Learn how to set up, analyze, and get the most out of video responses in your surveys.
You can now collect video responses directly within your SightX surveys! This new question type lets respondents record short video answers, giving you richer, more personal insights than open-text alone.
Whether you’re looking for candid reactions, product feedback, or in-their-own-words testimonials, video response questions help you get closer to your audience.
✅ When to Use Video Responses
Use video questions when you want:
-
More emotion and context than a written response can provide
-
To hear how people really talk about your product, service, or brand
-
Clips you can use in internal presentations and reports
-
Rich qualitative data to complement quant surveys
🛠️ How It Works
- Add a video response question to your survey like you would any other question type
- During the survey, respondents will be shown a question prompt and asked to record their video response
- Once responses are collected, you can view, download, and analyze videos directly in the Analyze section
🧰 Setting Up a Video Response Question
Adding a video response question to your survey is simple and customizable. Here's how to set it up:
-
Add the question
Just like any other question type, select Video Response from the question menu. -
Write your prompt
Enter the question or prompt you’d like respondents to answer in their video. This will appear alongside the recording interface. -
Set a time range
Choose the minimum and maximum length for the video response. For example, you might allow responses between 15 seconds and 1 minute. -
Choose whether to require a visible face
You can require respondents to have their face clearly visible in the video. If enabled, our system will check the recording and prompt respondents to re-record if:-
No face is detected
-
Only part of their face is visible
-
Their face is too close or too far from the camera
-
-
Customize respondent instructions
Write your own short instructions to appear alongside the video prompt. This can help set expectations and make respondents feel more comfortable. -
Add an opt-in question (highly recommended)
We strongly suggest adding a yes/no opt-in question before the video question, asking respondents if they’re comfortable recording a video.-
If they select No, you can either skip the video question or, if the video is required, end their survey session.
-
This step helps ensure respondents feel comfortable and avoids low-quality or incomplete video submissions.
-
💡 Tips for writing a great video prompt
-
Keep it focused: Ask one clear question so respondents don’t feel overwhelmed.
-
Be conversational: Use friendly, informal language—this encourages natural responses.
-
Set expectations: Let them know how long the video should be and whether they need to appear on camera.
-
Explain the “why”: If possible, tell them why you’re asking for a video—it helps build trust and increases response rates.
Example:
“We’d love to hear your thoughts! In a quick 30–60 second video, tell us how you use our product and what you’d improve. Don’t worry about being perfect—just speak naturally.”
🙋♀️ What Respondents See
When someone reaches a video response question in your survey, they’ll see:
-
Your question prompt
-
The custom instructions you included during setup
-
A live camera preview
-
A simple interface to start/stop recording, review, and submit their video
If face visibility is required, they’ll also see real-time prompts to adjust their position if their face isn’t detected, is only partially visible, or is too close or too far from the camera.
🎥 Reviewing the Responses
Once your video responses are collected, head to the Videos tab in the Analyze dashboard to explore them in depth. You’ll be able to:
-
Watch and download each video response
-
View and download transcripts for every video
-
Search within transcripts to quickly find key phrases or topics
-
Translate transcripts to English with one click (great for multilingual studies)
-
See overall sentiment analysis for each video
-
Favorite standout videos you may want to share or revisit
-
Hide videos that aren’t relevant or don’t meet your criteria
🚧 Coming Soon
In our next release, we’re adding even more tools to help you uncover insights faster:
-
AI-generated tags that highlight common topics mentioned across videos
-
Tag-based sentiment analysis to understand how people feel about specific topics
-
A high-level themes dashboard for a bird’s-eye view of what respondents are saying
🔓 Accessing the Video Feature
Video response questions are available as an add-on to your annual SightX subscription. Once activated, you’ll get 1,000 minutes of video recording time to use across your surveys—plenty for most research needs!
If you happen to reach your 1,000-minute limit during the year, you can always purchase additional minutes as needed.
💡 Don’t worry—low-quality responses that you remove won’t count toward your video minutes.
What About Survey Respondents?
Video access covers the recording and analysis features, but does not include the cost of sample. Here’s how it works:
-
If you’re using your own contact list, you’re good to go—no extra fees.
-
If you purchase sample through SightX, you'll do so in the same way for the video responses with the typical price-per-response model.
💬 Want to Get Started?
To add video response capabilities to your account, just reach out to your SightX rep. They'll walk you through next steps and get everything set up for you.