4 Tips to Create an Efficient and Engaging Video Tutorial for Your Software

If you’re selling a piece of software that will be used by the general public, you need to have a video tutorial—for people who might not be tech-savvy or lack experience with similar products. So to save them time and effort, you decide to create tutorials on how your technology can be used. You make a screen recording, which explains the functions in great detail. And yet, your customer service channels are full of people who have questions about the software. Ultimately, you lose time, money, and customers who never managed to follow the video tutorial.

Let’s see what you could have done better when creating a video tutorial for your software.

A lot of people make the mistake of creating a long and boring video tutorial. The ideal length of a tutorial is 3-5 minutes. I know what you’re thinking “ I have so many things to share” Well, in this case, it is better to split the information into segments and create different videos for every segment. You can refer people to the next video after they’re done watching this one. 

The other reason why shorter tutorials are way better than long ones is that sometimes people are searching for a specific thing, and if they have to watch an entire 20-minute tutorial, they might get annoyed and leave the page. 

If you want to keep your tutorial informative and engaging but are unsure how to shorten it, you can add a narration.

Adding a voiceover to your video would drastically shorten your tutorial. It also makes it sound more professional and easier to follow than text. Keep in mind that if you decide to use text on screen rather than a voiceover, you’ll need to add pauses of at least 10 seconds per sentence so people have the time to read it.

Also, if your tutorial demonstrates how your software works and shows text on the screen at the same time, keep in mind that viewers might find it hard to focus on both. So if you decide to use text in the video, pause the video for a few seconds. That way, your viewers would have time to read it and then see the demonstration.

Adding animations to your tutorial would make it way more dynamic and fun. For example, you can add a call-out animation or an animated label when you want to highlight a feature or show a specific tab. That will direct people’s attention to the important part and keep them engaged.

And speaking about animations, they can simplify your message and drive your average watch time through the roof.

Simplifying the complex is a must when creating tutorials. We want people to understand what you’re showing them right away. If they’re still confused after watching the tutorial, there is no point in having one at all.

Creating a fully animated tutorial is a great way to simplify your message. You can simplify your UI and make it come to life. This can help you eliminate any distractions so you can ensure people focus only on the essential part. Also, animations can hide any sensitive information.

If you decided to record your tutorial and not animate it, the last tip is to use good screen recording software. You can see a list of our absolute favorites in the video above.

Apple computers also have a pretty good built-in recorder that you can use.

Always remember to keep your screen clean, and if you’re showing a browser hide the bookmarks and your profile. The viewers can focus only on the UI and what you’re showing them. Also, turn off your notifications so you don’t have to start all over again every time a friend messages you on Insta.

A video tutorial serves multiple purposes: it explains how the software works, advertises the service and prevents people from canceling due to an inability to understand the technology.

Video tutorials can save you a ton of time answering customer inquiries and they can help your clients see the real value of your product or service which will make them stick with it for the long run.

But in order to achieve these goals, your video tutorial needs to be efficient and engaging. With just a few simple steps, you can create a useful guide and make sure you turn your viewers into loyal clients.

If you’re serious about video marketing but still unsure how to get started, we wrote an entire eBook you can download for free. It will give you amazing insight into the dos and don’t, as well as a detailed example of a winning strategy that we created for a client that brought amazing results. Download below!