Gong Makes Remote Customer Testimonials Useful and Fun

Social proof like customer testimonials are highly effective and powerful. In fact, 97% of B2B customers cited testimonials and peer recommendations as the most reliable type of content.

But all social proof content is not created equal. Boring, overly-scripted testimonials are the norm in the B2B space and viewers tune them out, whereas entertaining and educational content grips the audience.

In our Testimonial Teardown series, we pick examples of content featuring customers (like case studies and testimonial videos) and break down how they did it. We cover the good, the amazing, and the needs improvement so you can steal the best ideas and figure out how to apply them to your own marketing.

This week: Gong 

‍(Yes, the Gong that just raised $200M at a $2B valuation)

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Gong hasn’t let the Pandemic stop them from producing social-proof customer videos.

Here’s what Gong is doing right in this entertaining and engaging customer interview with Matthew Grattan VP of Sales at TaxJar:

‍Humanize the Technical ‍

A great testimonial doesn't overload the viewer with features and facts. Instead, it brings results to life through human stories.

The Gong video starts with a concrete problem: TaxJar is seeing a reduction in inbound leads. It then immediately uses a Nolan Ryan baseball analogy to explain how Gong solves this problem. Gong continues to effectively humanize their tech product throughout the testimonial video.

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Natural language

This video doesn’t drown the viewers in boring business jargon. They also don’t talk down to the audience or use a flurry of acronyms, which is common in B2B content. Instead they treat their viewers like (smart) humans, using engaging story-telling tactics and practical examples.

People-first

From the very beginning of the video, Gong doesn't sell a product, but tells a story. This keeps the viewer engaged instead of feeling sold to. By focusing ontheir customer, TaxJar, and its employees, the video also humanizes their AI product. They focus on how Gong helps people, and ultimately the company, grow.

Benefits not features

You've heard this one before. Gong is a software product, but they spend zero time harping on the AI in this video. Instead, they focus on how their AI makes companies better by helping the employees grow as (sales) people. The video shows how they find and remedy inevitable human mistakes and provide personal feedback to foster transparency. 

Engage and Delight

‍No one wants to waste resources on creating content that will ultimately bore the viewer. Testimonials should always be entertaining and created with the audience in mind.

Using storytelling techniques keeps this video not-boring and entertaining. While many B2B videos can feel like glorified whitepapers, this video changes things up in a lot of fun, creative ways.  

Visual interest

The format is constantly changing in this video, which helps keep the audiences’ interest. They also use a person on camera, animated subtitles, bright colors, text on screen, baseball shots as b-roll footage, and product screenshots –– all in 2 minutes and 14 seconds. 

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Narrow focus 

This video doesn’t try to cover everything. (And we’re thankful for that –– nobody wants to sit through a 10-15 minute testimonial video!) Instead, they stick to the main points to keep the audiences’ focus throughout the entire video. It’s always best to keep them wanting more vs. boring your audience. 

Instant hook

This customer video jumps right in, wasting no time with an introduction, an opening logo animation or small talk. Gong’s rethinking of the traditional video opener is a fresh take on traditional openers and we’re a big fan.

Non-cheesy music

Check.

‍Persuade

Your testimonial should always entice the viewers to learn more. There should always be a call to action at the end. While you should aim to entertain, it’s not the end goal. 

Gong’s video convinces the viewer that "there's a there there" so that they want to learn more. 

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Credible expert

Gong uses a TaxJar VP to highlight how this product works. Believable!

Who has high conviction

It’s obvious in this video that TaxJar’s Matthew Grattan is a huge fan of Gong. In fact, he specifically says that it’s his sales team's favorite software to use. This conviction and sentiment is infectious and leaves the viewers convinced and motivated to take action. 

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Connection to company’s larger goals

In this video, Gong clearly connects their software to their customer's long-term goals. They highlight how Gong's platform ultimately grows people, complements a culture of communication and trust, and brings in more revenue. 

So, that’s a lot of stuff done really well.

But, does this video have any room for improvement?

We think two things could make this video pack even more of a punch.

Use a Tool to Record Better Quality Video 

The lighting on Matthew is uneven, and he's pretty grainy. Poor image quality can detract and distract. Plus, you want to highlight your customers in the best possible (literal) light. (We've got a tool to capture remote interviews in 5x the quality of Zoom and there are a few others out there.)

Include a Quantitative Result

The story and qualitative results are great here, but we'd love to see one specific quantitative result for credibility. How many new leads did Tax Jar drive post-Gong, or how many errors did they catch last month?

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Laudable is on the hunt for new customer testimonial videos to review. Want our feedback on a piece of content? Send it to us at hello@getlaudable.com.