7 Key Steps For Creating Explainer Videos For Your Products

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Updated: October 8th, 2022

What Is An Explainer Video?

Explainer videos are short online marketing videos used to explain a product, service, or process.

This type of video content is typically animated around 2-3 minutes.

These videos can essentially be used as your "product pitch" and can help a user determine if your product is right for them.

In this post, we discuss important insights on how explainer videos work and share examples of brands using explainer videos effectively.

Explainer Video Key Takeaways

Online video is 600% more effective marketing tool compared to print and direct mail combined.
95% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service.
Explainer videos less than 15 seconds long are shared 37% more often
People who view a web video are 64% more likely to make a purchase.
Retail site visitors who view video stay two minutes longer on average.
52% of consumers say that watching product videos makes them more confident in their online purchase decisions.

How Explainer Videos Work

Explainer videos combine audio and visual stimuli to explain concepts in a simple and easy-to-understand way.

Just likePromotional video, combining text and audio to produce high-quality explainer video increases message retention, and ad recall rate.

Therefore, explainer videos are an excellent way for a business to showcase its brand, culture, and personality.

Ideally, video marketing allows startups to control the message and present it to consumers more efficiently and effectively.

You can use explainer videos on different platforms including:

Website and product landing page
Social media platforms (organic and paid ads )
Crowdfunding sites and campaigns
Conferences, presentations, and events

Types Of Explainer Videos

1. Animated Explainer Video

The animated explainer videos use character animation, object animation, or animated text to tell a compelling story.

These types of explainer videos could help you to demonstrate complex processes in a simple way.

2. Whiteboard Explainer videos

Often referred to as video scribing, whiteboard explainer videos simply write on the whiteboard illustrating the points stated in the narration.

According to an experiment conducted by Dr. Richard Wiseman, people retained 15% more information after watching a whiteboard explainer video compared to explainer videos where a person spoke into the camera.

3. Live Action Explainer Video

The live-action explainer video is a video shot on camera, rather than using hand-drawn illustrations or animation.

Thus, these types of explainer videos feature a person standing and talking to a camera, and are popular in demonstrating a process or walking your audience through a behind-the-scenes area.

Tips For Creating A Killer Explainer Video

Are you considering creating an explainer video?

Since explainer videos are a potential way to engage prospects and existing customers, it is essential to nail it the first time.

Here are insider tips to guide you when creating an explainer video that describes your business.

Keep It Short

The explainer video is meant to be an overview of your band or products. Thus, the less you say, the more likely your audience is to remember.

To increase the video viewership, cut the script down and be very concise.

Keep It Simple Silly

When creating the explainer video remember to include the following components.

The problem statement (customer pain points)
A solution (product/service)
Explain how it works
A Call-to-Action (What you want the audience to do)

Focus On the Benefits and Not Features

Often, the temptation is showing off as many features as possible. However, what matters to the end-user or your target audience are the benefits.

Rather than droning on the technical features, tell people how the product will solve their current pain points.

Use A Professional Tone

Poor audio will ruin the quality of your explainer video.

Ensure the tone and voice have the polish required to ensure professional delivery.

Therefore, you may invest in a professional voiceover service to ensure the quality of voice and tone of your explainer video.

Add Some humor

Regardless of who is watching your explainer video, people love to be entertained.

Adding some little humor, a surprise or something downright wacky will go a long way.

Adding some humor to your explainer video gets people smiling and helps them connect with your brand.

Add High-Quality Visuals

Just like having a polished voice, professional-looking visuals boost video viewership.

However, you do not need complex equipment for creating the visuals.

The key is using relevant visuals to help illustrate the story and to reinforce the voiceover.

Real-World Examples Of Great Explainer Videos

Here are a couple of my favorite explainer videos to show you.

1. How Dropbox Explainer Video Raised 10 Million Additional Customers

Dropbox, the popular file hosting service wanted to acquire new customers. Initially, they invested heavily in paid search campaigns, but the results were not as they expected.

Drew, the founder of Dropbox, switched to developing a product explainer video.

They contacted a professional video production agency to create the explainer video focused on helping the consumers understand the concept of Dropbox and to persuade them to purchase.

The new explainer video was a huge success.

Done on a whiteboard style, the video drove 10% conversion leading to 10 million extra customers and yielded an ROI of $48,000,000 in extra revenue.

2. How Explainer Video By Rypple Increased Conversion Rate By 20%

Rypple is a social performance management tool that was recently acquired by SalesForce. Before the acquisition, the brand wanted to increase signups for their free trial version. They arranged three landing pages and performed A/B testing:

Landing page with text and image
Landing page with a live-action testimonial video from Facebook
Landing page with an explainer video

The landing page with the explainer video won big, helping the company increase its conversion rate by up to 20%.

How To Create An Explainer Video

To learn the important steps for creating an explainer video, watch this video. You may also keep reading this text for additional insights on how to ensure a high-quality explainer video.

Step1. Project Research

First, define the type of video you need or want, and the objective for creating one.

Is the purpose of an explainer video to sell, explain, teach, or train?

Often, the object is to explain products to the target audience and to generate sales.

Step2. Come Up With a Well-Written Script

A high-quality script is a key to a successful explainer video.

When writing the script, take a fresh look at your company and explain it in a way that is easy to understand.

Start with a creative brief, covering high-level questions about your brand. Once you finish the brainstorming process, come up with a high-quality script.

Refer to the creative brief since it helps you stay on the right track.

Step3. Storyboarding

The process helps you to make sure the visual style and story are matching the objectives and the expectations.

The storyboarding stage works towards ensuring minimal surprises and revisions once the video is completed.

It is at this stage that you need to define the video design and the appearance of each character.

Step4. Voiceover recording

Every explainer video comes with a professional voiceover.

To ensure the highest quality voice, you may seek the services of a voiceover artist.

Choose a voiceover service that suits your brand and style. Upload the file and test to determine if there is a need for changes.

Step5. Video Production

After completing the storyboard and you have a ready voiceover, it's time for action!

Start building drafts of the video and go through each one to determine which one suits your expectations.

The video should reflect the value of your products, and make the audience feel the quality.

Step6. Music and Sound Effects

The final bit of preparing the explainer video involves choosing appropriate background music and sound effects.

Talk to a professional sound designer to add appropriate soundtracks to your explainer video.

Remember the sound quality affects the video to life and has an impact when it comes to maximizing the retention rate and interests of your audience.

Step7. Publishing and Marketing

Finally, the explainer video is ready for publishing.

Ensure proper video optimization so that the video ranks on YouTube.

Choose a great video hosting option and monitor the video engagement.

meet the author

Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.

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