I would say both. The point is not about the format but how authentic the review is. IMO social capital is a signal that comes from genuine, credible reviews.

I'd say it really depends on the case. When choosing what kind of referral or review would be the best, i'd think about at least these things: - Who is it aimed for? - Where will it be shared? - In what kind of situation do you expect the reader/ viewer to be when they are running into them? - How much information the viewer has about the subject beforehand? - Do you aim to build trust or raise the level of understanding of the product? and so on. In my opinion combining video reviews text referrals like articles and shorter quote referrals would be most effective in most cases.

@elena_cirera I checked out @vidmonials and it looks pretty cool. I wonder if you could use some mix of technologies to record a video testimonial and then present short form of autogenerated text through NLP that could be read as a teaser to watch the video. I see value in both text and video. In fact, there is deep evidence that they both perform differently and can even out perform one another depending on the context of the message. Video is powerful, but don't overlook text entirely.

For me, it depends. Video reviews hosted on websites often load incredibly slow and don't have captions. I rarely listen to videos. For clothing purchases, I prefer video, but those reviews are rare. If clothing websites made it easier to leave video reviews, I think more people would leave them.

I think it depends. For a smartphone, car, laptop, headphones, and other larger purchases, I'd say a video for sure. If it's just something daft like a keyboard, mouse, smart home device, etc, a written review is easier as it's much quicker to skim through. Depends on whether you need to see what the product's like to use all the time in detail, or just a quick "does it work?"

@elena_cirera This is from an older NEC study and broadly referred to. Below are a couple places you can find it. Hope that helps. https://www.fastcompany.com/3035... https://www.motocms.com/blog/en/....

It depends on several factors. What are you covering, target audience, and more? In general, I would go for text review to get a surface idea and later on video content if I find anything interesting. So, If I am already developing a video I would at least provide a summary in the text version.

I always read and appreciate text reviews. But it is found that 88% of consumers trust video reviews because they are hard to fake.

Yes, but only if they dive right in and get to the point immediately. No one sits and reads an entire long review -- they scan for keywords and the most important parts. Video reviews should be quick and to the point.

Most definitely, and that's because of two major reasons: 1. Videos can provide quick product demonstrations. In the case of a service review, viewers get to see a real and authentic client on camera. 2. Unlike text reviews, videos take lesser time and energy of a viewer while watching.

yes I think they are better than reading content that can be forged by anyone while at least video review shows us what the real product is.

Videos reviews are really powerful, but it also depends on the quality of the review. You can get a lot of text reviews from your customers for free and then just choose to use the best ones. On the video side you probably have to pay for each video (discount, gift card, charity, etc..) and even then you don't know what the quality will be.

Yes. Problem is that it's difficult to get a great video review. There's a myriad of things that can go wrong with the video review. - Quality - Sound - Who is doing the reviewing - What the reviewer says - How the reviewer say things (are they charismatic?) - Length - Recording scene/atmosphere - Charisma These are just some of the major variables that effect a good video. You can't really ensure all these things be perfect. In fact, forcing a script to control what the reviewer says can make the whole thing sound disingenuous. This is why picking the right reviewer is important because a cheerleader for your product will say the right things and speak the way other people like them speak.

Yes, for sure. It helps to save a lot of time, so for the gen-Z, it is a must. Also, visualization is usually important. Even if it is just a talking person in the video, you can see the real emotions and that makes more sense. The only advantage of the text review is its simplicity and no need for a quiet place or headphones.

I'd say text because I can skim through it quickly; whereas video I tend to fast forward (especially if it's a long review) and might skip an interesting point the person is saying.

I think either work equally well. Depends wholly upon the skills of the reviewer - I have found some amazon reviews from customers to be more effective, than short video reviews by professionals, it's all about how you put forth your points.

Video reviews are certainly more engaging. If it's aided with text/supers it helps when for one reason or another we don't want to turn on the audio.

It depends on where you publish your reviews. I'd prefer to put a few clients' reviews into one video, easier for users to digest.

Elena, I do prefer video because let's say I have the chance to easily explain what I am seeing in the moment and the way I am feeling about something. It works perfectly to explain to our UX/UI designer a new feature for example.

For me, video works better because you can also see/hear a person’s emotional state and that builds trust.