Brutally honest suggestions on my item, please

Envato Authors VideoHive
#1

Received encouraging praise from reviewer on this product and traffic has been reasonable since launching 10 days ago:

https://videohive.net/item/the-essential-scene-pack-for-dokyu-animation-maker/22745086

Would appreciate any very honest feedback. Please, don’t feel the need to be polite, say what you think but ideally representative of what you believe many people considering the product would think. The product was approved, as you can see, and we improved on the promo video a couple of times before publishing to make sure it adequately walked people through how it works. Although I’ve had one sale since starting I’m trying to understand why there hasn’t been more engagement.

Some possible problems I’ve raised to myself:

  1. Does it look like too much work for the user? Masking photos and such.

  2. Is the item not stylized appropriately for the VH marketplace/culture?

  3. Is the animation in the scenes just not that great compared to what else is on offer?

  4. Is the product offering confusing? (Poor promo concept/sales page design…)

  5. Is the product too different / needs more educating otherwise people won’t ‘get it’.

Or should I give it time before making judgements? Would appreciate honest thoughts on how I can improve and/or what kind of changes you think I need to make.

Thanks.

#2

I can tell you from my perspective as a buyer that the promo video should be exactly that - a promo video, a showcase, nothing more, not an instructional video. I want to see what the tool can do straight away. If I like the results, I’ll become interested in buying the tool and willing to look for additional info and instructions on my own.

Make sure the first couple of seconds are the most impactful, that’s how you get good conversion rates. I’d probably just close my tab if I stumbled upon your item on my own because the instructional video is too long and not showing me what I’m buying. Which is a shame because there are some examples at the end of the video and in the item description that I really loved and could make great use of. Love that organic animated storytelling style of history channels on YouTube. :slight_smile:

So, get to the point in the first couple of seconds, I might be wrong, but I think that’s the best thing you can do to improve your sales. Good luck. :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#3

Brutally honest? Your preview video is horrible. I understood a little bit how it works, but what exactly you offer? Is it a pack of motion design elements? So show me that, please. You may give youtube link for your tutorial if you’d like to. But unless you show what exactly customer buy will not have much sales.

2 Likes
#4

Thank you so much for the feedback, ToneCrate! :slight_smile: That’s really, really helpful, so thank you. Yes, now that you say it like that, it makes a lot of sense. I’ve actually been watching the promo videos of a number of successful products like Videolancer’s Transitions, and they get to the point straight away. Note-to-self: you can’t waste time online these days, not even for branding!

#5

Thanks for the response, secondfalseiteration. Appreciate you spending some of your time and being honest. I’m glad that I’m getting multiple comments on the same thing - crystal clear where a problem is. And I guess it stands to reason that the promo video is the most important part of the offer after someone’s clicked through, so that would have an impact on conversions.

Terrible truth is, I did spend a decent amount of time on the video. I didn’t want to do a ‘simple’ screen recording, thinking it might reduce the imagined worth of the product. But then again, screen recordings show you exactly what you’re getting. This is the big stumbling block I think.

Going to revamp the promo video.

#6

You should start with a scenario. First explain in one sentence what your script do. What problem it solves. And how to deliver this information within first 15 sec to customers. After that you may show the abilities and other important things.
Long time ago I created my own script, and it was special headache to make also video preview for it. So I feel your pain and disappointing.

1 Like
#7

I didn’t read the other replies before taking a look at your item page. I wanted to post exactly the same:
The preview is not good. It is not even a preview, this is almost a tutorial. I don’t want to watch a tutorial on something I don’t even know if I want or need it.

The worst part: Even after watching the whole video, I have no idea what this item actually does. It has transitions in itself or Elements or what? What does it make easier exactly?

Here is my experience of watching the preview video:

Okay, great, you tell me what I am about to watch. I already know this as I assume I will see a demonstration of your script thingy when I click on the preview. But okay, here we go…

“Welcome to Dokyu…” Yes, welcome, now show me what your plugin does…

“It works with Dokyu Media, a free plugin…” …I’m confused now, what is Dokyu media, do I have to know this? Okay, free sounds good, but do I have to learn this first to be able to make use of this… Okay, let’s watch further if this is all worth the hassle…

“To animate with DOkyu, we install…” DUDE don’t show me the install process man!!!

“This is the Dokyu ecosystem: Media and motion” What does this mean? The pause you make after this is looking like a mistake and just adds to my feeling of “what the hell are you trying to tell me”.

“…contains Backgrounds, etc…” okay, we are getting there, show me what it can do.

“here is how it works” yes show me what it can do please

“We are going to start by creating a background…”

Okay, I’m out. Seriously. If I was a buyer, this is the latest where I would pack my things and spend my time on something else.

I mean, I have already spent 1 minute of watching a boring video and all I see is that it takes several seconds for your plugin to create an almost unicolor background. At this point, I’m away, bye bye this does not help me.

Change the background color, only two options there. Doesn’t look like freedom nor speed.

After further seconds of boring nothingness, it states “Let’s start adding scenes”. Hell, yes, show me what this thing can do please.

But you do nothing:
“…Let’s optionally move the second scene back 1 second in order to overlap…” bye bye you are wasting my time I am already at the next product if you don’t want to show me what your plugin does you must be embarassed of it.

I see it takes another couple of seconds to import the scenes. Feels slow to me…

Okay, we have something like a regular template now with several photo placeholders. I see nothing that makes this easier than normal AE templates.

It goes on like this.

Brutally honesty? This is the worst preview I have seen for a product that obviously had some decent work put into it.

edit/
The youtube-style end card at the end is embarassing as well. This is videohive, what is the end card doing there… I get the feeling the author has no idea what he is doing or how to make a good video. So there is no way I buy from this author a tool to create videos…

1 Like
#8

That’s a great exercise secondfalseiteration, thank you - especially the one sentence, I’m absolutely using that before I write another script.

I’m getting the message loud and clear and it’s exactly what I was looking for. Answering the simple question what my product does is apparently quite a challenge for me. :laughing:

Thanks again.

#9

Thank you Creattive! Wow, you spent a big chunk of time reviewing my item and it’s a Sunday! Thank you so much. Ok, let me work through this…

I didn’t read the other replies before taking a look at your item page. I wanted to post exactly the same: The preview is not good.

Glad you are repeating what everyone else is saying. I was really worried that a. Replies would not hone in on any obvious issue, or b. I wouldn’t get any replies.

Agreed on making more of a tutorial, as other users have said. I’m very quickly realising that what I thought was fun and educational is actually time-wasting and TMI for prospects who are wondering whether they want to buy my product. In my naivete, I created a fun video for customers!

“The worst part: Even after watching the whole video, I have no idea what this item actually does. It has transitions in itself or Elements or what? What does it make easier exactly?”

Great example of what I missed as I’ve been working in the trenches of building the product. Things that come to my mind obviously won’t come into the minds of the prospect. I need to think more broadly. There are so many transition products out there that it’s not obvious how I’ve implemented them - and you are probably a lot more knowledgable about the VH marketplace than most!

“It works with Dokyu Media, a free plugin…” …I’m confused now, what is Dokyu media, do I have to know this? Okay, free sounds good, but do I have to learn this first to be able to make use of this… Okay, let’s watch further if this is all worth the hassle…

Oh wow, yup, I can see how this is probably TMI for people as well. I’m making it seem more involved than I need to, and so people are itching to see the next thing before really considering the offer.

“To animate with DOkyu, we install…” DUDE don’t show me the install process man!!!

Haha, ok that’s me getting carried away. It’s time-wasting. Noted. :slight_smile:

I mean, I have already spent 1 minute of watching a boring video and all I see is that it takes several secondsfor your plugin to create an almost unicolor background. At this point, I’m away, bye bye this does not help me.

ME TIME-WASTING AGAIN. Noted (again).

Change the background color, only two options there. Doesn’t look like freedom nor speed.

This is interesting, actually. I though minimalism my help aid the teaching. There are a BUNCH more options but I thought that might be TMI. (Ironically.)

“…Let’s optionally move the second scene back 1 second in order to overlap…” bye bye you are wasting my time I am already at the next product if you don’t want to show me what your plugin does you must be embarassed of it.

I see it takes another couple of seconds to import the scenes. Feels slow to me…

Good points.

MY BIGGEST TAKEAWAYS FROM YOUR FEEDBACK, AND THE OTHER AUTHORS:

In the first few seconds, people have to see how your product will help them today. What problem does it solve and, yes, how does it work.

Bottom-line: I made the fatal mistake of prioritising form over function. I wanted to create something pretty, and was too stubborn to realise that noone gives a rats a** about beauty if they don’t first understand how it’s gonna help them.

Brutally honesty? This is the worst preview I have seen for a product that obviously had some decent work put into it.

Yup, I wanted it raw so I could solve this problem. I was actually considering ditching nearly a years work and hoping to salvage some things to use in my next product…

What’s abundantly clear, is that people are switching off and it’s my fault. I don’t like sales. I feel I lose all authenticity. But, alas, that’s the other half of getting anywhere in this business.

So there is no way I buy from this author a tool to create videos…

OUCH! No, thanks for your input and taking the time out of your day. It really means a lot. For what it’s worth, if you ever want some feedback from me on your work, I’d be happy to return the favour. Although just don’t ask me about sales!

And thanks to everyone again in the thread that gave feedback. Knowing this was such a big issue makes me more optimistic going forward. I was down in the dumps for a couple of days.

#10

There is also another thing you can do to boost your item exposure and with that, hopefully the sales after you updated the preview:
Right now, your item is in the root of the Add-Ons category. I actually didn’t know that this is possible. You should put it in the After Effects Presets section (I think that is where it belongs).
Right now, I can only find your items if I click on the top category “Add Ons”. In no subcategory I see your item.

This is the wrong conclusion I think. Actually, I would say you prioritized function way over form - not the other way around.
The problem is not that you created your own stylized interface for ease of explanation - that is okay. What is the problem is you not showing good looking results. Or any results at all - in my opinion.
Your preview should show nice looking examples of videos done with your software after few seconds, so that people know that good looking stuff can be made with it from the get go.
You can even be more abstract in the presentation, show that Users can build animations with your plugin with few clicks, even if that misses some steps.

Don’t be afraid that people don’t see all the options right away, just show something like this: hey it is easy to make something cool: it is just like this: add background, add elements, add transition, done!

Later in the video you can show how it exactly is done, and then preferably a screen recording of After Effects.

And your main problem:
I still don’t know what your plugin does exactly, to be honest. Even after visiting your website. The try it out part does not work, it keeps on loading after pressing download on one of the illustrations. The pricing page is broken as well. Free Stuff is linking directly to a google drive - this seems unprofessional or simply unfinished.

1 Like
#11

Once again, thank you for the valuable feedback. I’m notetaking on all of this and am determined to moderately succeed on VH. Thank you, thank you.

Your preview should show nice looking examples of videos done with your software after few seconds, so that people know that good looking stuff can be made with it from the get go.

I actually created additional demos with the tool and spent more money on additional VO actors so that I could show the results. I just didn’t include them in the promo. They are image links to my website in the VH sales page. But nobody seems to have click them so they may as well not have been made at this point. It makes sense to show them in the promo, really.

it is just like this: add background, add elements, add transition, done!

I’ve highlighted this for when I can work on the updated promo. I really need to figure out how to convey the process super quickly!

And your main problem:
I still don’t know what your plugin does exactly, to be honest. Even after visiting your website. The try it out part does not work, it keeps on loading after pressing download on one of the illustrations. The pricing page is broken as well. Free Stuff is linking directly to a google drive - this seems unprofessional or simply unfinished.

Oh that’s frustrating. I can see why it would appear amateurish. The freebie link is for some YouTube giveways I’ve made. Nothing to do with Dokyu, but yes, it reflects on the whole brand. I should just give a direct link on YouTube. Thanks! For the demo, I’m aware it only works in Chrome, as the other broswers lack some of the functionality. The plugin is actually powered through Chrome. I’m not sure what browser you’re using. There’s not much I can do about compatibility on the web, although I’ve got a link next to the demo for Chrome.

I know the pricing page is broken. I needed to change the pricing to be accepted onto VH and haven’t got around to really fixed it, especially on mobile.

Thanks again, Creattive!

#12

I am using Chrome.

1 Like
#13

Hmm, well that’s thrown me. Are you on a tablet? Limited RAM/resolution? This is off-topic now so don’t worry too much. Good to know Chrome is also causing issues, though. :persevere:

Sorry, forgot to say I also made a note on this. Going to send a message tomorrow.