Embedding VideoAsk without answer options in Typeform | Community
Skip to main content
Answered

Embedding VideoAsk without answer options in Typeform


Davin
Forum|alt.badge.img+1
  • Socializer
  • 11 replies

Because the majority of our survey respondents are American Sign Language users, all of our questions are accompanied by text in English/Spanish and videos in ASL.

We recently decided to purchase Typeform, as it allows for more answer options, the ability to leave/return to the survey, and a progress bar - all of which are not offered by VideoAsk. However, we still wish to keep VideoAsk so that our respondents can reply to open-ended questions in ASL (via video) should they wish.

To embed videos in our Typeforms, we have the option of: embedding YouTube (too many ads), Vimeo (yet another subscription), or VideoAsk. While embedding our VideoAsk videos works in theory, it means that every video (VideoAsk) in every Typeform will have an unnecessary button alongside the Typeform buttons - see screenshot below. This gets unwieldy fast.

We would like to hide our answer types (per this VideoAsk “Hidden Feature” link), however, this appears to only be possible when embedding the VideoAsk using HTML, which Typeform does not offer. Again, the only buttons we wish to display in our VideoAsk videos are the “Video response” buttons, only when offering open-ended questions.

How can we achieve this, either natively or through integrations? This is extremely important to us and we are looking for a solution as soon as possible. Thank you!

 

Best answer by andrew_videoask

Hi @Davin, here’s a solution for you.

Let’s imagine you want to do the following:

  • Respondent watches video that’s embedded in a typeform (no buttons on videoask)
  • They click a button in the typeform that advances to the next step of the typeform
  • On this second step, they can watch a videoask and respond via videoask’s open-ended answer type

To do that, you can add a video (via URL) to the first step of your typeform. Add the parameter ?justvideo to the end of your videoask URL. This will prevent any buttons from appearing. Since the respondent will still need a way to navigate to the next step of the typeform, include a single button or multiple choice buttons.

On the second step, add another videoask. This will be a new videoask with a different URL. You don’t need to use the ?justvideo parameter for this one because you want the respondent to be able to reply with text, audio, or video.

I hope that helps and makes sense!

View original

12 replies

Grace
Community Team
Forum|alt.badge.img+5
  • Community Advocate
  • 2576 replies
  • January 26, 2023

Hey @Davin first of all, really cool to see that you’re using VideoAsk as a way to communicate with ASL! As you’ve spotted, the Typeform embed doesn’t use code, it’s just the link to the vidoeask, so it’s not possible to use that parameter to make it ?justvideo

Have you tried Delay answer option display so the button options appear at the end of the message and don’t cover the video for as long? Hopefully that could be a workaround, but let me know if it wouldn’t work in this case! Will definitely add this as a feature request in the meantime.


Davin
Forum|alt.badge.img+1
  • Author
  • Socializer
  • 11 replies
  • January 26, 2023

@Grace this is a helpful but not ideal solution. Many of our videos are short (20-30 seconds), so respondents are still likely to see the unnecessary buttons pop up after each one. We could add a black screen to the end of our videos, but then that eats into our monthly minutes…

Alternatively, is there a way to embed videos from the VideoAsk media library into Typeform?

Please let us know if this can be addressed quickly; we have several major projects contingent on this. If we cannot find a solution, we will need to seriously consider abandoning VideoAsk and Typeform altogether.


Grace
Community Team
Forum|alt.badge.img+5
  • Community Advocate
  • 2576 replies
  • January 26, 2023

Hey @Davin in order to get to the next step of a videoask, they will need to click a button, especially if they’re sending you a video response so it’s not possible to get rid of it completely (unless you don’t need them to answer) 

@Liz is there a way to add a video to a typeform that isn’t a YouTube/Vimeo style link?


Davin
Forum|alt.badge.img+1
  • Author
  • Socializer
  • 11 replies
  • January 26, 2023

@Grace , we usually will not want our respondents to get to the next step of a VideoAsk.

Take this for an example:

For a multiple choice question, we’d want respondents to be able to watch the ASL translation of the question and answers, but respond in Typeform by clicking a button (EX: “Which ice cream flavor do you prefer? A. Chocolate, B. Vanilla, C. Strawberry, D. I do not like ice cream.) In this instance we would NOT want them to respond using VideoAsk. We’d only want them to see one video (the translation of “which ice cream flavor do you prefer” and its answers), then proceed to answer using the Typeform buttons.

For an open-ended question, we’d want want respondents to be able to watch the ASL translation of the question and answers, and respond in VideoAsk if they wish to respond using ASL. (EX: “Why don’t you like ice cream?”). Then they’d submit their video using the embedded VideoAsk, then click “next” on the typeform. If they opt to respond in English/Spanish, they could do so via the Typeform.

Ideally, we’d be able to have standalone videos (rather than always embedding VideoAsks, and thus making a few dozen separate VideoAsks, each with one video, for one survey), and only embed VideoAsks if we have multiple open-ended questions back-to-back.

Again, the issue we are running up against is that YouTube has ads, and Vimeo will be extremely expensive for us given the number of separate videos we have (we will quickly exceed the $65/mo plan which only allows for 240 videos a year)… plus the look/feel will be clearly different from that of the embedded VideoAsk videos.


Grace
Community Team
Forum|alt.badge.img+5
  • Community Advocate
  • 2576 replies
  • January 26, 2023

Awesome thanks for explaining this @Davin 🙌 I can 100% see how helpful it would be to be able to embed video only in this instance. Let me check up on this with the team and find out if it’s on the road map/there’s another workaround available


andrew_videoask
Typeform
Forum|alt.badge.img+5

Hi @Davin, here’s a solution for you.

Let’s imagine you want to do the following:

  • Respondent watches video that’s embedded in a typeform (no buttons on videoask)
  • They click a button in the typeform that advances to the next step of the typeform
  • On this second step, they can watch a videoask and respond via videoask’s open-ended answer type

To do that, you can add a video (via URL) to the first step of your typeform. Add the parameter ?justvideo to the end of your videoask URL. This will prevent any buttons from appearing. Since the respondent will still need a way to navigate to the next step of the typeform, include a single button or multiple choice buttons.

On the second step, add another videoask. This will be a new videoask with a different URL. You don’t need to use the ?justvideo parameter for this one because you want the respondent to be able to reply with text, audio, or video.

I hope that helps and makes sense!


Davin
Forum|alt.badge.img+1
  • Author
  • Socializer
  • 11 replies
  • January 26, 2023

@andrew_videoask - that did the trick, thank you!!!! Strangely enough, we were getting a 404 error every time we tried this yesterday. I’m not sure what changed, but we are thrilled it is working now!

Also, it may be worth noting that if you go directly to the VideoAsk URL with the ?justvideo tag, the button still shows up. This is not a concern for us, but I thought it was worth mentioning in case others view this thread.


Grace
Community Team
Forum|alt.badge.img+5
  • Community Advocate
  • 2576 replies
  • January 26, 2023

Amazing @andrew_videoask thanks for sharing! 


Grace
Community Team
Forum|alt.badge.img+5
  • Community Advocate
  • 2576 replies
  • January 26, 2023

Hey @Davin do you think once it’s all ready you’d be up for sharing the typeform so we can see it all in action? It’d be great to see how you’ve put everything together 😊


andrew_videoask
Typeform
Forum|alt.badge.img+5

Glad it worked, @Davin!

Re: ?justvideo seemingly not having an effect if you go directly to the URL, this is expected behavior. It will only work if the videoask embed is less than 1,024 pixels AND the parameter is applied.

Happy videoasking 🙂


Davin
Forum|alt.badge.img+1
  • Author
  • Socializer
  • 11 replies
  • January 27, 2023

Hi Typeform team, thanks again for your help with this issue. Everything is working as intended, however, I wanted to make you aware that for our use purposes, embedding VideoAsks in Typeform is still a bit convoluted. For instance, we have one branching survey with 125 questions total; this requires us to make 125 separate VideoAsks, each with one video. (And that’s just one of several surveys!)

It would be amazing if we could embed videos directly from the media library, which would cut down on this busywork significantly. Please add it to your feature request list if it’s not on the list already!


Grace
Community Team
Forum|alt.badge.img+5
  • Community Advocate
  • 2576 replies
  • January 27, 2023

Hey @Davin great feedback, thank you so much for sharing I’ll make sure this gets added to the feature request board!


Reply