Getting Started with Actions (CTAs) in Vidyard
Actions (CTAs) give you endless ways to increase engagement with your Vidyard videos and drive your viewers to take the next step — to book a meeting, fill out a form, go to your website, and much more.
In this guide, you'll learn about the different types of Actions, how Actions differ based on product tier, and how to get started.
What are actions?
Actions are Vidyard's versions of calls-to-action (CTAs), but for your videos.
An Action can be any step that you want a viewer to take in response to your video. You can ask viewers to:
- book a meeting in your calendar
- download a helpful resource, like a PDF
- go to your company's website
- start a follow-up conversation via email
- submit information in a form
- + much more
Actions appear inside the frame of your video. You can position an Action at the beginning (pre-roll), during (mid-roll), or at the end of the video (post-roll).
Here are some examples:
How to get started
If you're using Vidyard Pro, sign in to your account, then select the Actions icon from the main menu. Learn more about using Actions in Vidyard Pro.
On Plus or Business Plans (Essentials, Growth, or Enterprise), users that belong to a Team with the Edit Videos permission can manage Actions. You can either:
- Select the Actions icon from the main menu to create a new Action
OR
- To add and edit Actions on a specific video, select a video from your library, then click on the Actions tab
Understanding the different types of Actions
Team versus Folder Actions
On Vidyard's Plus or Business Plans (Essentials, Growth, or Enterprise), Actions can either be team-based or folder-based.
Which type you choose largely depends on the purpose of the Action, who you want to use it (e.g. your Sales or Marketing Teams), and what videos you want the Action applied to (i.e. where the videos are located in Vidyard).
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Team Actions allow you to assign an Action directly to a team of users. This type of Action works best in cases where you want members of a team to use the same purpose-built CTA in the videos they record and share. Ideal for Sales teams.
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- Some team-based Actions can be automatically personalized with details from your team members' user profiles (their name, role, and calendar link)
- Learn more about Team Actions
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Folder Actions allow you to assign an Action to videos within a particular folder. This type of Action works best in cases where videos are organized in a folder for a dedicated purpose. Ideal for Content or Marketing Teams.
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- For example, a folder contains videos for your marketing team's summer campaign. The CTA might be a form that asks viewers to submit information to register for an event.
- Learn more about Folder Actions
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Different styles of Actions (fullscreen, banners, forms)
Actions come in all different shapes and sizes. Whether you use team-based or folder-based Actions, there are a few common styles that you can create.
Vidyard provides templated versions of each Action style to help you get started quickly. In higher Vidyard plan types, you can create your own Custom Actions (see Levels of Action customization).
| Style of Action | When the CTA can appear | Common use case |
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Fullscreen A CTA that takes up the entire frame of the video. Typically text + a button. Video pauses until the viewer skips the Action. |
Before, during, or after the video |
Use a link to direct viewers to different page to complete next steps, such as:
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Banners A CTA that appears during the video, taking up ⅓ of the video frame. Typically text + a button. Video continues to play while CTA is visible. |
Only during the video (you choose start and end time) | |
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Forms A CTA that asks for your viewers' email address. Contains a text field + a submit button. Video pauses until the viewer submits their email address or skips the Action. |
Before, during, or after the video |
Ask for an email address so that you can identify viewers who watch your video. Identified viewers are recorded in the Vidyard Contacts Center as well as your Video Insights. The user that created the form will receive an email notification whenever a viewer submits the form. When you have an active data integration between Vidyard and a marketing automation (MAP) or CRM platform, video analytics from identified views are passed into lead and contact records. |
Levels of Action customization
There are varying levels of customization for Actions, depending on your account's plan type. To help you get started quickly, plans like Vidyard Pro, Plus and Essentials (Business) offer out-of-the-box, templated Actions for common use cases.
In higher tiers, Actions can be fully customized with HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
| Type of Actions | Plan Availability | Key points |
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Basic Actions ⬆️ Use 2 out-of-the-box Actions to drive next steps for your viewers |
Vidyard Pro |
Learn more about Actions in Vidyard Pro |
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Quick Actions ⬆️⬆️ Use 3 simple templates to create Actions for common use cases: a fullscreen Action, a banner, or an email capture form |
Vidyard Plus, Business (Essentials, Growth, Enterprise) |
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Custom Actions ⬆️⬆️⬆️ Fully customizable Actions |
Vidyard Business (Essentials with Custom Actions add-on, Growth, Enterprise) |
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Glossary of terms related to Actions
Here are some common terms that you might encounter when reading about or using Actions in Vidyard.
|
Term |
Definition |
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Team Action |
An Action that you can assign directly to members of a Team in Vidyard. |
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Folder Action |
An Action that you can assign to videos within a specific folder. |
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In-video action |
An Action that appears inside the frame of the video player. |
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Sharing page action |
An Action that appears on the sharing page itself, underneath your video. Sharing page actions are available in Vidyard Pro accounts. |
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Pre-roll, Mid-roll, and Post-roll |
Pre, mid and post-roll all refer to when an action occurs during the playback of a video:
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Fullscreen |
A type of Action that takes up the entire frame inside the video player. |
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Annotation |
An Action that appears during playback, typically to highlight or supplement the content of the video. Annotations are typically smaller in size and do not take up the entire frame of the video (for example, a banner that takes up 1/3 of the video frame). |
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Email capture form |
An Action with a fillable form field to obtain a viewer's email address. Sometimes this type of Action is referred to as an "email gate", especially if you make the form a non-skippable and place it at the beginning of your video. |
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Default action |
An Action that has been set to automatically apply to all videos. Default Actions can be applied to all videos created by members of a Team, or all videos within a specific folder. Applicable to Actions in Plus or Business (Essentials, Growth, or Enterprise) accounts. |
Support for Actions on mobile devices
So long as viewers watch your video in a supported browser, the actions that you've added to the video will appear during playback.
However, there is some nuance to how Actions appear on mobile devices when the video enters fullscreen mode.
| Type of Action | Android (v4.4+) | iOS (v11+) |
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Fullscreen (pre & post-roll)
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Supported |
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Fullscreen (mid-roll) |
Supported |
Supported Note: video will exit fullscreen mode and continue to play inline in order to display CTA |
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Annotations
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Supported |
Supported (when video plays inline) Not supported (when video plays in fullscreen mode) |
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Sharing page Actions
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Supported |
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