If you've ever asked a client "can you show me what's broken?" and they sent you a Loom video, you already know: video bug reports are 10x better than text descriptions.
The problem isn't getting clients to record videos. Loom makes that dead simple—click the extension, record your screen, send the link. Takes 30 seconds.
The problem is what happens after they send you the link.
Where does it go? How do you track which bugs are fixed and which aren't? How do clients check status without asking you? How do you organize 50 Loom videos across 10 different clients?
Most people solve this by... not solving it. Videos live in Slack threads, email chains, and "that one Google Doc where we track everything." You end up searching through messages trying to find "that video about the checkout bug from two weeks ago."
Here's a better way.
Getting clients to actually use Loom is easier than you think.
Send them this message: "When you find a bug, record a quick 30-second video showing me what's happening. Use loom.com - it's free and takes 2 seconds to set up. Just show me your screen, click through the issue, and send me the link."
95% of clients do it on the first try. Why? Because showing you what's broken is genuinely easier than describing it.
They've been trying to explain "the button doesn't work" in paragraphs. You're telling them to just show you the button not working. That's actually less work for them. Point, click, record, done. No struggling to find the right words. No wondering if they explained it clearly.
Plus, clients learn fast. First time they send a video and you fix the bug same day because you actually understood the issue? They're sold. Every bug report after that includes a video.
Where to put the videos is the real problem.
The tempting answer is "just put it in Slack" or "paste it in the Trello card." This works until you have 5 clients and 20 open bugs. Then you're scrolling through Slack trying to remember which channel had that video about the mobile menu.
Option one: spreadsheet. Create a Google Sheet with columns for Bug Title, Loom Link, Client, Status, Priority, Date Reported. When a client sends a video, add a new row. This works. It's free. But you're manually updating a spreadsheet every time anything changes. And clients can't see status unless you give them access to your master tracking sheet, which gets messy fast.
Option two: Notion. Create a bug database. Each bug is a page. Paste the Loom link in the page. Add properties for status, client, priority. This is better than the spreadsheet because you can create different views, filter by client, and it looks more professional. The downside? You're still manually creating a new Notion page for every bug. And if you want clients to submit bugs directly into Notion, you need to set up forms or teach them Notion, which defeats the purpose of "simple bug reporting."
Option three: Asana or Trello. Each bug is a card. Paste the Loom link in the description. This is what a lot of teams do. It's fine. But these tools aren't built for video bug reports, so the Loom link just sits there as text. You can't see a preview. You can't watch the video inline. You have to click the link, open a new tab, watch the video, come back, update the card. It works, but it's clunky.
Option four: use a tool with Loom built in. This is what we built Lantern for. Clients paste the Loom link directly into the bug report form. The video shows up as an embedded player. You watch it right there, see the bug, add comments, update status. Client gets notified when it's fixed. Everything's in one place.
No spreadsheets. No manual copying of links. No "which Slack thread was that in?"
The actual workflow in practice:
Your client finds a bug. Opens Loom (or ScreenPal, or whatever screen recorder they prefer). Records 30 seconds showing what's broken. Copies the link. Pastes it into wherever you're tracking bugs. Adds a quick description like "checkout button not responding on mobile." Submits.
You get a notification. Open the bug report. Watch the 30-second video. Immediately see: they're on iPhone Safari, they're trying to tap the checkout button, nothing happens, they tap again, still nothing. You can see the URL in the video. You can see the exact page state. You don't need to ask follow-up questions because the video shows everything.
You reproduce the bug. Fix it. Update status to "Fixed." Deploy. Update status to "Deployed." Client gets notification. They test it. It works. They mark it as "Verified." Done.
Compare this to the old way: Client emails "checkout broken." You email back "what browser?" They reply tomorrow "chrome I think." You ask "mobile or desktop?" They reply "mobile." You ask "what phone?" They reply "iphone." You ask "which page exactly?" They reply "the checkout page obviously." You've now spent 5 emails and 2 days just figuring out what "checkout broken" actually means.
The video workflow takes 5 minutes total. The email workflow takes 2 days and gives you half the information.
Common objections people have:
"My clients won't record videos." They will. It's easier than typing a detailed bug report. First time they do it and you fix the bug immediately because you actually understood the issue, they're sold. Every bug report after that will include a video.
"I don't want to pay for Loom." You don't have to. The free plan lets you record unlimited videos up to 5 minutes each. That's plenty for bug reports. Most bugs are shown in under a minute. I've never seen a bug report that needed more than 5 minutes to demonstrate.
"What if the bug can't be shown on video?" Then they describe it in text. Video is not mandatory for every single bug, it's just the default because it's better 95% of the time. For the 5% of bugs that are "intermittent performance issues" or "happens randomly," text descriptions are fine.
"I need my bug tracker to integrate with GitHub/Jira/whatever." Fair. If your workflow requires deep integration with other tools, you might need something more complex. But if you just need clients to report bugs and you to fix them, video plus simple tracker beats complex tool plus text descriptions every time.
The secret to making this work is making it the default, not the exception.
Don't say "can you send me a video if you have time?" Say "when you find a bug, send me a 30-second Loom video showing what's happening." Make it the standard process.
After clients do it 2-3 times, they prefer it to writing bug reports. Showing is easier than describing. They get it.
And honestly, if you're spending more than 5 minutes setting up your bug tracking workflow, you're overthinking it. The goal isn't to have the perfect system with every feature. The goal is to fix bugs faster. Video bug reports do that. Everything else is just choosing where to put the videos.
The simplest possible setup:
If you want dead simple, use Lantern. It's built exactly for this workflow. Clients get a portal, paste Loom links, you watch videos inline, update status, done.
If you want to stick with your current tools, keep using them. Just add Loom to your process. Email works. Slack works. Trello works. They're all more annoying than a purpose-built tool, but they work.
Either way, stop accepting "the website is broken" emails and start asking for videos.
The difference in your workflow will be immediate. First video bug report you get, you'll understand the issue in 30 seconds instead of 30 minutes. After a week of this, you'll wonder how you ever managed without it.
Client sends video. You fix bug. Client is happy. You're not stressed. That's the whole point.
Try it this week and see if video bug reports actually save you time. They will. And once you see the difference, you won't go back to text descriptions.
Built-in Loom integration. Stop copying video links into spreadsheets.