Explainer Video Guide: The Art & The Science Behind Creating Videos That Convert (Free Infographic Included)

Videos are becoming one of the best marketing tools to increase web traffic and conversions. Research shows that consumers are up to 85% more likely to buy a product or service after watching a product video.

Those same viewers also visit twice as many pages and stay twice as long on your website, compared to visitors who aren’t offered a video to watch.

But with only a few seconds to capture the attention of your viewers, how do you ensure that they watch your video until the end and then feel inspired to take action?

The answer is simple-  Tell a compelling story through professional videos.

But, if you’re like many of our customers, you may not know where to begin.

That’s perfectly okay.

We are 100% dedicated to making it as simple as possible for you. This means we are going to take you by the hand and show you what goes into creating a high converting explainer video.

In this Explainer Video Guide, we’re going to breakdown the step-by-step video process and how you can get started today.

Pay close attention and you’ll learn the secrets of creating an explainer video that helps you win more business than you thought possible.

Hook Them From The Get-Go

Want your viewers to stick with your for a whole video?

Well…you better kick it off with something interesting, captivating, and even a little unpredictable.

The basic idea is – hook your audience from the very first second.

A good hook consists of several elements that generates a curiosity gap and a value proposition.

• The curiosity gap makes the viewer interested in clicking on the video.
• While a value proposition establishes that the viewer will be rewarded by doing so.

But if your video lacks the initial hook, it’s almost over for you right there.

After all, you only have 8 seconds (shorter than the attention span of a goldfish) to impress and engage your viewers. If you can’t, another video is just a click away, literally.

Script – Tell A Story

You understand the importance of a creative brief and professionally written script, but knowing what to write is a challenge in itself.

Thankfully, the solution is simple: Tell A Story.

Storytelling is a part of a human communication from ages – from the time we are children and throughout our entire lives.

But how do you know what story to tell?

First, you must know your audience and what will resonate with them. Take time to understand buyer personas for your brand.

Don’t worry if you’re struggling to find a way to use your products to tug at the heartstrings of your viewers. Good stories can take many shapes.

As you build your story, don’t try to over-narrate it.

If you have too much to say, focus on creating context through visuals rather than through written text or spoken words.

Remember, stories sell. Instead of telling your consumers all about what makes your company or product special, tell them a good story.

They’ll love you for it.

Ideal Length Of Explainer Video (Keep it short and simple)

A good marketing video should be short and concise.

Research shows that viewer engagement declines as a video stretches past the two-minute mark in length.

The objective of a marketing video is to replace long blocks of text and complicated videos – conveying a clear message in a matter of minutes (or even seconds, in some cases).

To keep your video short, remember that you don’t have to explain everything at once. Stick to the message you outlined in your creative brief and use the “beginning, middle, and end” story format to stay concise and on target.

Remember to state the main point up front, to ensure that your viewer still gets the “meat” of your message even if they are not able to finish the entire video.

While there isn’t a perfect formula for the ideal length of a marketing explainer video, aim for two minutes or fewer for optimal viewer engagement.

A Clear And Strong Call To Action

One of the biggest mistakes that many companies make is to assume that their audience knows what action they want them to take.

90% of consumers say that video helps in the decision-making process, but if you don’t tell them what decision you want them to make, they will never take the desired action.

But it’s also important to acknowledge that not all CTAs are created equally. You have to pick the one that best matches up with:

• The content you’ve created
• The consumer you’re trying to reach, and;
• The action you want them to take next

For example – In the case of animated marketing videos that tell the story of how a product or service will solve a problem for the viewer, the possible CTAs can be:

• Request a demo,
• Book a call, or
• Sign up for a free trial

Your job is to come up with a CTA that fits well in the context and helps your users take your desired action. If you can do this successfully, the options for pulling your audience into your marketing funnel are limitless.

Example Of Great Explainer Videos

Now that you know the secret sauce for creating great explainer videos let’s take a look at a few of our favorites and why they resonate with viewers.

A) CrazyEgg

Explainer videos should do three main things:

• Explain a product or a service
• Illustrate how the product or service solves a problem for the viewer, and;
• Convince the viewer that the product or service is the best possible solution available

This Crazy Egg explainer video does an excellent job of explaining the problem right away: low conversion rates.

It continues by communicating the struggles and expense of implementing other, more complicated, more expensive tools, and then immediately show viewers their solution in a very simple, visual way, using a combination of heat maps and graphics.

The narration follows the style of the graphics with simple language and a casual tone, and they close with a strong call to action to sign up for a free trial.

The whole video was just over two minutes long, but it effortlessly accomplished all three of the goals of an effective explainer video.

B)  Spotify

Spotify is a great example of creatively differentiating your brand from run-of-the-mill videos. We love the creative direction that Spotify took with this explainer video.

“But wait, didn’t you just say that good explainers videos need a professional voiceover? This is just music.”

We did, and it’s true for nearly every brand.

In this case, however, Spotify ties their product (music) into the very foundation of their explainer video, letting the music tell the story (along with a few timely text graphics).

Coupled with the movement between animations and live people, this video is engaging without speaking a single word about the brand.

Spotify Montage from Trollbäck+Company on Vimeo.

Choosing The Right Video Production House

Hiring the right video production house is no easy thing.

In fact, if you search for – Who are the top video ‘explainer’ production houses?

On Quora, the response lists nearly 100 explainer video companies.

Which means that, if you wanted to make an explainer video for your company, you would have at least 100 companies to choose from – and that doesn’t even include the countless other companies who didn’t make the cut!

And each of these companies has its own website, its own portfolio, and its own pricing.

So how do you choose one?

Sifting through the overwhelming mass of explainer video companies might seem daunting; however, if you know what you’re looking for, you can easily and confidently separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff.

The following are a few criteria to keep in mind in order to help you find the best production company for you.

A) Choose A Company That Matches Your Budget

The first thing you do want to have a clear budget in mind when approaching an explainer video company.

While deciding on the budget, remember, you’re paying for a process that takes a highly skilled creative team weeks to complete – and all of that costs money. Be sure not to skimp on your budget, or you’ll certainly be skimping on video quality!

B) Choose A Company With Some Street Cred

While there are certainly brand-new explainer video companies who are already making some really great work, there are solid reasons for choosing a production house with a couple years of experience under their belt.

A company with experience has had time to develop their own flavor of explainer video. They likely have learned the ins and outs of effective storytelling, and have streamlined the production process so that working with them is a pleasant and organized experience.

Take another look at the company’s portfolio. Look for:

• What clients have they worked with?
• Have you heard of them?

Sure, if a production company has made an explainer video for Pizza Hut or the NFL, they’re probably charging more for their videos. But it also likely means that they’ve been making some seriously quality explainers that are attracting big-name national and international clients.

C) Choose A Company That Gets Good Feedback.

If an explainer video company is getting a lot of positive reactions to their work, they’re probably going to let you know.

Many explainer company websites feature testimonials from some of their happiest clients. Listen to what these clients have to say:

• Did they enjoy working with the company?
• Does the company have a reputation for finishing projects on budget and on time?
• Best of all, are the company’s videos getting results (boosting conversion and sales)?

Look for explainer companies who are making clients happy. 

Ready To Create An Explainer Video That Gets Noticed?

If you want to create an explainer video, you have to take the time and do all the steps mentioned above in this explainer video guide.

If you don’t have the time, don’t waste your money creating videos then.

But if you are willing to spend time and money to get things done, hire someone who has experience and the reputation. They don’t just create the video, but they spend time to get to know your product, your visitors even before they start.