Here's an example of a 'how to use this product' video I've created, and why creating videos like this can increase customer satisfaction, reduce support and product returns, as well as find new customers for your products

I recently completed a new DVD, and one of the most important segments on the DVD, shows you how to use the DVD and get the most out of it.

You may be wondering, 'why would anyone need to view a video showing them how to get the most out of a DVD - especially after they have purchased the DVD?.

Good question.

In this case, the DVD uses a multi-page menu system, and it is possible that some viewers may not realize that the majority of content on the DVD is hidden on menus not seen on the main page.

If the viewer doesn't understand the menu system and doesn't find all the other content, they may be dissatisfied, and request a refund. Or call and request support.

Either way, the customer won't be happy, and unhappy customers are never good for business.

For that reason, when the DVD is inserted into the customer's computer, the following video immediately starts playing.

Click the play icon to view it.

As you can see, the short video welcomes them to the product, and tells them where to find instructions on how to use the DVD.

What you don't see on the above video is that it plays within the main menu on the DVD. So when you view this on the DVD, the main menu appears on the left hand side of the screen.

If you've purchased this DVD, you'll likely follow the suggestion in the above video, and you'll click on the 'getting started' link in the main menu.

When you do, you'll see the following video. Note that on the actual DVD, the video screen is larger - I've reduced the screen size so it will fit on this page.

If you viewed the above 'getting started' video, you find out what is on the DVD (more than 100 video segments, spanning more than 3 hours of video tips), and you learn how to quickly find your way around the video.

And as a customer, you are immediately reassured that all the things you expected to find on the DVD are there. So even if you don't view the DVD immediately, you feel good that it will be there when you need it.

One thing you may have noticed in the above video is the DVD actually runs like a CD. You use your computer mouse to click the menu and control the video and audio controls.

This is because even though the product is delivered on a DVD, it was designed to deliver extremely high resolution computer screen captures, and to do that, I kept all the files in computer resolution format, and placed them all on a DVD that only runs in a computer.

To explain this on the sales page, I include the following information:

"Note that this disk includes high resolution computer screen movies, far superior than you'd get on a normal DVD. For that reason, this disc can be viewed on any computer DVD drive, but not on DVD drives attached to TV sets."

How-to-Use and Marketing

If you viewed the 'getting started' video above, you quickly discovered what the DVD is all about, you saw the kind of information the DVD provides, and you saw the image quality that it delivers.

And it may have made you want the product.

And that's another good reason you'll want to create these 'how to use' segments for your DVDs and CDs - because they can be used in your sales pages and uploaded to YouTube to help potential customers discover your product and see how good it is.

Creating these kinds of videos

I created the two video segments above, along with all the video on the DVD, using Camtasia Studio.

I then produced them as flash videos, placed them in a folder structure, and used my free Camtasia CD User Interface Generator to build the CD menu.

When I get ready to upload the 'getting started' video to YouTube, I'll open the video in Camtasia, and render to HD using the settings I wrote about in my article Produce HD widescreen Camtasia videos for YouTube using these settings.

If you want to see the sales page for the DVD mentioned above, check out 101 Tips, Tricks & Techniques Using Sony Vegas Movie Studio.

If you use Sony Movie Studio, you'll likely find the DVD very valuable.

And if you've been thinking about using Camtasia to produce this kind of product, you might want to get the DVD just so you can see how I've put it all together on DVD.

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