5 Tips to Boost Your Explainer Video

An explainer video has the ability to engage a viewer’s attention in a jiffy and creatively deliver a business idea. Many companies create animated videos and these videos work very well if they address the targeted demographic with key points that compel conversions.

93% businesses believe that videos have increased the user understanding of the product and 72% believe that use of videos has boosted the conversion rate on their website. With these numbers, you would also want to get the maximum output from the money you invest in video marketing.

Many explainer videos fail to do this. Here are some tips on how to optimize your explainer video.

  1. Keep it short, sweet and simple

An explainer video is not a detailed explanation of exactly how your business works. It’s a quick way to deliver the message with large audience. Hence, as video maker, you must keep it short, especially if you want to use it on social media. A 10-minute video on social media does not work. Just because it is simple and quick does not mean you can’t make it compelling.

An explainer video you want to use on social media channels should grab viewer attention in the first five seconds. It shouldn’t last more than 50 to 90 seconds. On the other hand, an explainer video appearing on your company website can be a bit longer.

Tip: Don’t panic if the video you make at first is way too long – you can make mini-clips of the video content to use on social media.

Cincopa is complete video and image hosting

  1. Write a strong script

When it comes to influencing consumer behavior, it’s all about the script. The script is a foundation on which your video is built. It may help to have an outsider who can take an objective look at your company to write a script because many times you are so involved with your product that you can’t make a step back and see through the eyes of the customer.

When writing a script, you can’t rely on your intuition. You need to create it by asking your customers directly about their needs and concerns. There are many web survey products you can use to extract qualitative data from them.

Once you know more about your target audience and the problems you need to address, you can brainstorm how best to offer a solution. Some of the questions you can brainstorm are:

  • What key benefits do you want to highlight?
  • How does your service or product work?
  • What tone do you prefer to use? Should it be professional or more conversational?
  • What visual style do you want to use? Do you want to use sketches, cartoons, etc.
  • Do you have any social proof you can offer?
  • What type of call-to-action should you use?

You need to address what drives a purchase decision. People usually buy a product because it saves them time or money. You must present your solution convincingly. Using a taxi service as an example, the first part of the message would be “We know how hard it is to find a taxi service when you need one” and the solution would be “Try our on-demand taxi service for a ride right now.”

Benefits

After this, you can address what makes your product better than that of your competitors. Don’t focus on too many features – you’re often tempted to show off as many features as possible. Droning on about technical details will often make you lose viewers. Tell them about the benefits instead and show them how your product will make their lives better.

  1. Social Proof

Social proof has become vital today. Your customers want to know who all are your existing customers. Show them, clients, you’ve worked with to build more trust.

  1. Call-to-Action

Watching your explainer video puts leads in the palm of your hand. You need to tell them exactly what they need to do next, such as fill out a form, contact you or download an app. The call-to-action is one of the most important aspects of an explainer video.

Don’t try to sell them anything because when this is done too early, it can break trust in your brand. Explainer videos are used to solve problems, answer questions and help customers understand your core business – not to sell to them.

Tip: Try and bring some humor into your script – funny videos are more memorable and are shared more.

  1. Concentrate on the details

When you get all the details right, your video is much stronger. Look for a professional voiceover to make it a successful project. A voiceover is more important than your visuals. If you start with the voiceover, it’s much easier to time the animation to fit the timing of the voice. If the voice is edited to fit the animation, the edits tend to make the voice sound unnatural and choppy.

The key is to use visuals that reinforce your voiceover and illustrate your story. They do not have to be complicated to be effective. Too many visual effects can distract audience.

Try to involve an animator to create a storyboard and help you to make your script flow like a story, so it doesn’t drag or cause viewers to lose attention. An animator will also help you to choose music that doesn’t drown out your message but can be used to evoke emotion and set the tone of your video.

  1. Use catchy elements

Think of an attractive title, create a concise but compelling description and use an enticing thumbnail. Adding some catchy element to your videos such as a surprise, humor or little quirkiness can help people to connect with your brand in a way they won’t do by viewing your website. If they resonate with your video, they’ll remember it. If you want to try something different, explore creating animated explainer videos. Far less expensive than in the past, animated videos pack a mean punch and help make dry subject matter more engaging.

  1. Plan for the launch

video content management and marketing of your videos are just as important as the making of the video. As per a recent survey, around 65% marketers are ready to increase their spending on videos. With so much buzz around videos, it’s important to execute your strategy well.

Many people are so busy creating an explainer video that they forget about the launch. To launch a video successfully, you need to select a video host, have a marketing plan and integrate it into your website.

If you’re concerned about video content management, you can use a video hosting platform. There are many such platforms, both paid and free. That offer many tools and useful analytics. You can easily add a call-to-action to your explainer video, link to other relevant video content and categorize viewers based on how they interact with your videos.

You can use detailed analytics to create the most meaningful, strategic content to drive continuing engagement with your brand. You might get a chance to win bigger audience if you use YouTube, but you won’t get the detailed analytics you need to drive decisions.

On a video hosting platform, it’s easy to create a searchable video library too. As an organization, you have one place to store and share all your videos.

You can integrate your explainer video on your website. You need to make sure if it fits seamlessly with your other content and enhances your brand image.

Conclusion

An explainer video can be an incredible tool in your marketing arsenal. If you’re considering making an explainer video, these tips should help to point you in the right direction.

They will save you time and money and help you create an explainer video that offers real and measurable results.

 

Originally published on October 11th, 2018, updated on March 9th, 2021
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5 Tips to Boost Your Explainer Video

by Simi time to read: 5 min
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