimonial." My gut says people who aren't camera ready bail right there. The next page asks people to introduce themselves, but doesn't tell them how. If you don't give people specifics, they're not going to do what you want them to do. You only get one shot to make a good impression. And there are two videos, not one. Nobody's told. So they'll make the first one perfect and walk away. Jessica hit record to show me how it works, and functionally it's really cool. It's just not 100% there on the message yet. So it went back to Jon and Jessica to dial in the words. Drum roll, please. The number we're at right now: 949. If you've ever asked customers for a testimonial, what actually got them to do it? Tell me in the comments, starting with "I'd..." Press Start: The Road to 3,000. When the words are fixed, I'll show you the before and after. #SocialMediaExaminer# #SMMW27# #RoadTo3000# #VideoTestimonials#