{"id":6222,"date":"2017-07-28T10:32:02","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T09:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insideintercom.io\/?p=6222"},"modified":"2020-07-30T12:57:53","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T11:57:53","slug":"video-is-king-diy-screencasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intercom.com\/blog\/video-is-king-diy-screencasts\/","title":{"rendered":"How to bolster customer onboarding with video"},"content":{"rendered":"

Onboarding screencasts are the perfect way to show off your product, and set your new users up for success.<\/p>\n

The benefits will be clear as soon as you start \u2013 you\u2019ll see a reduction in customer queries, new customers will better understand your product, and your product launches will pack a bigger punch.<\/p>\n

Creating screencasts (a video recording of on-screen actions accompanied by a narration) is often labeled as too hard or too time consuming. It\u2019s not. It\u2019s something you can do.<\/p>\n

We get asked regularly about our onboarding screencasts and what tools and techniques we use to create them. In this post I\u2019ll try and share some of the knowledge we\u2019ve built up over the last year of making videos at Intercom.<\/p>\n

Five reasons why video content is king<\/h3>\n
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  1. You can simultaneously show and tell with video. Ideas are communicated and comprehended quicker.<\/li>\n
  2. Humans are lazy. Rather than reading reams of text, we prefer to be spoon-fed an idea.<\/li>\n
  3. Your customer success team will get less questions about topics that you\u2019ve made videos about.<\/li>\n
  4. When you do get customer support questions video makes answering them quicker and more efficient. Rather than having a long back and forth with a customer to explain an issue and to clarify your instructions, you can just link them up to the video. Job done.<\/li>\n
  5. The cost of video production has tumbled. The tools and equipment are now so cheap, that the biggest investment is the time it takes to familiarize yourself with the software.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Here are my tips for creating great-looking customer onboarding screencasts.<\/p>\n

    1. Before you record anything<\/h2>\n

    Don\u2019t even think of recording any video until you get these steps nailed.<\/p>\n

    Product knowledge first. Video expertise second.<\/h3>\n

    I\u2019ve seen it a million times; product people stressing over who they can hire to make their video for them. That\u2019s a bad place to start. All that time you\u2019ll spend bringing a production company up-to-speed on your product, your ideas, your brand, would be better spent editing a video and scripting your next one.<\/p>\n

    If I had only one piece of advice to anyone creating a customer onboarding screencast it\u2019s you need to have product knowledge first, video expertise second. So do them in-house. Sure, you\u2019re busy. Everyone\u2019s busy. But you have intimate knowledge of your product, your company culture and the way you communicate with customers, like nobody else. And although it\u2019s taken a long time to build up this knowledge, learning the basic editing skills you need to create a screencast will take far less time. Take<\/a> these<\/a> three<\/a> examples of screencasts that didn\u2019t require anything more than a few hours work, some very basic editing, and a well thought-out script. They\u2019re rough and ready, yet totally adequate \u2013 and that\u2019s all you need for a successful onboarding screencast.<\/p>\n

    Do nothing until you\u2019ve written your script<\/h3>\n

    Get a page and draw a line down the centre. In one column will be the spoken word and in the other will be a text description of what will be on screen at that point.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    A script will keep your language concise. It forms the backbone of your video. Without it you\u2019re wasting your time. You\u2019re not focused and there\u2019s no structure. Off-the-cuff presentations are harder to edit, and you\u2019ll spend multiple takes trying to get it right. You\u2019ll probably forget stuff too. A solid script helps ensure you\u2019re including all the key sections, as well as helping you refine your language and work faster.<\/p>\n

    Share the script with someone in your team before you start shooting your video. Changes here are free, so make as many as you need. There\u2019s nothing worse than being just about to publish the video and someone who hasn\u2019t seen the script comes in with some sweeping change. Share it early, get feedback, iterate fast.<\/p>\n

    Keep it short, keep it focused.<\/h3>\n

    How many of those irritating YouTube tutorials<\/a> have you abandoned because they’re just too long and slow? If any of our videos are ever over two minutes long, there better be a good reason for it. We generally aim<\/a> for two minutes max.<\/p>\n

    Your viewers are impatient. They\u2019ll click somewhere else if you don\u2019t get to the point and give them the information they were promised. Keep your viewers engaged with these three simple rules:<\/p>\n

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    1. Communicate one main concept per video.<\/li>\n
    2. Get to the point immediately.<\/li>\n
    3. Avoid using jargon or any fluff whatsoever.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Learn From the Experts<\/h3>\n

      Wistia<\/a> (an Intercom customer) offers two valuable services; one is their great video hosting service which we use and love, but the other is its awesome blog<\/a>. I\u2019m always\u00a0pointing people to its posts which have helped me so much in the past. Posts such as this one about using live footage in your screencasts<\/a>, or this one on shooting your videos with an iPhone<\/a>, or this one on making better help videos<\/a> are invaluable as you get to grips with video.<\/p>\n

      2. Shooting your screencast<\/h2>\n

      Now<\/em> you can start recording.<\/p>\n

      Don\u2019t be scared of \u201cvideo\u201d. Start now.<\/h3>\n

      Traditional video editing software can be pretty complicated. But screencasting software is different, and complicated it is not. There are a few go-to screencasting tools out there such as Screenflow<\/a>, but the one I\u2019m most familiar with is Camtasia<\/a>. Camtasia is a user-friendly, lightweight tool that’s purpose built for product screencasts and has a ton of help videos<\/a> to get you started. Sure, shooting and editing with Camtasia takes some practice, but my advice is to give it two uninterrupted hours, and you\u2019ll have explored and understood the entire interface.<\/p>\n

      For example, here\u2019s how easy it is to add a zoom effect to highlight a piece of your product.
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