Match Trade, one of the internet barter websites catering to direct trades between consumers, released a how-to video today that explains how their site works. The video is put together well, the voice over is nice, the explanation is good, and I take no exception to the video itself. It’s a good video.
My only critique is a critique for the software. And it is also a critique for any software. If you have to explain how your site works in order for people to use it, then you need to work on your user experience. If you think about the most popular software in the world, which would arguably be the software powering iPod devices or Windows, neither of them need much explanation. You get in, you click buttons, and things happen. Windows probably needs more explanation, but I have seen videos of two year olds learning to use an iPod in 30 seconds. And this is the benchmark any software provider should aim for. If your users need a video to figure out how to use your software, then you need to go back and re-engineer. BUT sometimes you make videos for reasons other than to help people use your software. Sometimes it is just for marketing.
Hopefully that’s the case with this video…
Tyler - totally disagree. We are in the process of creating videos now for brokers, owners and members using the Barter21 software. I kinda think our software (especially for members) is super easy and self-explanatory. However, you still have to show people how things work not matter how simple. Sometimes the smartest people give themselves a mental block, saying things like “oh, I am not technical.”
So I believe videos help your users and yes, videos are great marketing tools to show how easy your product is to use.
I like that you disagree.