The Great Wall of China: “I don’t really see the hype in this place…it’s really run down and old. No USB plug-ins or outlets anywhere.”

Air mattress on Amazon: “I ordered this when I was drunk because I thought it was a giant ice cream sandwich. It’s not.”

Gladiator starring Russell Crowe: “You could get the same effect of watching this movie by playing Enya at full volume all the while stabbing your leg with a fork.”

Online reviews truly show us humanity at its most endearing, most creative, and most honest.

We live in a world where we’re constantly bombarded with advertising and marketing. One market research firm estimates that the average urban human sees 5,000 ad messages a day (compared to 2,000 thirty years ago).

When we have to face so much marketing in every flavor — everything from Dove and Snickers appropriating feminism to all the Instagram influencers touting the latest body scrub, teeth whitening treatment, and pair of sunglasses — it’s not hard to understand why we seek out and value opinions from real (and unpaid) humans more than ever. That’s why reviews mean so much — even if, sure, they’re a bit outlandish — and why we trust them.

This is something Patrick Tedjamulia realized, and it’s what powers his passion for his Utah-based company, VideoPeel.

“I started VideoPeel because I want to help businesses and consumers find the truth,” Mr. Tedjamulia, CEO and co-founder of the company, says. “One of the things I learned from my time at Google and Facebook, is that consumers wish they could learn about products and services from real people like them instead of from businesses. Businesses wish they could educate their potential buyers and clients more authentically to improve consumer trust.”

You might be thinking, “Wait a minute, aren’t there already enough reviews startups out there?” Don’t worry — Mr. Tedjamulia and his cofounders, Ben and Maria, have a very specific focus: video reviews.

“At Facebook, I was in charge of improving Facebook’s Ad Tools (like Ads Manager) to meet the needs of all advertisers. It was clear that businesses needed more video content, and that consumers wanted to learn about products and services from real people like them, instead of branded ads with anonymous actors that followed them around,” explains Mr. Tedjamulia. “VideoPeel is a video platform for businesses to collect, analyze, and publish user-generated video reviews, video testimonials, and video feedback from customers or prospects.”

And so far, the concept seems to be working. According to VideoPeel’s stats, they’re helping brands increase conversions by up to 80% on their own websites, Amazon listings, and crowdfunding campaign pages. A couple of those include EcoFlow Tech, who grew their Amazon sales by 500%, and Protalus, who grew their business by 300%. They also have hundreds of other clients, thanks to their direct feed into Amazon, a partnership with Indiegogo, and integrations into Facebook and YouTube.

Those partnerships are a part of VideoPeel’s secret sauce, but there’s also a lot more built directly into the platform.

“We’re better than other video review alternatives for several reasons. One is our technology, ease of use, and methods for requesting and collecting video testimonials. Our clients have tried to collect video testimonials with other solutions in the past and had no luck, after using us, we’re collecting dozens and even hundreds of videos for them,” Mr. Tedjamulia says. “We go beyond video collection, we can edit videos at scale to any format including Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, LinkedIn, and other video distribution channels. And we provide enterprise-level support and strategy to optimize video collection and publishing that drives results.”

As you can imagine, all that work with video and optimization isn’t easy, so VideoPeel is using AI and machine learning to analyze all that video and pull insights. They’re using a few of Amazon’s machine learning services to do it, and Amazon has been so excited about it that they sent a team of people to film a video case study. (That’s when you know you’re a big deal — when Amazon is excited about what you’re doing.)

Keep your eyes on Mr. Tedjamulia, his cofounders, and VideoPeel, and get ready to see more genuine humans in your Amazon searches and Facebook marketing ads. And maybe one day, we’ll also get to see and hear — not just read — someone say, “I have developed love feelings for this little robot. I’m trying to get it to date my iPhone,” about their Roomba.

VideoPeel Uses Video Reviews To Save Marketing was originally published on Silicon Slopes