A Look at Video Previews on Teachers Pay Teachers

In January 2018, TeachersPayTeachers.com started making the video preview option available for all teacher-authors on their website. This option allows any one who sells or shares online teaching products to upload a video preview to help visitors who view product pages better understand the product before downloading. Previously, visitors could view thumbnails or download PDF document previews.

Option to upload a preview video in the product details

In the months leading up to the addition, TPT did some testing, sent emails about this, and even provided a webinar in January which can be accessed here: https://readytalk.webcasts.com/viewer/event.jsp?ei=1175379&tp_key=d0919fefa3

I have been a teacher-author on TPT since Fall 2013, and  have devoted a ton of time to developing the educational resources to give away or sell. I understand that video can fill many gaps lacking in text explanations, but it made me a little weary because I know all the work it requires to make videos effective.

Amy Berner, the Director of Seller Happiness, and Meighan Agosta, TPT Community Team member, hosted the information webinar. One of the first and most important statements from the session was that "video previews did not result in any statistically significant increase in sale." Right off the bat, they tell you not to do it for sales.

Screenshot from the webinar listing feedback from people who liked the video previews

Although 78% of those surveyed reported that "video previews gave them a better understanding of the resource" I did not feel this way when I watched about 20+ random video preview videos before writing this blog post. It seemed like roughly 1 out of 10 videos were effective in communicating the product purpose.

Screenshot from the webinar listing feedback from people who did not like the video previews

Expectations

I wonder if the reason why I feel these video previews are mostly ineffective is because of my expectations. When I think of a video preview, I think of a short focused clip that describes what a product is about, similar to Amazon product videos posted by sellers. This was not what I regularly encountered on TPT.

It didn't take long for me to be confused watching some of the videos. After going through a number of them, I distinguished a few ways that teacher-authors have been purposing this new upload tool. Below are some issues I noticed.

Issues

#1. Awkward timing
Many of the TPT videos that I watched started or ended abruptly. Videos often displayed a certain length of time, but when I clicked on the product pages to watch them, most of them do not play for that length. For example:

"Grade Essays" video time states 17:26

Video plays only for 1:26

#2. Lack of focus
TPT video preview guidelines are ignored. Many sellers talked about teaching in the videos without discussing the overall product. Visitors must read the product details to build context before watching the videos in order for the viewing to make sense.

#3. Video previews or video products?
An explanation for awkward timing and lack of focus could be that some sellers' products are multimedia or video lessons. Instead of creating video previews that give context and explain the video product, sellers just insert clips of their actual videos for sale.

Such preview methods are used for text products where teacher-authors input screenshots of the product documents. However, this method does not easily transfer to video products. Thoughtful design should go in to creating the video preview-- otherwise it will just appear to be a random video.

The issues I was seeing is not entirely because of teacher-authors. The way that TPT has approached using video explains a lot.

Below is a screenshot from the TPT Help area about selling video.

TPT Help > Video on TPT! > Seller Questions

One of the dropdowns for selling videos is about creating previews for video products.

TPT explains using video preview for paid videos and free videos

Different from selling video is creating video previews for regular document-type resources.

TPT Help > Video Previews for Resources

Summary of the screenshots
Video previews for paid videos can be customized otherwise TPT uses the first 30 seconds of the video product. For free videos, those not logged in will see the first thirty seconds. Those logged in will see the full free video. Video previews for regular (non-video) resources must be developed by the teacher-author. See how this gets confusing for someone who is just browsing?

#4. Video previews as video platforms
A number of the video previews are straight-up full free videos. It seems that some teacher-authors have turned to TPT versus using YouTube, TeacherTube, etc. as a platform for uploading videos about teaching. TPT was not designed to be a video platform, so I don't think using it is effective for that purpose yet, but TPT could be trying to move in that direction.

Don't use video previews as a way to increase earnings

Screenshot from the webinar

One of the most important messages from the webinar was that you should not use video previews as a way to increase earnings. Instead, TPT recommends:

Reasons to use video previews

The hosts stated: "You can't (and shouldn't) do it all." I agree, time should be spent on improving the actual product. Looking around, most teacher-authors are sticking to using images and texts for their page descriptions.

Video previews are time-consuming and they are just an option, though a tricky option. It's good that TPT provides an extra option for teacher-authors, but I think that it would help to set more obvious and standardized guidelines. If you are interested in making video previews, I recommend visiting both the Help area: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Help/Video-Previews-for-Resources?aref=wkotje6z and their detailed document guide in a Google Doc which can be accessed here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19beJxfLo3gzUHx8mUcpj40X1pChpa4pTHilEZ5PUAng/edit?usp=sharing