-
-
Bringing the rich flavors and aromas of extraordinary coffee to life.
-
Award winning store accessible to Britto’s fans around the glo
-
Explore your dream vacations on any device.
Updated
13 min read
One of the key ways in which you can grab a hold of potential users and get them to download your app is with an app preview video.
These short videos appear on your app listing in the App Store (along with screenshots, app description, and so on) and help people discover and learn more about what your app is and does.
In short, it’s the opportunity to highlight the value your app brings.
A quick visit to the App Store and you’ll be able to find preview videos for apps from every category, whether it’s music and entertainment or education and business.
Every mobile app has a preview video (along with screenshots) for their mobile app listing in stores because…why not?
It’s one of the best ways to show an app in action.
It demonstrates an app’s features, functionality, and the UI.
In this blog, we’re going to unlock the secrets behind making the best app preview video so you can launch your mobile app with success in the App Store or Google Play Store.
While making a short, 30-second preview video for your app might sound pretty easy—after all, you just need some footage of your app in action—it actually requires some careful planning.
Remember, this video, along with the rest of your App Store listing, is the first impression users will get from your app.
It’s hard to squeeze everything in a short video clip, which is why you’ll want to only include the main value of your app.
What’s the primary selling point?
Don’t get caught up in including every feature your app offers. There just isn’t time, and besides, it’s 2022. You’d dealing with short attention spans.
Get right into the meat of your app and what makes it unique.
Every shot, every feature showcased needs to be thought out so it has the most impact.
When you first came up with your mobile app idea, what’s one of the first things you did?
You checked out the competition!
You went to the App Store and browsed what other people are doing in your app’s niche.
Maybe you downloaded a few apps, checked out what kind of features and functionality they were putting out.
You probably also read some of their user reviews to see what they were doing right and where they were falling short.
All of this provides incredibly valuable insight on the competition and it also serves to inspire you.
Unless you’re working with a top-notch video producer, you’re going to have to do your research to learn what goes into making an excellent app preview video.
So hit up the app stores and start watching as many preview videos as you can.
Find the common elements these videos share.
How long are they? Even though your video can be up to 30 seconds long, should it be?
Are they demonstrating multiple features or focusing on just one?
Once you’ve checked out the competition and feel some inspiration to set out on your own app preview video, the next step is to create a story.
No, a story is not overkill.
Just because you’re working with a short video doesn’t mean you can cut corners.
Every movie, TV show, commercial, and even Tik Tok video has a story.
Without a coherent story, your video will just be a jumbled mess.
When crafting a story for your app video, think about what the most important use cases are for your app which exemplifies your app’s existence.
These use cases will likely already be mentioned in the description of your app in the form of app features.
To help move things along, start by listing scenes you want to feature in your video and then later you can cut out the fat.
When contemplating your app video’s story, ask yourself:
Having a good understanding of the primary reasons of your app’s existence will allow the timeline for the video to fall in place.
PRO TIP:
Create a storyboard for your video that maps out every scene and think about how many seconds you’d like each scene to have.
If you’ve already checked out what other apps are using for their preview videos, you’ve probably noticed that some are incorporating text into their footage.
Some apps will use overlays or text cards in between screens. Maybe they’ll use a fade out or fade in effect to give it a smooth appearance.
Just remember that adding text isn’t always necessary, but you’ll be able to figure this out in the previous step when you’re forming your video’s story.
If you check out the screenshots below for the app Unplug: Meditation, you’ll see that they start their video with text that says exactly what the app is for followed by a mix of app footage and text that highlights app features.
In this case, adding text helps highlight the main features of the app. Without the text, a potential user might just think this app does one thing, like play meditation sounds, for example.
Many apps will have some kind of music in the background of their video.
Just like with movie trailers, having appropriate music paired with visuals can help elicit an emotion from users.
In the example above with Unplug: Meditation, there’s calming music being played in the background, which makes sense for the product they’re selling.
Game apps, on the other hand, like Call of Duty, have sounds from the app (like explosions, gunshots, and vehicles driving) paired with a loud rock song that reflects the chaos you see on screen.
PRO TIP:
Think carefully about not only the background music but what sound effects from your app you’d like to include and make sure it works to supplement your video’s story.
You can even have more than one preview video for your app.
Some mobile apps will choose to use their first preview video as an overview of the app experience that focuses on the main features and content.
A second or even third preview video can be used to highlight additional features or extra content a user might not be aware of.
If you decide to use more than one preview video, be sure that each video is showing users something new about your app.
The poster frame is the image that appears when the preview video does not autoplay, so you want to make sure it’s visually compelling so users will click on the play button.
Your poster frame image should convey the value of your app.
Some apps chose to use the poster frame to show text, some mobile apps chose to use screenshots of their app in action, and others use a mix of both text and visuals.
When you’re creating your mobile app preview video, it’s important to keep in mind that every store has their own guidelines.
We’re going to focus on the App Store guidelines for iOS, but these concepts are applicable to other app stores like Google Play.
PRO TIP:
Remember, Apple wants all app videos to have a similar look and feel, so be sure to review their full list of guidelines.
If you’re developing your app for both Apple and Android, you should know that there are a few differences between the stores besides the video guidelines.
Let’s take a look at some of the main differences.
When searching for your app in the App Store, you’ll see that your app’s preview video autoplays on mute.
It will also be displayed next to the first two screenshots of your app.
When searching for an app in the Google Play store, the video doesn’t autoplay. You’ll have to click on the play button which will then open a YouTube video.
In the App Store, you can have up to three preview videos for your app, which autoplay on iOS and newer.
In the Google Play store, you can only have one video, which will open a YouTube video.
Another big difference is that Apple preview videos are manually approved by Apple to ensure they follow the guidelines.
As already mentioned, each store has their own set of guidelines.
One difference between the two that you should know about has to do with the content in the video.
iOS apps need to use real footage of the app, but with Google Play, there is no such restriction.
iOS preview videos need to be between 15-30 seconds long.
Google Play doesn’t have a video length restriction, but they do recommend keeping preview videos between 30 seconds and 2 minutes long.
While Apple offers guidelines on how to create preview videos for your mobile app, I want to highlight some tips and tricks to creating the best preview video.
You don’t have much time and users have a very short attention span.
Make it short and to the point.
Introduce the essence of your app in the first five seconds of your preview video.
The rest of the time can be used to elaborate.
Since preview videos autoplay, the idea is to create compelling content in the first few seconds of your video to catch a potential user’s attention as they’re scrolling.
While you can doll your video up with graphics and text overlays, don’t overdo it.
Your preview video should primarily showcase real footage from your app. That’s what users want to see.
Showcasing your app in action will help users decide if they want to download it or not.
Additionally, your video will be rejected if you show footage that’s filmed outside of your app which could delay your app’s launch.
Remember, app preview videos play without sound by default and many users won’t bother turning it on.
While you can certainly add sound elements to your app preview video, make sure that you create the video assuming the sound is turned off.
This will ensure that users understand the video without sound.
This has been mentioned in the previous section about guidelines, but I want to highlight it again.
Always keep in mind that users will watch your preview video on multiple devices, whether it’s their mobile device, desktop, or tablet.
The last thing you want is the details of a feature to be too small to see or text too small to read on a full screen because you only designed it for mobile.
Finally, for my last tip, think about how to make your app video stand out amongst a sea of app preview videos.
I don’t mean that you should add crazy visuals, music, and text to differentiate your app video.
What I mean is to include content in your video that will help your app stand out from the competition.
By now, you should already have a good idea of what makes your app unique.
This should be apparent in your video.
For example, if you have a photo app that allows users to edit and add filters to photos, your preview video needs to showcase how this app differs from Instagram, VSCO, and other competitors.
Just like your app icon, description, and screenshots are important components in capturing users, so too are app preview videos.
And just because they’re short doesn’t mean you can put them together last minute.
Creating an effective and compelling app preview video that perfectly conveys your app’s essence takes time and effort.
It requires strategy planning.
You’ll need to craft a story about your app, think about what kind of text and content you’ll include, what background music to use, and how to make your app stand out from the competition.
Whether you’re getting ready to launch your app or you’re just starting out in the app development process, it’s never too early to think about what goes into creating the best app preview video.
Your inbox wants some love.
Stay informed with Webiotic latest
0 Comments