Effectively using notes and clips

UserTesting makes it easy to identify moments of insight in a video and to share them with others. Below are some tips on how to effectively use notes and clips.

 

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Makes notes in a video

You can manually type notes directly within the video player to capture your thoughts, and document important issues or findings while reviewing a video. The notes will be captured along with a time stamp, where you can click to jump to that specific section of the video.

For example: "1:45 - User overlooks the small 'Place Order' button on the checkout page."

To begin making notes:

    1. Open a video in your Dashboard.
    2. Select the Notes & Clips view from the drop-down menu. Start playing the video.
    3. To create a new note, type in the box labeled "Start typing a #tag and/or note here..." Alternatively, you can press the "n" key on your keyboard as a shortcut.Screen_Shot_2022-06-29_at_3.47.17_PM.png

By default, playback will pause while you type a note. To change the settings for playback when editing a note, click the Keyboard icon underneath the video.

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Make a clip

You can create clips from your video. These video clips can be shared as is, or multiple clips can be compiled into a highlight reel and shared with others.

To begin, play the video. To get a clip with just one step, select the Clip button underneath the video. This captures the previous and current phrases spoken by the contributor. A transcript of what was said will automatically appear in the notes.

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Alternatively, you can make a clip by highlighting part of the video transcript. Click the Down arrow to the right of the player and, from the drop-down menu that appears, select Transcript.

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As soon as you highlight the transcript passage you want, a Make clip call-to-action automatically appears.

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To enter your own start and end times before the clip is saved, select "c" on your keyboard or check the Make Clip checkbox.

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Clips default to 30 seconds long in the clip editor. However, start and endpoints will be displayed in the timeline at the bottom of the video. Click and drag the endpoints to change them. You can also select the time field for one of the endpoints and then use the Up or Down arrow keys to fine-tune them.

Or, if you prefer, type the start or end times directly into the time fields.

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When you're happy with the clip, click Save.

 

Tagging clips

Adding tags to notes and clips will help you stay organized and more quickly find these assets later, such as when you’re making a highlight reel. Tags also appear in the Excel export for notes and clips.

Use the hashtag character to make tags. For example, typing “#issue” activates a quick selection menu (see image below) that contains all of the existing tags in your workspace. Note that you’ll be creating a new tag only if the tag is not used anywhere else in the workspace. When creating a new tag, remember that spaces are not allowed in the tag name; if you’re looking to separate words in the tag name, use hyphens or underscores instead.

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Mark as important

Use the Star icon to mark a video clip or note as important. When creating a highlight reel, filter for these clips that you have previously marked as important. When creating a highlight reel, consider adding a filter to show only clips marked as important. Doing so will make it easier to find clips. 
Additionally, when your teammates view clips, they can indicate the ones that they find important, which you and everyone else on your team can see. 
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When you mark a clip as important, the clip will be pushed into the Summary tab.
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You can use this feature as a means to improve your team's efficiency in identifying key insights by...
  • Quickly viewing clips that your teammates have marked as important. Doing so helps you spend your limited time on the most impactful clips.
  • Vetting clips and creating notes, offering your teammates hints on the content you think they should focus on.
  • Leveraging the wisdom of the crowd. Create a culture where people consistently gather human insights and express their opinions when reviewing videos. 

 

 

Sentiment tagging

Select “negative” and “positive” tags when working in the Notes & Clips mode. You can scan your notes to get a sense of the sentiment expressed in these observations, or quickly create highlight reels using sentiment as a filter. Learn more about the sentiment analysis and smart tags, features that will assist you in more quickly identifying important moments in the UserTesting video player. 
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