Import videos from YouTube
Paste a YouTube link to add a customer's video as a testimonial that plays in YouTube's own player on your widgets and Wall of Love.
When a customer has talked about you in a YouTube video, you can add that video as a testimonial by pasting its link. ReTestimonial doesn't copy the video file: it saves the link with the video's title and thumbnail, and plays the video in YouTube's own player wherever you show it. Importing from YouTube works on every plan.
Before you start
Copy the video's link on YouTube: click Share under the video, then Copy. To have the video start at a particular moment, tick Start at and enter the time before you copy. YouTube explains this in Share videos and channels.
ReTestimonial accepts these YouTube links:
- a watch link, like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=followed by the video's ID; - the short
https://youtu.be/link that Share copies; - a Shorts link,
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/…; - a live link,
https://www.youtube.com/live/…; - a YouTube Music link,
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=….
Extra text after the video's ID, such as a start time, is fine. Paste the whole link, starting with https://. A link to a channel or a playlist page doesn't work: each import is one video.
Open Media Platforms
In your project, open Media Platforms under Collect in the sidebar. The Video tab opens first. Click Import Video.
Preview the video
Paste the link into Video or Audio URL and click Preview. ReTestimonial fetches the video's title and thumbnail from YouTube and shows them with a YouTube badge. A Short also gets a YouTube Short label.
Add the customer's details
ReTestimonial doesn't take the channel name from YouTube, so type the name of the customer in the video in Customer Name; it's required. You can also fill in Email (optional), Company (optional), Job Title (optional) and Rating (optional).
Choose a status and import
Status starts at Pending, so the video waits in your inbox until you approve it. Choose Approved to skip that.
Tick Approve & add to Wall of Love to approve it and add it to your project's default Wall of Love in one go; Status switches to Approved when you tick it. If the project has no default Wall of Love yet, the video is still imported and approved, and a message says it wasn't added to a wall.
Click Import Video. You see Testimonial imported successfully!
What comes in from YouTube
- The video's title. It's shown on the video's card and also saved as the testimonial's text.
- The video's thumbnail.
- The link to the video, with its start time if the link has one.
ReTestimonial doesn't bring in the channel name, the video's length or a transcript.
Start (sec) and End (sec) in the dialog set where the video starts and stops, in whole seconds, wherever it plays: your widgets, your Wall of Love, its share page and the Media Platforms page. Leave them empty to play the whole video, or from the time in the link if you copied it with Start at. They're set when you import: to change them later, delete the testimonial and import the video again.
After the import
- The video appears on the Video tab of Media Platforms. Click YouTube to see only your YouTube videos, or search by title, content or name. It's also in your inbox, under Approved or Pending, and under All Imports in the sidebar.
- To change the title, thumbnail, customer details or rating, open the menu on the video's card and click Edit. View on YouTube, in the same menu, opens the video on YouTube.
- Each video can be imported once per project, whichever of its links you paste. Importing it again shows This video has already been imported to this project, and says when that testimonial is in Archived or Spam. To import it again, delete the existing testimonial first.
- Video analytics counts the video's plays in your widgets, but not watch time or completion: it plays in YouTube's own player. See Read your video analytics.
How it plays on your widgets and Wall of Love
An approved YouTube video can appear in your widgets and on your Wall of Love like any other video testimonial. It shows its thumbnail with a YouTube logo and a play button, and plays in YouTube's player on the card or in a pop-up, depending on the widget's or wall's settings. A Short keeps its portrait shape on your Wall of Love and when it plays in a pop-up.
The Video type's Highlight Reel style shows only videos that customers recorded or uploaded through ReTestimonial, so it leaves YouTube videos out.
The video stays on YouTube. If its owner deletes it or makes it private, it can't play on your site anymore.
If the import doesn't work
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| Please enter a full link starting with https:// | Part of the link is missing. Copy the whole link again, starting with https://. |
| Only HTTPS URLs are allowed | The link starts with http://. Change it to https://. |
| Unsupported link. Paste a YouTube, Vimeo, Loom, Wistia, Vidyard, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or SoundCloud link. | The link doesn't point to one video, for example a channel or playlist page. Open the video and copy its own link with Share. |
| This video is private, or its owner doesn't allow it to be embedded on other sites | YouTube wouldn't share the video: it's private, or its owner turned off embedding. Ask the owner to make it public and allow embedding, or choose another video. YouTube explains the options in Change video privacy settings. |
| Video not found - it may have been deleted or the URL is invalid | YouTube found no video at that link. Check the link, and that the video still exists. |
| We couldn't read this video. Check the link and try again., Request timed out, or a message starting Failed to fetch video data | ReTestimonial couldn't get the video's details from YouTube. Check the link, then try again in a moment. |
| Author name is required | Fill in Customer Name. |
| Too many requests. Please wait a moment and try again. | You can click Preview up to 30 times a minute and import up to 10 videos a minute. Wait a minute, then try again. |
Plan limits
A YouTube video is a link, so it counts toward the same limit as your written and audio testimonials, not toward your video testimonial limit: that one is for videos customers record or upload.
- Free: 10 written, audio and linked media testimonials across your workspace.
- Pro: unlimited.
- Premium: unlimited.
- Business: unlimited.
Archived, rejected and spam testimonials don't count. When you've reached the limit, the dialog tells you and the video isn't imported. Your plan's maximum video length applies only to videos customers record or upload, not to YouTube videos.
Only the workspace owner and teammates with the Admin role see Import Video. Everyone else on the project can still open the page and watch the videos.
Next steps
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Video and audio imports
Turn a video or podcast episode from YouTube, Vimeo, Loom, Spotify and four more sites into a testimonial by pasting its link.
Import videos from Vimeo
Paste a Vimeo video's link to add it as a video testimonial. It plays in Vimeo's own player in your widgets and on your Wall of Love.