Video Strategy
Customer case study videos
Plan a customer case study video around a genuine account, supportable results, clear permissions and an edit that preserves context.
A customer case study video should help a prospective buyer understand one customer’s situation, the work undertaken and the outcome that can be supported. Make clear whose experience it is and where that experience stops. One customer’s result is not a promise of the same result elsewhere.
Choose a case that answers a buyer’s question
Decide what the viewer needs to learn: how the service was introduced, what the customer had to do, or whether the approach suited an organisation like theirs. Pick a customer who can discuss that question with concrete examples and is willing to describe relevant difficulties or remaining limits.
Before filming, prepare a brief covering the viewer’s question, project scope, interview themes, possible claims, available footage, intended uses and people responsible for review. Leave the customer’s answers unwritten. Check that records are available for any result you hope to report; a positive relationship alone does not establish one.
Pros and cons of using customer case study videos
- ProsBuilds trust through real-world stories; helps prospects see relevance to their own situation; supports sales conversations with social proof.
- ConsRisk of misrepresentation if claims aren’t backed by evidence; privacy breaches if consent isn’t properly managed; outdated content can mislead if not reviewed.
Hand off claim verification
Decide what the finished video will assert before the edit treats a customer’s account, a recorded result or a piece of footage as support for a claim. The detailed classification and verification procedure for these materials sits in the supporting result classification and verification article.
For Australian promotional use, review the impression made by speech, pictures, captions and graphics together. The ACCC can require businesses to back up claims they make about their products or services, and it accepts reports about possible misleading or false claims.
Key regulatory and accessibility requirements
- ACCC claim verificationBusinesses must substantiate claims about products or services. The ACCC accepts reports of misleading or false advertising.
- OAIC privacy coveragePhotos and videos are personal information under the Privacy Act 1988 if identity is clear or reasonably identifiable.
- W3C captioning standardCaptions must include speaker identification and meaningful non-speech audio (e.g., sound effects).
- Transcript requirementA descriptive transcript includes visual details needed to understand the content, not just spoken words.
Interview and film for the account you can tell
Ask open questions about the starting situation, the choice, the work, observed changes and continuing constraints. Follow general answers with a request for an example, a date or the affected team. If a number comes up, note where its record may be found; the interview does not verify it.
Film the person whose experience matters, plus relevant work or surroundings where use has been agreed. A general office shot may provide context but cannot demonstrate an improvement. Check documents, screens and bystanders before recording. Keep the source of each proposed excerpt or factual graphic identifiable.
Hand off use permissions and review
Discuss intended placements and shorter or paid uses with the participant. Separately confirm who can permit use of the customer organisation’s name, branding, premises and records. An organisational contact may not speak for every identifiable person in the video.
Hand off the detailed approval procedure — reviewer roles, version records and how changes are returned — to the supporting approval article.
Consider privacy for identifiable people
The OAIC treats photos and videos as personal information under the Privacy Act 1988 when a person’s identity is clear or could reasonably be worked out. Privacy rights depend on the situation, so consider identifiable contributors and bystanders individually rather than assuming one organisational permission covers everyone.
The OAIC distinguishes material taken by an individual acting in a personal capacity, which the Privacy Act does not cover, from other situations. State or territory laws may also be relevant to photographing private activities without consent. Check whether the organisation arranged the filming or an individual acted in a personal capacity, and whether any state or territory law applies to private activities.
Publish and maintain a bounded example
Identify the customer, the part of its work covered and when the account applies. Put a material condition beside the claim it limits, and check the finished player and page when available.
Review the case if the service, figures, customer name or permission to use material changes. Remove or revise any result that can no longer be supported before reusing the video.
Make the video’s information accessible
W3C guidance says captions for prerecorded synchronised media provide text for the audio content. Captions should identify speakers and include meaningful non-speech information conveyed by sound, such as relevant sound effects, not just dialogue.
A transcript can provide another way to access the account. W3C describes a basic transcript as text for the speech and non-speech audio needed to understand the content; a descriptive transcript also includes visual information needed to understand it.
Make the transcript easy to find from the video. Where visual details carry meaning not available in the audio, include those details in a descriptive transcript so readers can follow the account without relying on the video image.
In this guide
- Preparing interview questions that produce specific answersUse open questions and focused follow-ups to record a customer’s real experience without scripting praise or guessing at results.
- Obtaining approval for a customer's on-camera statementsSeparate participant agreement, customer organisation permission, factual verification and final-cut approval for a case study video.
- Separating measured results from customer opinionsClassify customer opinions and measured results, check the data behind each figure, and avoid overstating what a case study proves.
- Editing a case story without manufacturing a success narrativeCheck interview joins, supporting footage, graphics, captions and short cuts against the customer’s account and evidence.
