10 Tips for App Walkthrough and Website Walkthrough Videos

If there’s one thing you can do to help prevent product abandonment after one use, then good onboarding is the answer. And the best way to do that is with an app walkthrough or website walkthrough video. They help new users understand how to use your product and how to get the most value from it. They also help ease the pressure on your support team and help users ‘activate.’ This is where they go from a new, skeptical user who hasn’t committed, to one that now actively uses your product. Longer-term, quality onboarding will also help build loyalty amongst your users, minimizing churn.

Note that a walkthrough is different from a product tour. A product tour is designed to entice a wide range of users by offering an overview of the product and its functionality. A walkthrough on the other hand is a step-by-step set of instructions to the specific operations that any new user should nail.

If poorly delivered, an app walkthrough or website walkthrough video can be so boring or confusing that it will do more harm than good. But when properly executed it will create the ultimate ‘aha’ moment. Read the following tips to learn how to deliver the perfect app walkthrough or website walkthrough video and definitely read on if you don’t know what an aha moment is.     

1. Get laser-focused on the "aha" moment

This is where your product either lives or dies. Quick definition: an ‘aha’ moment is when your users fully grasp the specific way in which your product will make their lives better. If your walkthrough can make them experience it then that is a large chunk of the onboarding accomplished.

Some products may have several aha moments. So if you can, guide your users through all of them. On the other hand, some apps might be so vast and with so many varied use cases that forcing aha moments into a walkthrough might end up limiting a new user’s perspective. An example might be an app like Photoshop – capable of all sorts of things. For apps like these, a product tour might be the most you can offer.

To nail your aha moment, find out what new users should learn first to get the most value from your product. The best way to do this is by diving into your analytics and analyzing user behavior patterns. Look at the users that are engaging the most with your product and sticking around the longest. Then observe which actions they’re all taking. Illustrating these actions will be the basis of your aha moment and the basis of your app walkthrough or website walkthrough video.

2. Work with what your users and your UX team tell you

As well as helping you figure out your aha moment, anything you know about how users interact with your product and the experience new users typically go through can be helpful. Your app walkthrough or website walkthrough video can be a great opportunity to give users the knowledge they need for tackling pain points before they become pain points. It will also help them perform particular functions more efficiently. 

Use tools like A/B testing, heatmaps, or even user interviews to learn about optimization opportunities. Even if you don’t have any customers yet, you may well be able to find some willing volunteers to interact with your product. You could even pay for this kind of data with the help of usertesting.com.  

3. Encourage users to perform actions as they go

With any app walkthrough or website walkthrough video there can be the danger of viewers sitting there passively and information going in one ear and out the other. But if you can get viewers to perform actions as they watch, they’ll be more engaged with the video and they’ll remember how to perform these actions more clearly. 

This is particularly useful when it comes to illustrating the aha moment. If you just have a few minutes of the video talking at your users about the aha moment then there’s always a chance they might not pick up on it. But if you get your users to perform the actions that generate an aha moment as they go, then the moment will usually be more powerful.

For example, the walkthrough video for your new cycling app and fitness app might tell users to input their route on a map. The app may then give the user an estimate of how many calories they’ll burn and how long it will take. Voila, an aha moment is born.

4. Better to be a "for dummies" guide than risk omitting important info

Even if you think your UX is completely idiot-proof, there will always be one or two users that struggle to get started. A paying customer is a paying customer so even if they are being stupid it’s in your interest to cater to that stupidity. 

More often though, people aren’t stupid and are just so rushed that they gloss over anything unclear. So make sure your app walkthrough or website walkthrough video covers all the information for the most absent-minded, and always assume your users need a full explanation.

5. That said, don't say too much or do too much handholding

There’s only so much information people can consume in one video, and if they feel like you’re stating the obvious then there’s every chance they’ll get bored and click on something else.

Like with any communication by your brand, you should be as clear and concise as possible, only communicating what’s required to help your users understand your product. If you think it’s really necessary, creating more than one video may help. 

Striking the balance between creating a fully comprehensive guide for dummies, and not holding hands or being patronizing can be tricky. To get this balance right you may need to work with a test audience and get their feedback. Another thing that will help – and something you should include anyway – is the option to make your video skippable. Divide it up into clearly labeled chapters. A good quality hosting platform can help with this.

6. Don't force them to watch your video as soon as they sign up

Small point but it can shoot you in the foot if you ignore it. Some/most people don’t want to use your product immediately. Sometimes people will sign up but it won’t be a suitable time for them to get used to the app or the website. Sometimes they may sign up and they won’t require any onboarding – either because they’ve already used it or they’re kinda smart. 

Your app walkthrough or website walkthrough video should never force itself on your audience. Just be sure to draw clear attention to the video and people will watch it when they’re ready. Using an email or a popup is often the best way. 

Another thing to consider is that you’ll need to show your video to users that have returned after a long period of absence. Some of these users won’t remember how to use your app. Others will, so for this group your video needs to be easily avoidable.

7. You don't need to limit yourself to onboarding

If it’s useful and it doesn’t make the video too long or hold the viewer’s hand too much, then one or two additional tips that don’t fall under onboarding could be well received. Adding in little annotations within the video can be the perfect way to execute this.

8. You might want to create different videos for different customer segments

Your product may have several user groups. For example, you might have an accounting tool that can be used by accountants, freelancers, and business owners. Each of these three groups will probably have slightly different onboarding needs and different aha moments. To cater to these variations, presenting a short survey form to all new users will give you the necessary info for tailoring suitable onboarding videos to different groups.

9. Finish your video with guidance on further education

A good app walkthrough or website walkthrough should cover the basics but it should also help the users that want to dive deeper. Putting the deep dive info in the main onboarding video could be too much. But if you end the main video with links to further content then that can be the best of both worlds. Doing this is all the more important if your product is deep and complex.

10. Test, optimise, and watch those analytics

Your onboarding process can keep on getting refined and the number of users can continue to increase if you find ways of improving your app walkthrough or website walkthrough video. By paying attention to your video analytics and seeing where users drop off, you can respond by creating new, more engaging versions that focus on these drop-off points. Tools like Vidyard are great for this. 

Don’t forget: people will drop off and that’s not always a bad thing. Sometimes they won’t need an onboarding video and they’ll choose to figure it out for themselves. Sometimes they might realize that your product simply isn’t for them. These cases you shouldn’t get too bothered by. Just make sure you tackle the more tangible issues with your video that are clearly causing a drop-off. These issues will usually be made obvious by the areas in your video where there’s a concentration of drop-off.