Has your company had difficulty sourcing reviews at customer events? Anyone who’s attended a large-scale event knows the trade show floor can be chaotic. With conference attendees usually following a daily agenda, they’re often in a rush to get to the next session. That said, it can be difficult to get a user to sit down and write a review. This is where video reviews come into play.  

Before taking a deep dive into how your company can leverage video reviews at events, let’s talk about the easiest way to get them—TrustRadius Event Support. Our event strategy is simple—we supply the review equipment (including a number of laptops) and send two team members on-site who take charge in engaging with the audience, identifying product users, and asking them to complete a review in the moment with either a video review or a written review. You can go about the event without worry knowing your review sourcing is getting done.

Once one of your product users is found, we ask them if they have a little time for us to collect their feedback. In return they’ll receive a digital gift card, plus whatever swag items we’re giving away on-site. Most of the time, attendees are sold when they hear this. However, there will occasionally be someone who’s in a rush or a bit impatient. They see our laptop setup and the log-in screen and change their mind. In this case, we let them know that a computer review is optional and leaving a video review takes half the time, which is far more appealing to those in a rush.  

Aside from asking for consent for video usage, the video reviews collected are identical in format to our written reviews, as we ask the same questions in the same order. But, while a written review can sometimes take 15-20 minutes to complete, an interview format reduces this time by half, taking an average of 6-10 minutes. 

Video reviewers don’t have a ton of time to think about their answer, so their response is more natural and off the cuff, often including personal stories regarding their relationship with the product as it functions in their workplace. For this reason, video reviewers also tend to be more verbose in their answers. While a typical written review on TrustRadius is an average of 300 words, video reviews average about 400. For our paying customers, that provides tons of great quotes to work with from users who love the product. 

Check out some of the video reviews we’ve collected for our customers across a multitude of events:

Are you wondering how willing people are to be recorded on camera and what happens if they’re a bit camera shy? This is something we consider before hitting “record,” and we always discuss it with the reviewer. If they don’t consent for us to use the recording in video format, we’re still able to use the transcript to create a text review for our site. From there, the reviewer can even choose to be anonymous. However, if the reviewer is ok with us using the footage, we provide it to the vendor to be used as they see fit in sales and marketing.

In short, video reviews are meant to be more convenient for conference attendees since the process moves faster, and when offered, they provide even more great content than only written formats would. 

Another bonus vendors have found is that because all video reviews are transcribed to text, they count toward awards. Our awards program runs throughout the year, with the two flagship awards being Top Rated and Best of. Both require a minimum of 10 new or refreshed reviews per product in order to qualify. Having our team attend your next event will help you meet that qualification fast, as we typically see around 5-10% of attendees convert to leave a review.

If you’re wondering how TrustRadius Event Support has worked for others, I recently had a great conversation with Lauren Rappold, Senior Marketing Programs Manager at Apptio, an IBM Company; and Jenna Feldman, Customer Advocacy Marketing Manager at AlphaSense, about their experiences. You can watch it here, and hear their advice to vendors who are on the fence about working with us at events.

As someone who’s been to a number of events within the last few years, I can attest that our team is flexible and more than willing to work with the space you have (or don’t have). In fact, though video reviews are great anywhere, they’re especially ideal when space is limited. Our setup consists of an iPad with a portable tripod stand that only takes up a few feet. It can be set up at the edge of your booth, limiting our footprint so you can maximize your space. 

TrustRadius is here to support your event, wherever it is in the world. We’ve participated in tons of domestic events across the U.S., as well as overseas in Australia and Europe—and yes, translation services are available. To learn more about TrustRadius Event Support and how our team can help, please fill out this form.