An explainer video is one that conveys a business or a product idea in a simplified way. Putting up an explainer video is a proven method to get your audience to stay on your site for longer and improve search rankings. Explainers help shorten and storify a complex business message leading to better overall conversions.
The key to a successful explainer video is the strategy, creativity and the effort that goes behind making one.
Let’s figure out how to produce a high converting explainer video, from some of these experts:
1 Choose The Right Visual Style
"Explainer videos generally fall in the decision-making stage of the customer buying cycle. We always advise our clients to choose the right visual style for their explainer video, something that would help them to stand out from the competition.
Besides that, it’s recommended that you connect with your audience through stories - because people remember stories. When they will remember your story, they will remember your BIG IDEA.
Your key takeaway (unique value proposition) should be carefully weaved into the story. You must end your video with a strong call-to-action associated with your customer pain point and your solution - this will surely accelerate your conversions."
-- Sunny Arora, Founder, Broadcast2World
2. Use It As A Branding Opportunity
"An explainer video is a great way to distinguish your business amidst competition. It's a great idea to add text to your video and supplement the voiceover. Music is another crucial aspect of your video. Pick a soundtrack that suits the vibe of your brand.
With that said, if you’re promoting your explainer video on Facebook or on Instagram (where most people are watching it without music), having text is all the more important. Make sure the text is legible when watching the video on a mobile device as well.
Do consider having a version of your video that’s square. Square videos take up 78% more screen space than landscape in a social news feed. Landscape videos work well on YouTube and website landing pages."
-- Jason Hsiao, Co-Founder, Animoto
3. Focus On Customer Pain Points
"A powerful script is at the heart of an explainer video. You should craft a script that’s centered around your customer's key struggle. The tactic will help you to instantly grab audience attention.
The most important part, just like any movie, is to have a great ending. You should showcase your client "winning the day" after using your product or service."
-- Brannan Glessner, Marketing Manager, Express Homebuyers
4. A/B Test Your Video With Paid Ad Campaign
"You must ensure that your value proposition resonates with your target audience. A cost-effective way to test your message is to run a PPC campaign on Google Adwords. Yes, it's a bit counter-intuitive since many companies use videos to avoid spending heavily on PPC, but you can actually leverage it to analyze the quality and effectiveness of your video messages.
Here's how it works:
1. Distill your company's message into 4-6 unique statements that succinctly convey your value.
2. Run PPC ad campaigns using these for 1 week for A/B testing your messages.
3. Pick the best 2 and produce 2 versions of the video (the only difference would be the opening), and A/B test your video ads as well.
The PPC campaign will show you which value proposition and final video has the highest click-through rate. Assuming your targeting is accurate, the value proposition with the highest CTR would be the one that works best."
-- Konstantinos Papakonstantinou, Founder, Board Studios Inc.
5. Include Your Explainer Video In Your Sales Funnel
Businesses invest a lot in creating an amazing explainer video. The challenge is that they don’t distribute their explainer video effectively. An explainer video is ideally promoted at a time when the prospects are looking to make a purchase. Let’s look at a typical buyer’s journey and how you should plug-in your explainer video:
Step 1: The user learns about your company through a blog post.
Step 2: They subscribe because they find your content informative.
Step 3: You send 2-3 newsletters with more valuable content on your blog.
Step 4: You send a 4th emailer that talks about the benefits of your product or service and includes your explainer video. This mailer would encourage your prospects for taking a free trial or making a purchase.
-- Andres, Co-Founder, Noetic Marketer
6. Use A Real-world Example To Aid Relatability
"We used a real-life situation in our explainer video to talk about some of the key benefits of our marketing automation platform. The video is about a character wanting to purchase an anniversary gift. It includes his complete story, starting from knowing about the product to actually making a purchase.
This helped us to present an interesting use-case of our automation platform communicating how exactly would the tool be helpful to our audience.
We simplified the complex features of our platform with the help of a practical scenario, and this worked for our business."
-- Priyam Jha, Content Marketing Manager, WebEngage
7. Make Use Of Effective Copywriting
I find that the most effective explainer videos use the same formulas as good copywriting. The PAS formula works best: Problem, Aggravate, Solve. Using this copywriting formula, the explainer video can 1. present a problem, 2. aggravate and expand on the trouble it causes, and 3. provide your product or service as a solution.
The most impressive explainer videos convert complex processes into easy-to-understand steps.
-- Dustin Christensen, Co-Founder, Territory Supply Company
8. Explain How Your Product Is Created
"We have a family run eCommerce jewelry business. We do "explainer" type videos quite a bit. While other companies are usually trying sell or simply showcase their jewelry, we explain how the jewelry is created - how the gemstones are cut and from where we source them. While our videos are more about "behind the scenes", we put a spin on them and make them educational as well. We communicate how we produce our products through our explainers. The strategy has helped us to build trust among our audience."
-- Jeff Moriarty, Owner, Moriarty's Gem Art
9. Have Deep Knowledge About Your Audience
"The one thing that you must ensure before creating an explainer video is to understand your audience persona. This will help you to develop a video character that resembles your target audience. Make sure your video is relatable and friendly. Don’t try to feed boring jargon to your audience. An Explainer video is your elevator pitch and you have to quickly tell your audience how you can benefit them.
Make sure you have a powerful call-to-action at the end of your video. It will play a big role in inducing a trial."
-- Pradeep Chopra, Co-Founder, Digital Vidya
10. Use A Natural Unique Voice
"An explainer video is more like a brand-to-audience conversation. It’s therefore crucial that the voice-over speaks to the audience in an engaging way. You should not go for bland, robotic voice-overs. The voice talent you cast should be a representation of your audience (age, language, accent, and demographic etc.). Your viewers would love listening to a voice which sounds like a guy/girl next door. "
-- Sarah Jamieson, Sales Manager, Voices.com
Over To You
Explainer videos are great for making your pitch exciting and inspiring. They help you to showcase your product’s unique value, quickly and effectively. You must ensure that you use the right style for your explainer video and test a few messaging options before going live with the final version. Make use of real-world examples and characters that resonate with your audience. Finally, you should distribute your video effectively so you can get more views, engagement, and conversions.
Hope this roundup was helpful. Please do share your thoughts in the comment section below.