📚 What You Will Learn Today:
Here's one of the simplest and most powerful Facebook ad tricks for a local business. You take a video of a happy customer saying nice things about you. You show it to people in your town. Then you show a special offer ONLY to the people who watched the whole thing. Those people already trust you, so they sign up at a much higher rate, and for a lot less money. This guide walks you through every step.
By the end of this guide, you will know:
- Why a testimonial video is the best "warm-up" ad you can run
- The 4-step plan: get the video, run it, find the watchers, retarget them
- How to build a "video viewers" audience inside Facebook
- What offer to show the watchers so they take the next step
- How to follow up fast so those warm leads actually book
🤔 First, Why Does This Work So Well?
Here's a simple truth: People don't buy from strangers. They buy from people they trust.
Most ads try to skip that step. A stranger sees your ad and you ask them to book a call right away. That's like walking up to someone at a party and asking them to lend you money. Too fast!
A testimonial video slows it down in a good way. First, the stranger hears a real customer say "these people are great." Now they're not a stranger anymore. They're a warm lead, someone who already has a good feeling about you. THEN you make your offer.
Imagine you're fishing. Most people throw a hook in the water and hope. This method is different. First you toss in some bait and watch where the fish gather. Then you drop your hook right in that spot. You're not fishing the whole lake anymore. You're fishing where you already know the fish are.
The Secret Part
Facebook keeps track of who watches your videos and for how long. You can build a list of only the people who watched most or all of your testimonial. Someone who watched a full 60-second video about your business is telling you something: "I'm interested." That's who you retarget.
📊 The 4-Step Plan
Four steps. The first three are the warm-up. The fourth is the payoff.
✅ The Steps
Get a Video Testimonial From a Happy Customer
Everything starts here. You need a real customer, on video, telling others how great you are. It doesn't need to be fancy. A phone video in good light works great. In fact, "real" beats "polished" for this.
How to Ask
Pick a customer who just said something nice to you. Right then, say: "That means a lot. Would you be up for saying that on a quick 30-second video? It helps other people feel okay about trying us." Most happy customers say yes.
What to Have Them Talk About
- Before: What was going on before they found you? What were they worried about?
- Why you: What made them pick you over someone else?
- After: How do they feel now? What's different?
- To a friend: "If a friend was thinking about it, what would you tell them?"
A martial arts school asked a mom whose son had been training for six months. Her video: "I was nervous he'd get hurt or hate it. The coaches were so patient with him. Now he asks to go. His confidence at school is totally different. Just come watch one class, you'll see." Thirty-eight seconds, shot on an iPhone in the lobby. It became their best ad for a year.
If you're a gym, med spa, or any health business, don't promise results in the video. No "I lost 30 pounds in a month." Keep it to how they feel: "I feel stronger," "I have more energy," "I actually look forward to going." Facebook rejects ads with big health claims, and so do a lot of viewers.
Share It With Your Fans, Then Run It as a Local Ad
First, post the video on your Facebook and Instagram pages like normal. Your current fans will like and comment, and that gives the video a nice warm start.
Then, turn it into a paid ad to reach people in your area who have never heard of you.
How to Set Up the Video Ad
- Create a campaign and pick a goal that's about watching. Facebook calls this "Engagement" with video views, or sometimes "Awareness." You are NOT asking for leads yet. You just want eyeballs.
- Target your local area: the town or a 10-to-15-mile circle around your business.
- Keep the audience broad. Don't over-target. Let the video do the sorting.
- Write short copy above the video: "Hear what Jenna thinks about her first 3 months at Riverside Fitness."
- Set a small budget, $5 to $10 a day. Video views are cheap.
Add captions to the video. Most people scroll with the sound off. If they can read what your customer is saying, they'll keep watching. Facebook can auto-generate captions for you, then you just fix any typos.
Find the People Who Watched the Whole Video
After your video ad has run for a week or two, go into the Audiences section of your Facebook ad account. This is where Facebook lets you build lists of people based on what they did.
How to Build the Audience
- Click "Create Audience" and choose "Custom Audience."
- Pick "Video" as the source.
- Choose how much they had to watch. You'll see options like 25%, 50%, 75% and 95%. Pick 75% or 95%. You want the people who stuck around, not the ones who scrolled past after three seconds.
- Select your testimonial video.
- Set the time window, usually the last 30 to 90 days.
- Name it something clear, like "Watched Jenna testimonial 75%."
That's it. Facebook will now keep this list updated by itself. Every new person who watches 75% of the video gets added automatically.
Think about it. Someone who watched 3 seconds was just scrolling. Someone who watched 45 seconds of a 60-second video about a dentist's office? That person has a toothache, or hates their current dentist, or just moved to town. They are very interested. That's who you want to talk to next.
Picking the "3-second view" option because it makes the audience bigger. Bigger is not better here. You want the small, warm group. A list of 400 people who watched the whole thing beats a list of 5,000 who barely glanced at it.
📊 Who Should You Retarget?
The green bar is small on purpose. Those are your warmest people.
Retarget ONLY the Watchers With an Offer
Now the fun part. You make a second ad, and you show it only to your "watched 75%" audience. This ad asks for the next step: book a consult, claim a trial, get a quote.
How to Set It Up
- Create a new campaign with the "Leads" goal.
- In the audience section, pick your "Watched Jenna testimonial 75%" custom audience. Nothing else.
- Use an Instant Form so people can sign up in two taps without leaving Facebook.
- Write copy that connects to the video: "You saw what Jenna said. Want to see for yourself? Grab a free week on us. Tap below and we'll text you to set it up."
- Budget: small. This audience is small, so $5 to $10 a day is plenty.
Good Offers by Business
- Med spa: "Free 15-minute consultation to talk through your options"
- Dentist: "New patient exam and cleaning special"
- Martial arts: "Two free classes for your child this week"
- Home services: "Free in-home estimate, no pressure"
- Realtor: "Free report on what your home could sell for"
- Gym or trainer: "Free week plus a 20-minute goal chat"
A med spa ran a client testimonial video to their city for two weeks at $8 a day. They built a 75%-viewer audience of a few thousand people. Then they ran a "free consultation" ad to only those people. Their cost per lead on that retargeting ad was roughly a third of what their regular cold ads cost, and the front desk said the people who came in "already felt like they knew us."
Use a photo or a still frame of the same customer from the video in your retargeting ad. The familiar face makes people stop. "Oh, that's the lady from the video." Familiar equals trusted.
Follow Up Within 5 Minutes
You did all this work to warm people up. Don't let them go cold at the last second. When someone fills out your form, they should get a text back within 5 minutes, every time, even at 9 pm on a Sunday.
Leads who hear back in 5 minutes book at a much higher rate than leads who hear back the next day. The only way to hit 5 minutes every time is to make it automatic.
What the Text Should Say
"Hi Marcus, this is Coach Dee from Riverside Fitness! Thanks for grabbing the free week. I've got a spot Tuesday at 6 pm or Saturday at 9 am for your first visit. Which one works?"
Then set up automatic follow-ups for day 1, day 3 and day 7 for anyone who doesn't answer. Stop the messages the moment they reply, and have a real person take over.
These retargeted leads are your best leads. They watched a whole video about you and then raised their hand. If you wait two days to call them, you've wasted the warmest lead you'll ever get.
Keep the Machine Running
Once this works, don't let it stop. Here's how to keep it going month after month.
- Collect a new testimonial every month. Different customers, different stories. A mom, a busy professional, a retiree. Different people see themselves in different stories.
- Keep the video ad running at a low daily budget. It's constantly adding warm people to your audience.
- Keep the retargeting ad running too. As new watchers join the audience, they see the offer automatically.
- Swap in the new video every month or two so people in your town don't get bored of the same face.
- Track your numbers: video views, size of your 75% audience, leads from the retargeting ad, how many booked, and how many showed up and paid. Count a sale on the day they paid.
Remember: The video ad and the retargeting ad are a team. One without the other doesn't work nearly as well. Run both, all the time.
📊 Cold Ad vs. Warm Retargeting Ad
Warm audiences are smaller, but they say yes far more often.
📝 Quick Summary
The Testimonial Retargeting Plan, In One Place
- Get a video from a happy customer: before, why you, after, advice to a friend.
- Post it, then run it as a local video ad with a small budget and captions.
- Build a Custom Audience in the Audiences section of people who watched 75% or more.
- Retarget only those people with a clear offer and an Instant Form.
- Text new leads within 5 minutes, automatically, then follow up on day 1, 3 and 7.
- Add a new testimonial every month and keep both ads running.
Remember: You're letting your happiest customers do the selling, and you're only asking for the sale from people who already listened. That's why it's cheaper and why the leads are better.
🎓 Your Action Plan
Week 1 — Get the video
- Ask two or three happy customers for a 30-to-60-second phone video
- Use the four prompts: before, why you, after, advice to a friend
- Add captions and post it to your page
- Set up automatic text follow-up so you're ready for leads
Week 2 — Run the video ad
- Launch a video views campaign to your town at $5 to $10 a day
- Keep the audience broad and let the video do the sorting
Week 3 — Build the audience and retarget
- Create a Custom Audience of 75% video viewers
- Launch a Leads campaign with an Instant Form, shown only to that audience
- Use the same customer's face in the ad image
Week 4 — Measure and repeat
- Write down views, audience size, leads, bookings and paid customers
- Ask the next happy customer for a video
- Keep both ads running and swap in the new video next month
You can retarget more than video watchers. Once this is working, build audiences of people who visited your website, engaged with your page, or opened your Instant Form but didn't finish. Show each group your offer. Warm people are always cheaper than cold ones.
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