Damn Video - User Personas

Context

These personas inform the homepage/signup UX redesign. The goal is to simplify the signup experience for users who don't understand technical concepts like "bandwidth."

Persona 1: OCP Mary (Non-Technical User)

Real-world example: Marketing director at a local community theater (actual client)

Profile: - Not technical - Doesn't understand how video hosting works - Would be completely lost with traditional pricing grids and bandwidth terminology - Needs hand-holding through the process - Working at a non-profit with budget constraints

How she discovers Damn Video: - Primary: Agency referral — her web agency built the site and says "use this" - Secondary: Google search ("how to add video to my website") - Unlikely: Word of mouth (longer stretch)

Fears: - All of them, but primarily: picking a plan that's more expensive than she needs - Running on a non-profit budget — wants most value for money - Also: breaking something, looking dumb, wasting time

Budget reality: - Needs to justify the expense to a board or boss - Can't just swipe a card — has to explain why this and not something else

What she needs: - Guided, step-by-step experience - Questions in plain language ("How busy is your site?" not "How much bandwidth?") - Confidence that she picked the right plan — and didn't overpay - Feels comfortable and understood, not overwhelmed - Something she can explain to her board ("it recommended this based on our needs")

When stuck: - Turns to her agency (the people who built her website) - Won't spend hours troubleshooting herself

Success looks like: - Set and forget — video works on the site, she never thinks about it again - BUT she's more capable than she seems: she updates her WordPress site quarterly with new plays - Can add/remove videos herself without agency help once things are set up - Not a power user, but not helpless either — just needs the initial setup to be painless

Ideal flow for Mary: 1. Visits homepage 2. Walks through simple questions or uploads a video 3. Gets a clear recommendation with explanation 4. Signs up feeling confident she made the right choice 5. Done — no confusion, no second-guessing

Design principle: If Mary can do it confidently, the UX is simple enough.

Persona 2: Agency Dev (Technical but Time-Strapped)

Real-world example: Small agency owner/developer, technical director, or senior front-end dev

Profile: - Technical — understands video hosting, bandwidth, background videos, etc. - 10-20+ years experience in web development - Has used Vimeo and knows the pain firsthand - Values speed and simplicity over feature depth

The core problem Damn Video solves for them: - Almost every client needs at least one video (background video, hero video, etc.) - But most only need 1-2 videos — Vimeo is massive overkill - Vimeo is too technical and complex for such a simple need - They wanted something simpler to set up and hand off

Pain points with competitors (Vimeo): - Overly complex interfaces - Hard to find direct links for background videos - Too much stumbling around for a simple task - Just wants to set up an account, add videos, and get out

Reseller fatigue (key insight): - Agencies are TIRED of reseller programs - The old model: create sub-accounts, manage client billing, chase payments, earn referral credits - Reality: it's a lot of work for a few bucks a month - They've tried putting clients on their own Vimeo and charging monthly, but: - No good billing mechanism - Don't want to host everyone's videos - Just trying to spare clients from signing up for complex Vimeo - Ends up being more hassle than it's worth

What they actually want now: - Set up a SEPARATE account for the client (not tied to agency's account) - Hand it off completely — clean break - Client owns their own billing, credentials, everything - Agency is done — no ongoing billing relationship to manage

How they discover Damn Video: - Primary: Dev community (Slack, Discord, Twitter, forums) - Word of mouth from other devs/agencies

Account ownership (updated): - Strong preference: Client's own separate account - Agency sets it up, hands over credentials, walks away - No reseller complexity, no billing headaches, no ongoing management - This is the sweet spot Damn Video can hit

What they need: - Could use traditional pricing grid and understand it - But might still prefer the simple method to double-check their own thinking - Respects their time — no unnecessary friction - Clear path from signup to "video embedded on client site"

Success looks like: - Both: depends on client relationship - Sometimes hand off and done (get video working, give client access, move on) - Sometimes ongoing (stay involved, upload new videos as needed on retainer)

Ideal flow for Agency Dev: 1. Arrives knowing roughly what they need 2. Can skip to pricing OR use simple flow to validate 3. Quick signup, quick upload, quick embed code 4. Done — back to client work

Design principle: Don't waste their time. Let them go fast if they want, but the simple path is there if they want a sanity check.

Who Damn Video is NOT For

Course creators / Video-heavy bloggers: - They actually need Vimeo's complexity and features - They're comfortable with more technical tools - They have many videos and higher traffic needs

The Damn Video sweet spot: - 1-10 videos (often just 1-2 background videos) - Moderate traffic (not crazy high) - Don't need advanced features — just reliable hosting and embed codes - The people Vimeo is overkill for

Market Split

Why These Two Personas

Notes

UX Implications from Reseller Fatigue

The Agency Dev insight has design implications: - Signup should be fast enough that agency can set up a client account in minutes - No "agency portal" or reseller dashboard needed — that's what they're escaping - Account handoff should be seamless (client can update their own email/password) - The simplicity of the signup flow IS the feature — so easy they don't need to be involved after setup