Three weeks ago we launched our second side project on Product Hunt, an easy-to-use budget estimation tool called “How Much To Make a Video?” that seeks to provide straightforward pricing guidelines for the often mystifying world of video production.
We were lucky enough to receive over 500 upvotes so far, with tons of positive comments from the community, including many from professional videographers who were thrilled that they felt the tool better reflected the true value of their time and work. We’ve even received requests from people in other hard-to-price industries to replicate the tool for them.
More exciting than that, we drew over 10,000 unique visitors to “How Much To Make A Video” in just two days. And the tool drove massive traffic to our main site Veed.me, resulting in dozens of new video projects (at the end of the budget wizard, we prompt visitors to open a project.)
So how did this project come about?
After the success our first side project Coverr done in collaboration with CodersClan a few months ago (still the most upvoted Israeli product featured on PH, with 1300+ upvotes!), we were itching for ways to ride our initial wave of momentum and do something even more relevant for our main business, Veed.me.
The opportunity for a second project presented itself when, during an informal discussion of the various customer feedback we receive at Veed.me (through our customer service portal Intercom, through emails with clients, comments from our friends and family, etc.), we realized there was a huge gaping hole of knowledge in the video production world. Namely, there are little to no guidelines around the question we get asked more than any other: “How much will my video cost?”
Part of our mission at Veed.me is democratizing the often mysterious and complicated world of professional video production. Most businesses, understandably, don’t know the first thing about all the various aspects that go into pricing producing a video: length, script work, casting, location scouting, voice-overs, music, special effects and more.
This can lead to frustration on both ends, as clients end up with unrealistic or distorted expectations about what kind of video they can get for limited budgets, and for creators who feel their work is not being adequately compensated monetarily, or who have to turn down projects from clients who don’t understand the true costs.
With these considerations in mind, we analyzed the inputs and outputs of the last 100 completed video projects on Veed.me, as well as carried out qualitative interviews with some of our own filmmakers on the platform in order to understand their approach to pricing before integrating all of this data into our pricing algorithm.
While of course the tool cannot be 100% accurate 100% of the time, and production prices obviously vary by geography and specific need, we think that it helps to illuminate what was once a black hole of information.
This is truly an example of a side project with win-win-win implications. A win for Product Hunt users and our potential clients, who better understand baseline costs for producing videos for their companies. A win for our professional videographer community, who now have a powerful tool in their arsenal to help educate clients against magical thinking on video budgets. And a win for Veed.me, as we’ve see a huge increase in open projects and ultimately, our bottom line.
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