What’s new
Some updates are easier to say than to type. Walking a buyer through what happens between clear to close and signing, or showing a seller the listing photos that just went up, can take a minute on camera and five paragraphs in writing.
Now, when you post an update with a Loom, YouTube or Vimeo link in it, the video plays right on your client’s board, underneath what you wrote. There’s no attachment to download and nothing extra to install. You see the same player in your own Messages list, so you know exactly what your client sees.
It also suits the moments when tone matters. A calm two-minute explanation of a delay can be easier to take in than a written one, because your client can hear that you’re on it.
How to set it up
- Record your video in Loom, YouTube or Vimeo as you normally would, and copy its share link.
- For Loom, set the video to “Anyone with the link,” so it can play on the board.
- Open the deal, go to Questions & updates, and write your update as usual.
- Paste the link anywhere in the text. One update can hold up to three videos.
- Tap Post. Your clients get the usual email and push notification, and the video plays on their board.
Where videos play, and where they don’t
Videos play in two places: the updates on your client’s board, and your own Messages list. Everywhere else, the link stays a link.
- Emails: the update email keeps the link, because email apps can’t play video. Your client taps it to watch, or opens the board.
- Comments: questions and replies in comment threads never embed video.
- Partner updates: posts from a lender, escrow officer or the other agent never embed video either.
The update box reminds you of this. Under it, a short line says that a Loom, YouTube or Vimeo link plays right on their board.
Privacy and playback details
We kept the players as quiet as we could. YouTube videos play in its privacy-enhanced mode. Vimeo’s player loads with its do-not-track option. Players load only as they come into view, and the video site is told only that the video is playing on ClosedEasy, not the address of your client’s board.
Links are matched to the exact video sites. A link that only looks like one of them stays plain text, so a look-alike address can’t turn into a player on your client’s board. The usual YouTube link styles work, including regular watch links, short youtu.be links, Shorts and live links, and a start time in the link is kept. Loom share links and public or unlisted Vimeo links work too.
If a video can’t play on the board, because it’s private or its owner turned off playing it on other sites, the line under the player, “Not playing? Open it on …,” opens it on the video site instead.
Ideas for short video updates
A few hypothetical examples where a short video can say more than text:
- A one-minute “here’s what the next two weeks look like” right after the contract is signed.
- A quick look around the property once agreed repairs are finished, recorded on your phone and uploaded as an unlisted video.
- A Loom screen recording of the board itself, showing a first-time buyer where their to-dos and documents live.
- A short note before the final walk-through: what to bring and what to look at.
- A thank-you after closing day, with a reminder of the best way to reach you about anything to do with the home.
Keep videos short, and keep the important facts in the written update too. Some clients will read the email, where the video is only a link. And the assistant on their board answers from your written words; it can’t hear what you said on camera.
Good to know
- Up to three videos per update. The same video pasted twice shows once.
- ClosedEasy doesn’t host or store your videos. They stay on Loom, YouTube or Vimeo under that service’s own settings, so deleting a video there, or making it private, stops it playing on the board.
- Anyone your client forwards the link to can watch if the video’s settings allow it. For anything about a specific deal, use unlisted or link-only videos, and keep documents with personal or financial details off camera.
- Embedding is for updates only. If you paste a link into a comment reply, it stays a link.
Loom, YouTube and Vimeo are trademarks of their owners; ClosedEasy isn’t affiliated with them.