W2 Product Teardown: Vlipsy
Note: Per Medium policy, I am reaffirming that I am not sponsored by nor advertising this product. Like any product that I am using in this Product Teardown series, they are only here for the purposes of education and discussion. A URL to the product will not be included.
To wrap up Week 2 of my Product Management journey, I’ll be taking a look at a product that ended up being quite the challenge compared to last week’s, Vlipsy.
Unlike Brisknote, which I found from Product Hunt as a product still in the development stage, Vlipsy is an established product. According to CrunchBase, it has been active for about two years. This product has a value proposition that it “offers users short, conversational video clips” to “share in online communication. Vlipsy was introduced to me through my Unreal Collective cohort — and it is not a product that I would typically engage with heavily.
Once again, I’ll move forward with the same methodology of analysis as the previous product.
Does this product solve a problem?
Yes! The first impression that I had when taking a look at Vlipsy was that it reminded me immediately of GIPHY or even Imgur. By focusing on the ability to share during online communication, Vlipsy solves a problem of “adequate expression” while using an online communication platform. There is a compiled library of short video clips that are made available for use on (most) communication platforms.
Pain Analysis
I view the pain of “adequate expression” to be a low magnitude pain, especially because there are already built-in resources available on communication platforms which can be used. For example, platforms like mobile text messaging have emojis or Facebook Messenger has stickers. Also, while a video clip is a fresh feature, the existence of just images (Imgur) or the commonly used .gif file (GIPHY) are also available in the space. The output is not the same, they are just competing resources.
That said, the frequency is where the pain analysis takes a sharp turn in direction — how often are people on their communication devices all day long? How many communication platforms do people have on their mobile or personal devices? The frequency of this pain should be very high, as most users who would have access to this product would be living in a connected world.
Reflecting on learnings, it seems that an ideal situation would have the opposite rankings in magnitude and frequency. However, this still affirms the potential to solve a pain and provide a solution. I justify this considering that compounding pain was an important factor in the W1 Product Teardown, and I believe this to be the case once again for Vlipsy. Even if a user would only send 10–20 text messages a day, depending on how frequently the user would want to use a visual expression in their communication, this could result in hundreds, if not thousands of opportunities every year they are active.
Hypothesis
What is a possible hypothesis that the product manager for Vlipsy would use? This would likely center back to the value proposition and the problem that it is trying to solve. Maybe “The product could succeed because people want to express themselves with more than just text” or “The product could succeed because people who express themselves want to do so more effectively.”
As Vlipsy also has a differentiating factor of sound (discussed later), it has a “one-stop shop” potential for the natural evolutionary advantage of using Emojis > Images > .gifs > Videos in text communications.
Persona/Empathy Analysis
As using text communication platforms is something that a widespread variety of user personas could be engaged, using the contextual clue of frequent visual expression during communication allows the field to be narrowed.
According to a Harris Poll conducted in 2017, about 7 out of 10 Americans preferred using some type of visual expression during text communication. Specifically, about 60% of the 18–44 age group expected an increase in .gif usage in the upcoming year. So would it be possible to build a User Persona with this information? How about an introduction to Connected Chris?
Connected Chris fits a potential user persona of Vlipsy. He just started college a couple of years ago and is in a very social environment, connecting often with his friends and classmates.
He stays connected to all of his various friend groups or chat groups with different communication platforms. He texts frequently, maybe sometimes in class, on the bus through town, or even to his parents from time to time. In the photograph, it seems that he’s quite into technology, as he juggles both a mobile device and personal laptop, loaded with the latest apps.
Without much to go on for an Empathy mapping, in terms of visual expression, this User Persona could be much more focused on behaviors through what he says and does. What is a possible goal of Connected Chris? It could be something as simple as “I want to make a bigger impact when I express myself” or “I want to have something funny or witty on hand when I text.”
The User Experience
I first visited the Vlipsy website and noticed that they had quite a few options for download. In addition to a web app, there were also options for Android, iOS, and even Slack! I went for the mobile app on Android, as I figured having text messaging capability would pair pretty well with it.
Once again, I’ll walk through some of my thoughts as I got to install the app and explore it a bit more.
I got the app through the Play Store and immediately upon opening, I was greeted with a pop-up to install some Ellie (the mascot) Stickers in WhatsApp. Normally I wouldn’t really find this too appealing, but the presentation was done well, with (1) an appropriately happy pink elephant and (2) a fairly non-intrusive request. This would be quite different if it was asking to join a mailing list, for example.
It is completely understandable if this is a user experience turn-off… I did pause for a moment to rationalize the trade-off of this welcome screen. There must be evidence of this through some level of metrics. Although I am not a user of Duolingo, Ellie definitely had some similarity to Duo, the friendly green owl that shows up on the app as it guides you through learning a language. I wondered if this was the purpose of associating a mascot with the product; to help or guide through the process.
Taking a look around the UI, Vlipsy remained true to its value prop, as the main screen is heavily populated with video clips. I do have the habit of being a user of “memes” from time to time, so some of these video clips did immediately draw my attention. The first tab consists of a Trending tab, with direct access to a search bar at the bottom, followed by a Help screen on the top left, and finally an Account screen on the top right. The UI is kept very simple and straight to the point — “Want to find? We’ll help you.”
I’ll visit the FAQ later. Right now it’s time to sign up!
Account sign-up was a very smooth process, with a Facebook option or email option, up to the user. Contrasting to last week’s Product Teardown where it wasn’t far enough into development to include an email option, having this option was pretty nice. Upon signing up and verifying my account through email, I gained access to the Account screen (Top Right from the main screen), which changed into a gray elephant icon from the white “random person” icon.
I was met with a very bored Ellie, who was waiting for me to create a clip — err, vlip. Before I create one, though, how about I look into how the vlip process works?
It’s also important to note that up until this point, I had not encountered a single ad, which is a pretty big plus with all of the apps currently available to me through my mobile device and/or online viewing.
Heading back to the main screen, I picked one of the clips that I was familiar with — Jonah Hill at the 2012 Oscars, and selected that preview. This took me to a screen with a larger resolution of the video clip, and eight (!) different communication platform share options: Text Message, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, you name it.
There was even a plain URL link or even a download link. I tested these two links first, which wound up working easily without any issues.
During this process, there was one feature that I had almost forgotten about — the sound! Hitting the sound icon on the bottom left of the vlip produced very high quality sound to accompany the animation, which is not something I was used to on competing platforms. This is a pretty significant differentiator, which I’ll discuss later on.
Now, what about sharing it on a text platform? I clicked the first button in the bar for text messaging, and it automatically brings up the text communication platform on the mobile device, prompting you to pick a contact to share the vlip with. I noticed that on some platforms, a URL would come out. I other cases, if I elected to download the vlip, this would automatically share a small file (about half of a megabyte) within the communication platform.
I went ahead and added this vlip to my Favorites, which populated the associated Tab from the main screen. Finally, I hit the Expand Button on the search bar at the bottom of the main screen, and found that the different genres of the vlips were nested in there. Very useful for a quick selection of genre, with scrolling ability and easy access at the bottom of the screen (thumb access), and reaffirms the initial thoughts of a simple and easy design.
How about transitioning to the search function?
I punched in a Vlip-worthy celebrity, Nicholas Cage, to test the search feature, and was not disappointed. Without any issues, the Wicker Man .gif was added to my list of Favorites. I, too, hate the bees.
It was finally time to return and make Ellie happy, and create my own personal Vlip.
The one thing that surprised me was that the mobile app didn’t have the functionality yet to create a Vlip on its own. I was directed to the Vlipsy website through the app, where I could begin my own journey into creation.
I assessed that this must be one of the backlog features that Vlipsy is currently working on. From my point of view, the act of creating or sharing, especially in an efficient/quick manner, is a potential driver to product experience and product growth — to leave it out of the mobile app completely wouldn’t be in alignment with this path.
By moving to the website, I had to go through some hiccups, which are completely necessary jumping from platform to platform. You have to sign in once again when you reach the web version of the product, and you are again greeted by the familiarity of the main screen on the app. Except this time, the categories are also integrated at the top, where on the mobile app we only saw “Trending” and “Favorites.”
Hitting the pink “Plus Sign” leads to an interface that allows you to past a YouTube link, and even has a button to open the YouTube app on your phone as well. I decided to select a highlight reel from a recent Birmingham Iron (yes, it’s pretty new) football game from the Alliance of American Football, where Trent Richardson punches it in for a touchdown.
The app allowed me to select a starting time and end time, cutting me off to make sure that the vlip itself wasn’t too long. Again, a simple process combined with a reasonable control measure for server space and load time(s).
I named my vlip, added some hashtags so it could be found, and voila! I had created my first vlip to share with friends, and I had access to it through both the website and mobile app.
And I totally did. Some friends and I are getting into this new offseason football league, and this was a great way to get some friendly banter in.
Now, the only UX hiccup that wound up standing out to me, was that once I came back to the mobile app to confirm that my vlip was there, I couldn’t exit through the “Back” button, which is a feature that quite a few mobile apps I currently use have integrated. Pressing the “Back” button while in the Vlipsy interface just kept resetting the main screen, which for some people (like myself) gave the impression that mobile app was bugging out.
SWOT Analysis & Competition
Heading into the last part of the Product Teardown template, there were definitely some challenges presented as I performed the SWOT Analysis on Vlipsy.
As I continued to review Vlipsy and find its place in the ecosystem, I realized how out of touch I myself was with the current text communication scene — I am not what I would consider a heavy user of such services.
It is arguable that Vlipsy occupies the same general space as some other services out there, which I’ve already mentioned, like Imgur or GIPHY. That said, Vlipsy pulls away from other platforms by its current offering of a (smooth) video clip rather than an animated .gif or plain image. There is also a creation advantage as the vlip can simply be pulled from an existing YouTube video, rather than having to create the content (image, .gif file) first, and then upload to a corresponding platform.
Similar to last week’s Product Teardown, the presence or lack of features is not a zero-sum game, and I felt that instead of having to co-exist with other platforms, Vlipsy’s strength lies in the fact that there will eventually be an end-game — to be a “one-stop shop” that has an array of video clips ready at its disposal.
If Vlipsy wanted to service an intended audience filled with Connected Chris’s, it certainly had a leg-up in the what would be a natural evolution from the Emoji to other sources of visual expression. This is what I wound up with after the SWOT Analysis:
The SWOT Analysis in this case still remains pretty positive in terms of tone. Vlipsy offers quite a bit of technology that is ahead of its competitors, through the ability to use video clips with good quality sound, rather than an image or a .gif file. However, I wondered if there were current plans to expand beyond YouTube, and whether that would be a good idea in the first place? What were the copyright rules for using something that is on YouTube, but is copyrighted content to begin with (movie clips, TV show clips, and so forth)?
I hesitated adding this in as only a potential Weakness. After all, if there is a safety blanket provided to Vlipsy indirectly through having the source content hosted on YouTube, this would flip-flop and turn into a strength. There is a significantly reduced chance of making a vlip out of content that could land the product into hot water.
When I reached the potential opportunities for Vlipsy, I also had a chance to gain some insight into what I believe would be its monetization (Revenue) model. I didn’t have a lot of experience in this realm, and looking into these types of models, I did start to connect some of the dots on why I wasn’t seeing any ads or banners while I was trying out the product.
A quick look at the FAQ for Vlipsy:
Some allusion to creators and sponsored content, which I classified as a major opportunity for Vlipsy — such a high ceiling of potential. Because I didn’t have much exposure to these types of models before, I had to wonder quite a bit when I was performing the SWOT as to how Vlipsy could generate revenue. After all, even GIPHY had some venture capital backing before trying to secure some licensing and media deals. While I do not know the exact revenue model of Vlipsy, the FAQ here provides some context clues to me that this product would follow similar footsteps.
That opportunity is very lucrative as well. I immediately thought of partnerships through content creators, even if it was just through YouTube, a platform even someone like myself tends to consume quite a bit.
Combining this with the potential for sponsored content through various media deals, and the step forth in visual expression medium becomes a significant market advantage for companies that wish to partake as an early mover. Just thinking of what brands (or microbrands) could do if their content was easily accessible and shareable, makes me believe there is a lot of expansion ahead for Vlipsy. Not to mention that this can be amplified with how easy it is to create your own vlip through the product.
From a threat perspective, the main theme seems to be getting a full buy-in from current users. I mentioned earlier that in the Harris Poll, around 3 in 5 users within the 18–44 age group could see themselves using an increased amount of .gif files from 2017 to 2018. Well, what about the 2 in 5 users that are just sticking with the status quo? If those users are content with using what is currently available, then surely there will be a percentage of the current user base who do not care to switch over to the next available type of visual expression.
How does Vlipsy inspire those users to pick up and come over? It’s not like sites such as Imgur or GIPHY are going away any time soon. There are already signs that those services could be adapting. Imgur, for example, has sound integration for some of its .gif files, although you must have those .gif files created already before uploading.
Competitor Analysis
From the competitor perspective, Vlipsy cohabits the visual expression space with quite a few other popular services. From looking at CrunchBase, it lists Animoto, GIPHY, and Vidme as the primary competitors. I was surprised to find that Vidme was no longer active at the time of this writing, so I’ll include Imgur in its place, as the site does offer visual expression options.
I performed a quick look-through of the competition, and decided on some characteristics to look at all of these products. The Feature Table below provides some ecosystem context to the different products:
There were not many ways that these products aligned completely to generate an objective angle. Looking down the Feature Table, there were some clear advantages that Vlipsy had, starting with the Ease of Use in terms of content creation. While this can have boundaries due to the source content, there is also an advantage to pulling content from existing video, rather than having to create a file for upload prior to sharing. Especially for Animoto, which I did not feel was a direct competitor (it resembled more of a video editor rather than a clip/vlip generator), each of the three other products in the ecosystem required the user to have pre-existing content ready to upload. For Imgur and GIPHY, these became content curators rather than content creators/clippers.
Vlipsy definitely has the friendliest sharing capability out of all four of the products as part of the Feature Table. The 8 methods of sharing were much higher than any of the other products, and had a higher versatility, as it could attach the raw file in some cases (text messaging) rather than just share a URL and hope that the communication platform the user was on had built-in integration. Its sound capabilities were also unmatched, at least at the time being. Animoto videos do offer sound, but only after some work has been invested into lining up a soundtrack for the video clip. As stated, Imgur offers sound integration only if pre-existing content had it to begin with.
From an ad perspective, both Imgur and GIPHY had sponsored content, while Animoto was a paid service. I didn’t see any ads or banners while using Vlipsy, although I am unsure if there are future plans to integrate any as part of the business model. A loop back to source content did show a lack of flexibility, at least for now, in where to draw the growing flow of vlips. However, I did discuss the potential upside to just having once source of content creation.
Now, I did circle back to my initial competitor analysis to find out what happened to Vidme, a service I had replaced it in the Feature Table with Imgur. There were similarities to Vlipsy, although most of the product is now devoid from the internet. Vidme was not so much a clip or image sharing platform, rather than an alternative to YouTube. Again, hard to line up in terms of getting an objective angle.
What stood out to me was its farewell post, where it cited difficulties with securing strong partnerships, especially in an environment where there is a focus on “brand-safe” content and the desire for a large platform to advertise. How would Vlipsy plan on addressing this (if its monetization model is through sponsorships and creators)?
Final Thoughts for Vlipsy
This Product Teardown on Vlipsy definitely moved me out of my immediate comfort zone. My use of communication platforms is not of a high frequency, and initially I didn’t consider the lack of “visual expression” as even a source of major pain. I’m definitely not like the “Connected Chris” persona, or I could just lack his outgoing and social nature.
The technology that Vlipsy offers, after research, seems to be ahead in terms of visual expression. There appears to be a natural progression of the desire for better forms of expression, which has led to the hypothesized chain of Emoji > Sticker? > Image > .gif File > Video Clip. By offering a platform that can easily create this, even if it is just through a singular (and large) content source such as YouTube, Vlipsy has taking a pretty big step forward. And the number of users who wish to heighten visual expression seems to be growing, at least from 2017.
Performing the SWOT Analysis and Feature Table comparison, there are definitely opportunities ahead for the product, if it chooses to expand into a larger source content pool. While my understanding of the current revenue model may be limited, enabling content creators or sponsored content would start the monetization train.
The challenge will be moving and securing those partnerships. Way too late in the game (the last part of the Product Teardown template), I discovered Vidme’s farewell blog, which does offer a caveat on entering this type of monetization space. After reading it, I would consider even elevating this type of threat up the SWOT Analysis.
In its current form, Vlipsy offered a fun and easy way to up a user’s visual expression game. At the moment, there doesn’t seem to be many products that are directly like it, and at least from the standpoint of use and execution, it certain is positioned well in the ecosystem. The challenge will come in finding a sustainable revenue model. It’s also a product that, unlike others, remained on my phone after I had a chance to explore it. I couldn’t give up Ellie and the chance to have some fun in my chat circles.
Thank you for reading my Product Teardown of Vlipsy…
One platform I wish would support Vlips is Medium itself!
