Resources
Writing on making product video that survives contact with a real user, and files you can hand to someone who was not in the meeting.
How-To Videos for Software Documentation: What to Film, What Stays as Text, and How to Embed It
How-to videos for software documentation belong beside the written steps, for tasks where readers need to see the path and the result. What to film, docs-as-code habits, embedding in Docusaurus, Sphinx, MkDocs and Zendesk Guide, and captions.
How Many Product Videos Does a SaaS Company Need? A Sizing Method, Monthly Cadence and How to Measure ROI
There is no universal number. Count the tasks customers, buyers and partners need to see done, multiply by the audiences and languages where the video differs, and add the videos each release breaks. A worked method with a made-up example, a way to set monthly cadence, and how to measure ROI and partner training.
How to Build a Partner Training Program: Onboarding Steps, Tiers, Certification and How to Measure It
A partner training programme is the shortest path from a signed agreement to a partner running your demo without you. Build it around the tasks each partner role performs, certify by having partners perform them, and measure it by time to first partner-led demo, not by course completions.
Turn a Website Into a Product Demo Video: What a URL Can Give You, and What It Cannot
A URL gives a video tool your marketing copy, screenshots and colours. It does not give it the product behind the login, the task or a result. The three things people mean by turning a website into a demo video, what each one makes, and what to send with the URL when the product has to be shown working.
Video vs Text vs Screenshots in Documentation: When Each Format Wins and What It Costs After a Release
Text should carry almost every documentation page, screenshots should show where something is, and video should show motion, sequence and what success looks like. A decision table by content type, the maintenance cost of each format after a release, and the accessibility and search work each one needs.
Where to Put Product Videos: Hosting and Sharing SaaS Demo Videos on Every Page, App and Channel
A B2B software video can live on the product page, in the docs, inside the app, in emails, in sales follow-ups, on a partner portal, on YouTube and on LinkedIn. What each place is good for, how the video is shown there, and how to host it so one recording serves all of them.
Why Nobody Watches Your Product Videos: Eight Causes, How to Spot Each in Your Analytics, and the Fix
Customers skip product videos that tour features instead of finishing their task, sit where nobody is stuck, carry titles nobody searches or show an old interface. How to find each cause in audience retention and traffic sources, and the fix.
Product Demo Video vs Explainer Video: The Difference, When to Use Each, and Which to Make First
An explainer video says what a product is and why it matters. A product demo video shows the product doing something. They answer different questions at different stages, and most software videos that try to be both do neither well. The difference in one table, when each earns its place, and the order to make them in.
Product Demo Video for Sales Outreach and Cold Email: What to Show, How Long, and How to Send It
A product demo video in a cold email is a link, not an attachment: a still frame that opens a page with the clip, one task and the next step. What to put in the clip, how long to make it, what to personalise and what not to, and how the same recording serves follow-ups and sales enablement.
Product Demo Video in Multiple Languages: Subtitles, Dubbing or a Re-Recording, and When Each Is Right
A product demo video in another language is three decisions: the words people read, the voice they hear and the interface on screen. Subtitles and dubbing reuse one recording; a localised interface needs a new run. How to choose for each market, and the terms that must never be translated.
15 Free Video Templates and Checklists for Software Teams: Scripts, Briefs, Guides and Pre-flight Checks, Each One Opened and Described
Fifteen free video templates and checklists for software teams: eight of ours (demo script, brief, how-to guide, cheat sheet, content plan, and three new one-page checklists), all direct downloads, plus seven from other vendors that we opened on 7 October 2026, with what each contains and whether it needs an email or an account. And a table of the ones we checked and left out.
9 Release Week Video Formats, Day by Day From T-5 to Launch: Changelog Clips, Upgrade Walkthrough, Re-runs, Partner Cut and More
Release week video formats: the nine kinds of video a software release can produce and the day each one is made, from changelog task clips and the old-versus-new comparison at T-5, through the upgrade walkthrough and feature deep-dive, to the re-runs of invalidated videos at T-1 and the overview, vertical cuts, partner cut and translations on release day.
12 Software Demo Video Mistakes That Lose Technical Buyers, and the Fix for Each
Software demo video mistakes are rarely about production quality. They are a tour instead of a task, no version on screen, a flawless take with the failure cut out, proof from the narrator, and a video that is never re-run after a release. Twelve mistakes in the order they happen, each with a fix that costs an afternoon at most.
15 Video Styles for Marketing, Compared: Screen Recording, 3D, Cartoon, Isometric, Whiteboard, Kinetic Type and More, With Our Own Examples
Video styles for marketing compared: screen recording, mock interface, live action, motion graphics, kinetic typography, infographic, diagram, isometric, 3D, cartoon, paper cutout, whiteboard, terminal, retro and AI-generated footage. What each one can show, how hard it is to change after a release, where it misleads a buyer, and a frame from one of our own shorts in twelve of them.
10 Things a Product Video Must Show Before a Technical Buyer Trusts It: A Checklist Against a Real Walkthrough
What a product video must show before a technical buyer trusts it: a task with a finish line, the real interface, the version, the prerequisites, the starting state, every step at a followable pace, a result the product produced, a kept failure with its fix, a timestamped log, and written steps beside it. Ten items, each checked against the published Proxmox VE 9.2 install.
AI SOP Generators Compared: Eight Tools That Write Standard Operating Procedures, With Prices (October 2026)
AI SOP generators write standard operating procedures in one of three ways: from a screen capture of someone doing the task (Scribe, Tango, Guidde, Glitter AI), from a prompt describing the process (Trainual, Waybook, SweetProcess, Process Street), or from an existing video (Glitter AI). This page compares eight of them, with free plans and prices checked on 3 October 2026.
Creative Brief Template for Video: A Free One-Page Video Brief for Product and Explainer Videos (PDF and Word)
A creative brief template for video: twelve fields on one page that settle the message, the audience, where the video runs, the product version, the finish line and who signs it off, before anyone opens a recorder. Free as PDF and Word, with a filled-in example.
How to Write Step-by-Step Instructions: A Free How-To Guide Template for Software Tasks (PDF and Word)
Good step-by-step instructions name one task, list what the reader needs first, give one action per numbered step with what they should see after it, show the step people get wrong, and end on a result the reader can check. This guide covers each part, visual work instructions, and a free how-to guide template with a filled-in example.
Instructional Video Production for Software: Training and Educational Videos That Stay Correct
Instructional video production for software is mostly a maintenance problem. Making a training video is the easy part; keeping it correct after the next release is the hard one. This page covers what an instructional video needs, how production usually works, and how to keep a training library in step with the product.
iorad Alternatives: Six Tools for Interactive Software Tutorials and Step-by-Step Guides, With Prices (October 2026)
The best iorad alternative depends on the output you need. Scribe and Tango make written step-by-step guides from your clicks, Guidde makes narrated how-to videos, Supademo makes interactive demos and guides, and Dubble is a low-cost guide maker priced per workspace. Whatfix is the in-app alternative. Prices checked on 3 October 2026.
Loom Alternatives: 9 Screen Recording and Video Messaging Tools Compared, With Prices (October 2026)
The best Loom alternative depends on what you use Loom for. Tella is the closest like-for-like replacement, Vidyard suits sales video, Screen Studio suits polished Mac demos, Descript suits editing, OBS Studio is free, and Scribe, Guidde, Supademo and Arcade replace Loom when the job is a how-to guide or a clickable demo. Prices checked on each vendor's page on 3 October 2026.
Navattic Alternatives and Competitors: Interactive Demo and Demo Environment Tools Compared, With Prices (October 2026)
Navattic's closest alternatives are Storylane, Supademo and Arcade, which also capture clickable demos and start cheaper, and Walnut, which is sales-led. Reprise, Demostack and Saleo are its demo-environment competitors, priced on request. Prices checked on 3 October 2026.
Onboarding Video Examples: Seven Customer Onboarding Videos From Software Vendors, and What Each Gets Right
Seven real customer onboarding videos from Zendesk, Supabase, GitHub, Pipedrive, Asana, Atlassian and monday.com, one for each kind of onboarding: welcome tour, first setup, first task, role-based and migration. For each: what it does well, what it leaves out, and what to borrow.
Product Tour Software Compared: In-App Onboarding Tours and Website Demo Tours, With Prices (October 2026)
Product tour software means two different things: in-app onboarding tours shown to signed-in users (Appcues, Userpilot, Pendo, Chameleon, Userflow, Intro.js) and website demo tours shown to prospects (Navattic, Storylane, Supademo, Arcade). This page compares ten tools across both, with free plans and prices checked on 3 October 2026.
SaaS Explainer Videos: What to Show, How Long to Make Them, and When a Walkthrough Works Better
A SaaS explainer video says what a software product is, who it is for and why it matters, in about two minutes. The good ones show the real interface doing one task. This page covers the five beats, length, animation versus screen recording, how SaaS video production is usually done, and where an explainer stops.
Sales Demo Software and Demo Environments Compared: Sandboxes, Live Overlays and Interactive Demos
Sales demo software comes in six forms: recorded video, HTML-captured interactive demos, live data overlays on the real product, cloned apps, real backends on synthetic data, and full sandboxes. This page compares ten tools across them (Reprise, Demostack, Saleo, TestBox, CloudShare, Instruqt, Walnut, Navattic, Storylane and Consensus), with personalization options and the prices that are published.
Screen Studio Alternatives: Six Auto-Zoom Screen Recorders for Mac and Windows, With Prices (October 2026)
Screen Studio is Mac only, so most people looking for an alternative want automatic zoom on Windows or a cheaper licence. Cap is open source and runs on Mac, Windows and Linux; FocuSee and CANVID add auto zoom on both platforms; Tella adds hosting and analytics; Screenity runs in the browser; Camtasia is the full editor. Prices checked on 3 October 2026.
Software Demo Script Template: A Free Scene-by-Scene Script for Product Demo Videos (PDF and Word)
A software demo script template with the eight decisions every demo needs before recording, a scene table for what is on screen, what is said and what result should appear, a filled-in example from a real install, and a variant for live sales demos. Free as PDF and Word.
Software Demo Video Examples: Eight Vendor Demos Scored on What Makes a Demo Believable
Eight real software demo videos from Proxmox, Zabbix, JetBrains, GitHub, GitLab, Veeam, Atlassian and HubSpot, scored on six questions: does a task finish, is the version stated, are prerequisites shown, is there evidence on screen, is anything shown going wrong, and are written steps linked. What each gets right, and what to borrow.
Tutorial Software Compared: Eight Tools for Making Software Tutorials, by Output and Price (October 2026)
Tutorial software makes one of three things: a written step-by-step guide (Scribe, Tango, Snagit), a video (Guidde, Camtasia, Descript) or an interactive tutorial the learner clicks through (iorad, Supademo). This page compares eight tutorial makers by what the learner gets, free plan and price, checked on 3 October 2026.
Vidyard Competitors: Six Video Messaging Tools for Sales Teams Compared, With Prices (October 2026)
Vidyard's main competitors for sales video are Loom, BombBomb, Sendspark, Hippo Video, Dubb and Covideo. Loom is the general-purpose option, BombBomb puts video in email, Sendspark personalises one video for many prospects with AI, Hippo Video and Dubb are cheaper sales suites, and Covideo serves dealerships. Prices checked on 3 October 2026.
AI Video Translation Tools for Technical Product Videos: Six Dubbing Tools Compared
AI video translation tools can now dub a product video into dozens of languages in the original speaker's voice. For technical videos, the feature that matters most is a glossary: a way to tell the tool which product names and terms to keep or translate a fixed way. HeyGen, Rask AI and CAMB.AI document one on self-serve plans; Synthesia offers it on Enterprise; ElevenLabs and YouTube do not state one.
AI Video Generators for Product Marketing: What Synthesia, HeyGen, Runway and Veo Can and Can't Show
AI video generators for product marketing come in two kinds. Avatar tools such as Synthesia, HeyGen and Colossyan put a generated presenter in front of a script. Generative models such as Runway and Google Veo render footage from a prompt. Both save real production time, and neither can show your software doing something, because neither runs it.
Best Screen Recording Software for Software Demos: 7 Tools Compared for Product Teams
The best screen recording software for software demos depends on the demo. Screen Studio suits polished Mac demos with automatic zoom, Camtasia suits training with captions, Loom suits a quick video to one person, Descript suits editing by transcript, and OBS Studio suits anyone who needs it free.
Interactive Demo Software Compared: Arcade vs Navattic vs Storylane vs Supademo vs Walnut
Interactive demo software lets a buyer click through a copy of your product without a sales call. Navattic and Walnut are built around HTML capture of web apps; Arcade, Storylane and Supademo start from screenshots and video and add HTML capture on higher plans. None of the five captures a desktop or terminal app as HTML, and none shows the task finishing on the real product.
Scribe vs Tango vs Guidde: Step Recorders and How-To Guide Generators Compared
Scribe vs Tango vs Guidde: Scribe and Tango turn your clicks into a written step-by-step guide with screenshots, and Guidde turns the same clicks into a narrated video with a matching doc. All three record the route through a web app. None of them records whether the task actually finished.
How to Make a Business Video That Shows the Product Instead of Talking About It
For a small software company with no budget or crew: skip the office tour and the founder monologue, and record the question your customers ask most. It costs an afternoon and keeps working long after other business videos stop.
Loom for Marketing: Where a Quick Screen Recording Stops, and Where a Verified Walkthrough Starts
Loom is excellent at what it was built for and a poor fit for the page a prospect evaluates you from. Four differences decide which kind of video a given job needs.
Social Media Video Strategy for B2B Software: Cutting Verified Walkthroughs Into Shorts That Still Prove Something
B2B social video stays sustainable when you cut shorts from videos you already made instead of recording for social. Where the cuts come from, which moments get attention, and what to stop making.
What Makes a Good Marketing Video for Software? Nine Things We Check Before a Walkthrough Is Published
Nine checks we run on every walkthrough before it goes out, each with the failure it prevents. None of them is about production values, and the list works whoever records the video.
The Best Marketing Videos for Software Products Are the Ones That Show a Task Finishing: 9 Worth Copying
Nine video patterns that reliably work for software companies, with what makes each one work and roughly what it costs to copy. Award winners are left out on purpose.
Does Video Marketing Work for Software Companies? What Can Be Measured, What Can't, and What to Ignore
A direct answer with the caveats attached. One result measures cleanly, two can be measured with effort, and the industry statistics everyone quotes are mostly unusable. Includes what we can and cannot claim ourselves.
How to Start Video Marketing at a Software Company: One Product, One Task, One Verified Video
Most video programmes stall while they are still being planned. The smallest useful start is one task, one afternoon and one number to measure, and the plan can wait until that number exists.
Video Marketing Strategy Examples: Three Software Companies, Three Different Plans, One Method
One scoring method produces very different plans depending on where a company's costs sit. Three worked examples, an infrastructure vendor, a SaaS on a fast release train and a hardware company selling through partners, each with a ninety-day plan.
Video Marketing for SaaS and Tech Companies: A Practical Guide That Starts From the Product, Not the Campaign
Most video marketing advice was written for businesses that sell to consumers. Software differs in four specific ways, and each changes what you should make. A guide for teams whose product lives on a screen.
Video Content Marketing Strategy for SaaS: Coverage, Cadence, and What to Record First
A SaaS video strategy comes down to three decisions: how much of the product you cover, how often you publish, and which task goes first. Once the order is right, the other two get much easier.
How to Run a Video Marketing Campaign Around a Product Release: Changelog In, Verified Videos Out, Same Day
A software company runs this video campaign a dozen times a year and most teams improvise it every time. A repeatable process from changelog to publishing, plus the step that keeps older videos from going stale.
AI Video Marketing for Software Products: What an AI Operator Can Record That a Video Generator Cannot
Two very different things are sold as AI video. For a software product, the difference decides whether the result counts as evidence: a generator imagines your product, while an operator runs it.
A Video-First Strategy for Software Products: Every Task, Every Release, Every Language
Video-first usually means putting video on the homepage. For a software product it should mean every task a user can perform has a recording, and the recordings stay accurate after your next release.
Video Marketing Tools for Software Companies: What to Use for Recording, Hosting, Captions and Proof
Video tools sorted by the job each one does, including the one job most stacks have no tool for. Written for teams recording their own product rather than editing brand films.
Video Marketing Software vs a Video Marketing Service: Which One a SaaS Team Actually Needs, and When
Software gives you the means to make videos and a service gives you the videos. For product video, what separates them is who spends the afternoon operating your software.
Marketing Video Production for Software Companies: How a Verified Walkthrough Is Made and What Arrives
Producing software video involves no crew, studio or talent. It needs an environment, an operator and evidence. Here is how that changes the process and what you receive.
What a verified walkthrough proves that a demo video does not
A demo shows that a task can be done. A verified walkthrough shows that it was done, on a stated version, with the failed attempts still in the log.
Product Video for Software Companies: How to Show What Your Product Actually Does, Task by Task
A product video has one job, and it differs from a brand video's: let someone watch your software finish a real task, on a stated version, with the failed attempts still visible. Here is how that changes what you make.
Video Content Strategy for Software Companies: From 200 Tasks to a Plan You Can Actually Ship
Most video strategies begin with channels and a content calendar. For a software product, begin with an inventory of tasks ranked by two numbers you already have, and the plan follows from that.
How to Make a Marketing Video for a Software Product, Step by Step, Recorded From a Real Run
Five steps, one task and no studio. How to record a marketing video of your software finishing a real job, what to keep when it goes wrong, and what the whole thing costs.
Types of Product Videos: A One-Page Cheat Sheet for Software Teams (PDF Download)
The twelve types of product video worth making and the four that waste budget, on one printable page, with the length, owner, evidence and re-record trigger for each.
The 12 Types of Marketing Videos Software Companies Actually Need, and the 4 That Waste the Budget
A working list for software and SaaS teams of what each video type is for, how long it should run, who owns it, what evidence it needs and when to re-record it, plus four types that look important and rarely pay for themselves.
Video Marketing Examples From Software and SaaS Companies, Annotated: What Each One Proves and What It Skips
A rubric for judging any product video in about a minute, then five annotated examples scored against it, including our own. Most software video fails the same two criteria.
Video Content Marketing Plan Template for Software Teams: Spreadsheet and PDF, Built Around Tasks Not Campaigns
A task inventory sheet you can open in any spreadsheet, with a one-page guide to filling it in. One row per task, two columns you already have data for, and a priority calculated from them.
How to brief a walkthrough in one sentence
The briefs that turn around fastest name one product, one task and the result that would prove the task finished. Here is the pattern, with examples that worked.
Nothing here yet under that filter.
Video terms, defined
- Video sales letter (VSL)A video sales letter, or VSL, is a long-form direct-response video that replaces a written sales page.
- Closed captions vs subtitlesClosed captions are a text version of a video's audio in the same language, including speech and meaningful sounds, that the viewer can switch on or off.
- B-rollB-roll is supplementary footage edited over or between the primary shots of a video to illustrate what is being said, cover a cut or set a scene.
- How-to videoA how-to video shows a viewer how to complete one specific task, in order, from the starting state to a finished result, so they can repeat it themselves.
- Explainer videoAn explainer video is a short video that explains what a product, service or idea is, the problem it solves and who it is for, in plain language and usually in under a few minutes.
- Product demo videoA product demo video is a recorded demonstration of a product in use, showing its main features and tasks on screen so a prospect can see what it does before trying or buying it.
- Onboarding videoAn onboarding video is a short video for new users of a product that takes them from their first session to a first useful result, such as a completed setup or a first task.
- Video SEOVideo SEO is the work of making a video discoverable through search engines and AI assistants: hosting it on a page that explains it, telling search engines it is there through structured data and a video sitemap, and putting the words of the video on the page as a transcript, chapters and captions so the content can be indexed and quoted.
- Live action vs animationLive action is video of real people, places and screens captured by a camera or a screen recorder.
- Short-form vs long-form videoShort-form video is video made to be watched in a feed: brief, usually vertical, designed to hold attention from the first second and to be understood without sound.
- Raw footageRaw footage is video exactly as the camera or screen recorder captured it, before any editing: no cuts, no speed changes, no colour correction, no overlays and no sound added.
- Sound effects (SFX)SFX stands for sound effects: sounds added to a video in editing that were not captured during recording, such as a click, a whoosh on a transition, a notification chime or an ambient room tone.
- Promo videoA promo video, short for promotional video, is a brief video made to raise awareness of a product, release, offer or event and to move the viewer to one next step, such as visiting a page or starting a trial.
- Corporate videoA corporate video is any video a company produces for its own purposes rather than as entertainment: a brand film, a recruiting video, internal training, an investor update, a customer story or a product video.
- Video personalizationVideo personalization is the practice of producing a different version of a video for each viewer or account by inserting their details, such as a name, company, logo or figures from their data, into the picture, the narration or the sequence of scenes.
- ScreencastA screencast is a video recording of what happens on a computer screen over a period of time, usually with the cursor visible and a narrator explaining the actions, used to show how software works or to document a process.