Member Spotlight: Meet Andrew 🌟

Hello Community! 👋

It’s time for another edition of our Member Spotlight series and we thought we would end the year by chatting to one of our VideoAsk experts - @andrew_videoask 🤗

“Hi, I’m Andrew! I’ve been fascinated by technology my whole life. My earliest memory of using a computer was playing the video game “Lego Island” on our family’s behemoth Dell desktop. That was in the early 2000s. Since then, I’ve used technology to do everything from creating award-winning documentaries to running a digital consulting business. When my eyes aren’t glued to a screen, you’ll find me cooking a new recipe, working out, or spending time with family and friends.”

🤔 What do you do at VideoAsk and how long have you been working there? 
 

I’ve been part of the VideoAsk team for a little over a year now, and it’s been exciting to see the product evolve over time.

My official title is “Senior Technical Customer Advocate,” but I think that’s a lot of mumbo jumbo. Day to day, my work revolves around three pillars of the business: sales, support, and community. I join calls that our sales team conducts with prospective customers, particularly in the early stages of a deal, so that I can share my technical expertise. For example, a prospect might have questions about whether it’s possible to connect VideoAsk to their CRM that isn’t supported in Zapier or in our ‘Connect’ panel.

When it comes to support, I record video responses for customers who reach out to us with questions about VideoAsk. These questions range from pricing and best practices to APIs and webhooks. Finally, I contribute to the VideoAsk community (where you are right now)! I proactively create “community guides” that teach customers how to push the boundaries of VideoAsk and achieve their business goals. I also respond to questions posted by other community members 😉

💙 What’s your favorite VideoAsk feature?

My favorite VideoAsk feature is Redirect to URL. I fully understand that saying that sounds like saying “air is my favorite food,” but Redirect to URL is such a powerful feature. The average VideoAsk creator uses it for its intended purpose: to redirect respondents to another website upon completion of the videoask. However, there are much deeper implications. From a technical perspective, you can use Redirect to URL to pass respondents’ answers from VideoAsk A to your own custom code, which then automatically creates VideoAsk B on the fly.

Here’s a more concrete example: in VideoAsk A, the respondent enters their email address. Using Redirect to URL, you can send that email address to your server and look them up in your customer database. You can retrieve their latest order information and, in real time, redirect them to a brand new videoask that includes that order information as overlay text. Magic! 💫

🚀 What tips would you give to someone starting their VideoAsk journey?
 

• Be succinct: If you want to capture and keep your respondents’ attention, it’s best to keep your videos short and sweet. You can use our drop-off analysis feature to easily identify where respondents are disengaging, potentially because your video content is too long.

• Set up webhooks: This is a more technical feature, so it’s not applicable to all beginners. That being said, many creators mistakenly think they can retrieve all their respondent answers in bulk at the end of a campaign via the VideoAsk API. Due to rate limits, this is not the case. It’s best practice to set up webhooks before you start receiving any responses. This lets you avoid rate limits and process responses in real time.

• Don’t read from a script: If you don’t have a ton of on-camera experience, you might be tempted to write out a full script and read it verbatim. Many beginners do this because it gives them a sense of comfort and security; they won’t lose their train of thought. However, this scripting often comes off as too rigid and robotic. It doesn’t feel authentic. Consider using our Notes feature instead to list a few bullet points, then let it flow!
   

💻 Besides VideoAsk and Typeform, what’s your favorite No-Code tool and why?
 

Make.com is hands down my favorite no-code tool. I literally don’t think there’s anything you can’t do with Make. I’d jokingly say you can’t use it to send a rocket into space… but honestly, you could probably find a way! No-code tools are powerful to begin with, but they’re even better when you add on the element of automation. Make lets you automate any workflow – whether for your personal life or business. Here’s one example of how I’ve married VideoAsk and Make, and our team loves it. 

🤓 What’s been your favorite thing about having VideoAsk in the Community so far?
 

Well… my cat is tired of hearing me talk about VideoAsk all day, every day. So it’s nice to chat about the product with other humans. Plus, I love learning about how other creators are using VideoAsk to skyrocket their businesses and change the world!