As a user I’m not much into watching video online. So many of them are too long, don’t provide enough value and make me feel less in control of my site experience. As a User Experience professional I know I’m not a typical user but I think we as designers could do a bit better when it comes to presenting video on websites.

I like the idea of using video to illustrate how things work and express complicated ideas. Video is also a great way to introduce new, less understood products and services.  The problem I often see with the use of video is the lack of set up, context and definition of expectations.

If you would like a a user to watch your video a great way to do it is to:

1. Tell them what it’s about

2. Tell them what they will get out of watching it

3. Tell them how long it is

4. Design a still image that starts to tell the story

I was reminded of all this by visiting the Wistia site.  Although they don’t hit points #3 & #4. They totally nail points #1 & #2.

The product is also really interesting, I wrote about this topic and the importance of defining success measurements for video a while back here. Looks like this could be a great tool for that.