Who enjoys going to meetings? I certainly do not, and, once the pandemic lock down began, it seemed that no one could conduct business unless it was via a Zoom call. I truly disliked looking at myself on those Zoom split screens which made those calls unbearable. (I know there is a way to hide the self-view now but in early 2020 it was not available.) Plus, I found that my work day filled up with wasteful meetings that required working late nights to actually complete my work.
Thankfully, I had been using Loom since April of 2019 to communicate with my clients and knew how more efficiently I could schedule my work day using Loom. So, I put an end to accepting invitations to Zoom meetings and asked my clients to open Loom accounts instead. I explained how to use the tool and I have not regretted the decision one bit.
I sell my services to build out ActiveCampaign automations. Every once in a while, someone will contact me via fiverr and insist that a Zoom meeting is required before commencing a project. They believe that they need to see me to ensure I understand the requirements of the gig. I explain that I have created many sophisticated automations over the years, and, if their automation cannot be explained via a flowchart or a Loom recording they provide of the particulars, then it probably can’t be built.
Steps to Enroll
The process to sign up for Loom could not be easier.
- Go to https://www.loom.com/
- Click the button “Get Loom For Free”.
- Agree to the Privacy Terms and Conditions.
- Follow the prompt to answer a few questions about how you plan to use the tool.
- Download the Desktop app and install the Chrome extension from the page you will be redirected to after answering the questions in step 4.
- Once you have downloaded the desktop app, click on the link “Continue to Workspace”.
Once you are in your Workspace you will see four (4) video recordings that are all worth viewing.
- How the CEO of Loom uses Loom
- Getting started with Loom
- Recording a presentation with Loom
- And a fourth recording which is usually specific to your intended use of Loom
If you watch nothing else, please be sure to watch the five (5) minute Getting Started video. This video provides a terrific overview of the Loom application.
Ways I Use Loom
Bug Reporting
Sure, you can take a screenshot and mark it up and document the steps you took to get to the error that you want to report OR you can use Loom and record a video which demonstrates exactly how the error was generated. When you send a recording to Quality Assurance or a support center’s representative, they can watch it and follow the steps to reproduce the error in their own environment.
I have used Loom on many occasions to supplement the data I provided to software engineers when I came across a bug in their software.
Process Walk-Throughs
This is my prime reason for using Loom. As I mentioned, I build out process automations using ActiveCampaign and Zapier. Many of my clients are new to the platforms and I take the opportunity to explain step-by-step what each node in the ActiveCampaign automation does. I also explain what sort of changes can be made for future enhancements.
Zapier was created to allow non-programmers to pass data from one platform to another platform, such as, feeding contact details from your website’s contact form to your email marketing platform like ActiveCampaign. While a non-programmer can sort out the logic for such a simple Zap, for more complicated tasks, such as, taking orders from SamCart, looking up the SKU of the product purchased, and based on that SKU, assigning a particular tag to the customer and sending the data to ActiveCampaign, Loom is the perfect tool to explain the steps in the process to the novice user.
ActiveCampaign can have nested if/else nodes, webhooks, deal creations and updates that can make following the automation a bit difficult. Using Loom to walk through the logic node by node, helps to explain to the client what I have put in place to meet their objectives. It also enables them to see what modifications may be needed to finish the project. The client is also able to see what is possible using the drag and drop tools of the platform. With explanations I have provided, clients have stated that they had the confidence to create new automations on their own.
One benefit of having such a recording on hand is that you can always refer back to the recording when needed. It also eliminates many follow-up emails in the event the client does not remember how to do something explained in a Zoom call.
When I am going through a very long and complex process, it is very helpful to be able to hit the pause button. I’ve used the pause button to pause the recording when I had to pick up an important phone call, when I had to search for an email, and of course, on the rare occasion when the FedEx person rings the doorbell for a signature on the delivery form. In any case, the pause button has saved me a lot of time because I was able to pause the recording and I did not have to scrap what was already recorded and start all over – a terrific feature.
Support Issues
I get many calls from clients asking why something isn’t working in WordPress. They will say an element is not being added to a post or page and look to me to explain why this is happening. I am able to go step by step through the process to add the element to the post or page and they can see what they were doing wrong that prevented them from adding the element to the page or post.
Five (5) years ago, a client call like this would have taken an hour out of my day while I typed out all the steps in an email and added screen prints marked up so they could see what buttons or links to click to achieve successful results. Today, the process of recording the steps in detail using Loom takes a fraction of the time it did just a few years ago.
Why Not Give Loom A Try
I’ve explained just three of the ways I use Loom every day. However, I neglected to explain how I’ve made use of it during the pandemic when celebrating birthdays in person was not possible. My partner and I would come up with unique and fun ways to sing happy birthday and send the links to family and friends. At times, making the videos may have made us laugh even more than the people watching them, but it helped us all to stay connected.
I’ve also heard people use Loom to record short motivational clips to send to new members of their online membership sites to add a bit of personalization to their service.
Some other uses:
- Record tutorials or how-to videos to post on your website to supplement the written documentation provided.
- Record lessons for use by students to supplement their studies.
- Record product demos and save them to your website or include them in email marketing.
- Get team members on board – terrific tool to record software demonstrations to get new team members up to speed so they can integrate quickly into the team.
- Send surprise messages to team members to keep up team morale and enhance team’s cohesiveness.
Read how Braze used Loom to create their marketing videos.
I hope you will give Loom a try to improve efficiencies in your work day.
Join 14 million global users
If your time is being eaten up by endless meetings, chats and email strings, give Loom a try so that you can free up your day to get real work done during traditional work hours.
