A question was recently posted on Twitter, “@donmcallister @podfeet opinions on what problems are best solved by/use cases for Mac apps such as ScreenSteps, Screenflow, Skitch, others?” We get that question a lot. We answered it in depth in a webinar we did last year titled “Video, Screencasts and Still Images – Using the Right Tool at the Right Time”. But for those who are interested in a shorter answer, here it is.

Here are some simple rules that we use. (more…)

In our webinar Video, Screencasts and Still Images – Using the Right Tool at the Right Time we talk about four stages of person being introduced to a new technology or product for the first time:

1. Stage 1: Awareness (Video, Blogs)
2. Stage 2: Interest (Video, Screencast)
3. Stage 3: Investigation (Screencast)
4. Stage 4: Implementation (ScreenSteps)

If you have watched the webinar then you will remember that we felt like we had some good media for stages 2 and 4, but we have been missing a lot in stage 3. In preparing for our ScreenSteps 2.8 update we realized that our media for stage 2 wasn’t that great either. It was a little too specific. It focused on one aspect of the program but didn’t expose users to all that the product could do.

Since we were already working on updating our site for the 2.8 release we decided to redo all of our media as well. You might be interested in what we did.

Stage 2 Video – Interest

The goal of stage 2 is to create a video or screencast that moves the prospective customer to stage 3. That is all it needs to do. It shouldn’t be instructional in nature. It doesn’t need to be a support tool. It just has to generate enough interest that the customer wants to investigate the product in more detail. To do this the video needs to meet the following criteria:

• It needs to be short
• It needs to give a broad overview of the application (large scope, low detail)

To create our stage 2 video we used Screenflow, Keynote, Garageband and YouTube. The video shows up on the main ScreenSteps landing page. You can see an example of it here:

This was the hardest video to create. It took several days with a lot of edits and a lot of revisions.

Stage 3 Screencasts – Investigation

After watching the video we want to allow the visitor to investigate the product. To do this we set up a separate “Features” section of our website. On the left there is a menu that lists the features we are looking to highlight. For most of the features we include a short screencast highlighting that feature.

The purpose of this material is to make the visitor want to implement the feature. We aren’t worried about giving them enough information at this stage that they could implement the feature. Just enough to make them want to.

These videos need to meet the following criteria:

• One video per feature (more detail, less scope)
• It still needs to be short

These videos were actually very easy to create. By focusing on individual features the scripts are easy to write and the video is relatively straight-forward to record.

Here are a couple of examples of our feature videos:

• Capturing Images
• Annotating Images
• Replacing Images
• Creating Manuals

Stage 4 ScreenSteps Docs – Implementation

Finally, if the visitor has arrived to stage 4, we need to give them the tools they need to implement the vision we sold to them in stages 2 and 3. We didn’t change what we were doing here. We use ScreenSteps and ScreenSteps Live which work great for us and for our customers (see our documentation center).

But we did have to update almost every single lesson since the majority of the ScreenSteps user interface had changed. This meant replacing literally hundreds of screenshots in over 100 lessons. We will write a separate post on this process, but suffice it to say that it was much easier than we imagined. We had over 100 lessons updated in less time than it took us to record one video.

So, what do you think of the media we have prepared for stages 2 through 4? Are they effective? We’ll let you know what the results are in a couple of months, but we would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Tomorrow we will be hosting a new webinar that will be really valuable for those of you who have to communicate with users about products you create or support.

Our customers often ask us if they should use a screen recording application, like Screenflow or Camtasia, or something like ScreenSteps (ScreenSteps is a tool for creating step by step guides out of still images).

What they are really asking is “Should I create a video/screencast or a step by step visual guide (what we call a ScreenSteps document)?”

Our answer is, “It depends.”

The truth is, if you are going to have an effective product communication strategy, you need to be using both screencasts and ScreenSteps documents. The tool you use for a specific communication depends on two things:

• The level of engagement your target audience has with your product at the moment you are communicating with them.
• The type of knowledge you are trying to transfer to that user.

In tomorrow’s webinar we will layout a framework that will help you decide when to use a screencast and when to use a ScreenSteps document. We will follow a new user through four levels of engagement with a product and discuss what type of communication is most effective at each stage. We will also provide examples of effective communications at each stage.

The four stages of user engagement with a product are:

1. Product awareness
2. Product interest
3. Product investigation
4. Product implementation

This webinar will be ideal for marketing and product managers, IT and customer support or anyone who has to educate users on product usage.