8 ways I use Loom as a Product Manager

From design reviews to bugs demonstrations, read about how versatile and useful Loom is for a Product Manager.

Jan 26, 2023

Loom is one of my all-time favourite tools. It’s simple and easy to use. And it delivers a huge amount of value in a short period of time.

For the very few of you who haven’t heard about it, Loom is an asynchronous communication tool to record and share short videos. This means you can communicate with anyone in a clear and effortless way without stealing much of their time. It saves blocking time on a calendar or interrupting someone’s work for something quick and non-urgent.

How Loom saved me 24 meetings in the past 3 months.

Here are 8 ways I use Loom as a Product Manager:

1. Design reviews

In this case, I’m not the creator but the consumer instead. I’m lucky enough to work with a designer who enjoys Loom as much as I do. We use video to communicate async and perform preliminary and final design reviews.

Our designer records short videos walking me through his ideas, designs and prototypes, leaving questions and open points here and there. Then, I sit back, watch the video and comment on it. This allows me to follow him, provide feedback and make sure the process moves forward. For him, it’s a lifesaver as he can have deep work sessions and only ask for/consume my feedback when he wants. It’s especially useful as we have a 2-hour difference in our time zones.

2. Going through prototypes

Both our designer and I act as creators here. We record videos going through Figma prototypes for various purposes. This can include:

sharing prototypes with the founders to keep them in the loop and get buy-in

walking engineers through a prototype to create alignment on how a feature should work

creating gifs out of the videos for product presentations

sharing them with users to get feedback

sharing video updates with partners on integrations prototypes

3. Explaining tickets to engineers

For bigger/complex pieces of work, I like to record a video explaining the business context, the data and the customer feedback supporting it. This includes explaining the problem meant to be solved, why it’s a problem, as well as the desired outcome and requirements.

Once I have described the business logic, I then link it to the designs/prototypes and explore the requirements. Engineers can refer to this video whenever they have any questions or need clarification. This not only saves me time and effort but also helps the engineer understand the ticket and work more efficiently. It improves communication and reduces the chances of misinterpretation.

4. Showing bugs while reproducing them

Very simple use case. Whenever I find a bug or one is reported to me, I reproduce it and record it on video. I then include this step-by-step guide on how to reproduce the bug on the ticket that addresses it. I also explain why it’s a bug and the expected behaviour. This helps the engineer troubleshoot, find the bug and fix it. For QAs, this creates alignment on the expected vs actual behaviour and facilitates testing before release.

5. Communicating upcoming features to other teams

Loom allows me to create videos that show new features and their capabilities, which helps the sales and marketing teams understand how to promote and sell them. I share the videos with the teams, so they can watch them at their own convenience and educate themselves. This ensures that everyone is on the same page and that both teams are equipped to promote and sell the new updates effectively.

6. Exploring user feedback

Whenever I get written feedback from users there are always a few confusing bits. When you write, unless you are extremely detailed, the way you thought about what you wrote is likely to be different from what the reader thinks when he reads it. To prevent misinterpretation from spreading, I address the feedback using video.

I record a Loom going through their email and our product to make sure we are aligned. And I also take the chance to educate them on specific features or product tips that may solve some of their worries. The video helps explain visually how to do it, something harder to explain over email and to consume by the receiver if in writing.

7. Product demos for partners

When working on integrations, it’s important to start the conversations with a clear understanding of each other’s products. From our side, I record quick product demos and share them with the product teams that will be working on the integration. I highlight the key areas of the product and include where we would see the integration fitting in. This creates alignment and provides a starting point to discuss customer value and start getting technical.

8. Customer support

This one might surprise you. But it’s true. Yes, I’m a PM and I do customer support occasionally. I do it to stay close to our customers. But I also stumble upon it when collecting user feedback.

Sometimes the feedback I get is not about feature requests but about misunderstandings or lack of knowledge about them. Every time I come across this, I try to understand where we are failing in educating users. But I also use it as an opportunity to record a Loom to help that person achieve what she needs. In most cases, what seemed negative feedback turns into an educational opportunity.

Conclusion + leave a comment!

Loom is an incredibly versatile tool. I’ve described 8 use cases I frequently use as a Product Manager. However, when I was in Sales, I used it for pitching to prospects on cold email outreach, to share product tours with leads, and even to teach some colleagues how to use some spreadsheets I’ve created.

There are far too many use cases for what you can with short and easily sharable videos. If you are using Loom, leave a comment below sharing how you use it. Would love to learn more about other ways it can be used!