We spoke to 100+ people about why they avoid making product videos. The answer surprised us.
Part of my job in growth at Clueso is talking to Marketers, PMs, customer success managers, solo founders building in public.
And over time, one pattern kept showing up that I genuinely didn't expect.
When I'd ask "what's stopping you from making more product videos?" – almost nobody said editing. Nobody said they lacked design skills. Those were real pain points, sure, but they weren't the thing.
The thing was: people didn't know what to say.
They'd open a screen recorder, stare at their cursor, and just… not start. Not because they didn't know their product inside out. But because they weren't sure what the video was actually for. Who was watching? What should it make them feel? Is this a 60-second overview or a deep walkthrough?
It was a clarity problem masquerading as a production problem.
That realization hit differently when I was working on our growth strategy. Because if someone never hits record in the first place, no amount of AI magic on the back end matters.
It's also made me think a lot about how we talk about video as a growth lever and whether teams are even set up to succeed before they open any tool.
I'd love to know: when you think about creating product videos for your team or your product, where do you actually get stuck? Before you record, during the edit, or somewhere else entirely?
There are no wrong answers here, and your experience genuinely helps us understand what to build next.
Replies
Great question! Software companies can use this as a marker: if your team can't record a product video explaining the value of your product or a feature fast, that's a red flag.
It usually means one of a few things:
Your team lacks clarity about the product's value, positioning, and ICP -> you need to create a knowledge base to make it clear and transparent across the company.
Your product is so complex that even the people building and promoting it every day struggle to explain how it works to customers.
There's no solid product training in place to help marketing, sales, and CS understand the product and communicate its value effectively.
IMO, if your team truly understands the product's value, knows it well, and has clarity on how it's evolving, creating a product video isn't a big deal. It takes 5-10 minutes to put together a solid screencast.
Clueso
@alina_petrova3 This is a really sharp diagnostic framework, especially point 3. Internal knowledge gaps are so underrated as a root cause. It's not that people don't want to make videos, it's that they're not confident they'd say the right thing.
The 5–10 minute benchmark is exactly what we solved at Clueso and has been working out well for users. If it takes longer than that, something upstream is broken and no tool fixes that. But when the clarity is there, production really should be that fast.
What's worked for your team on the knowledge base side?
@ashutosh_raj Gamification works great to encourage employees learn more about the product, constantly test features, and track updates. The most efficient tactic I saw was weekly product quizzes. We had a leaderboard and the winners were rewarded. Also, sales, marketing, and CS teams had to pass a quarterly product knowledge exam.
Clueso
@alina_petrova3 that's such a clean way to make product knowledge sticky without it feeling like homework! And the quarterly exam is something I haven't heard many teams formalise like that.
This kind of internal rhythm is honestly what separates teams who can make a product video in 10 minutes from ones who spend a week on it.
If your ICP, value prop, and use case aren’t crisp, no tool is saving that
Clueso
@rolodexter This is such a fair point, and it's actually what a lot of our conversations with users have surfaced too - the bottleneck is often upstream of any tool.
What I find interesting though: a lot of teams think their ICP and use case are crisp until they try to make a 90-second video and suddenly realize they have no idea what to cut. The video kind of stress-tests your clarity in a way a deck or doc doesn't. Sometimes, users also iterate on the positioning and idea while using video as a medium. Video in a way provides a canvas to figure out the right positioning by iterating and getting more clarity as they go through the process of creating one.
How does your team usually pressure-test that before going into production mode?
minimalist phone: creating folders
Thank you for the question... I need to have my say here, as sometimes I record and edit videos.
Everything starts with an idea – architecture and possibilities.
I had many cool ideas on how the video could look, but we either lack a good videographer, visual effects, or suitable environments.
As soon as we had these limitations, I had to reframe the whole script to fit into the options/possibilities we had.
Editing is a really smart part of video creation. You need to work with a creative idea (but that idea needs to be "executable."
If you sort out this (planning phase), the rest will get easier. But yeah, editing is most time-demanding.
Clueso
@busmark_w_nika The gap between the video you imagine and what you can actually execute with the resources you have – that tension is something so many people skip over, and you've nailed it.
And yes, editing being the most time-demanding part is exactly what we keep hearing. Which is the core problem we've solved at Clueso, cutting down the time between 'I know what I want' and 'it actually looks good.'
Do you usually script it out before recording or figure it out as you go?
minimalist phone: creating folders
@ashutosh_raj Both. Actually I try to script before, but when an idea hits me during recording, I need to revisit the script again :D
As a professional copywriter, this question makes me sad. And glad.
Sad that so many entrepreneurs are still buying the old snake-oil of "You can do everything yourself, including marketing." (Even with AI help.)
And glad that some - the smart ones at least - realize that it often takes an outsider to understand, consolidate and communicate the key aspects of their product.
In the life of every product there comes a time when the benefits need to be shared with an outside audience. The successful companies realize that their specialty is building whatever... and not marketing. And that an investment in a perceptive copywriter can move products beyond the generic.
I get that the OP is hoping to replace human writers with AI. Best of luck with that. Here's what a copywriter will get you:
Insights into your product that go beyond the basic capabilities
A non-generic POV and voice
Intuitive jumps that will resonate with real humans
That's my take.
Clueso
@rick_wochoski Appreciate you sharing this, Rick! Honestly, you're not wrong. A sharp copywriter who truly gets a product is irreplaceable, and the "just use AI to do everything" pitch is one we'd push back on too.
But here's where I'd reframe slightly: Clueso isn't about replacing the copywriter, it's about making sure the copywriter's (or the PM's, or the founder's) thinking actually makes it into a video without getting killed in production. In fact, Clueso's AI gives you a great starting point for script and video however it is still up to the user to modify it according to their liking. The communication of ideas, what to emphasize on and everything around it still remains in the hands of the user.
The problem we kept running into was that great messaging would die on the vine because turning it into a polished video felt like a whole separate job. So the insight stays in a doc, the video never gets made, and the audience never sees the work.
The way we see it: you bring the non-generic POV and the intuitive jumps. Clueso just makes sure those don't get stuck in the editing bottleneck. The best outcome is a great copywriter's thinking, actually shipped – fast and at scale.
@ashutosh_raj I'm totally on board with what you're trying to do! I spent much of my career trying to make compelling videos and commercials with too little budget. So anything that can help raise the creative bar is awesome in my book. I'll try your product on a vid for my business and see what happens. Thanks for the reply!
Clueso
@rick_wochoski That means a lot, thank you. The bar for video keeps going up, but the resources don’t always follow.
Would love to see what you create for your business. If you’re open to it, feel free to share the video once it’s live. Happy to support however I can.
I'd also say beyond not knowing what to say is also show. Nothing to do with not knowing my ICP. It's that I have a poor demo environment which makes it impossible to make something that can go out publicly. Similar use cases when I want to make a video about new product features.
Clueso
@g0dz Thanks for being honest! Yes, you are correct in saying that the demo environment makes a difference in how the video turns out. That said, you could utilize many visual and audio effects like animations, zoom-ins, spotlights, graphics, music and more which can help you elevate the level of videos. Teams and solo founders use Clueso for this very reason. Feel free to give it a try!
@ashutosh_raj I am! I got my company to subscribe already after I tested it out for a side project. Really like the tool. Now I just need a better demo environment!