Unless you work for a large company with an established brand, for most businesses and especially a relatively new brand or a business that has a somewhat complicated product or service offering, a company/brand explainer video is a must.

Explainer videos have proven to be one of the most effective methods to engage potential customers.

When a new visitor visits your website, your most important goal is to make sure that they well understand what your company offers and why they should do business with your company.

There is no easier and more effective way to accomplish this than through an effective company explainer video. In fact, a well-produced explainer video can be the deciding factor as to whether a business succeeds or fails. That is how important an explainer video is. I cannot tell you how many times I have met someone who is very excited about their business, and when I visit their website I get totally confused as to exactly what the company does or is offering. When I chat with them in more detail afterwards, it is only then, that I really get a good understanding. And if it is happening to me it is probably happening to most new visitors to their site.

Often these businesses are spending time money on social media or paid media channels to get people to their website. But from my perspective, it is all a waste of time and money if the brand story is not well articulated as people arrive to the site.

Explainer videos have proven to be effective because they combine both audio and visual stimulus to explain a concept in a simple and understandable way, instead of just providing text or images, they use both.

 If a picture tells a thousand words, how many words is a video worth?

The saying goes that a picture tells a thousand words. So how many words then would a video be worth? A principle called dual-coding reveals that when auditory senses alone are stimulated, people retain about 10% of what they’re told, but when both visual and auditory senses are stimulated, that number goes up to 68%. I have seen studies where the 68% goes up to 97%. What we can agree on is that video is much more effective than just photos & text. A few statistics to bear this out;  user’s positive experience with a video ad increases their purchase probabilities by 97%, users spend 88% more time on a website that has video, 59% of senior executives prefer to watch video instead of reading text if both are available on the same page, and video generates 1200% more shares than both images and text.

 Explainer Videos are Attention Grabbing

Statistics aside, one of the most important reasons to use video content is that it is attention grabbing. The average person on the internet has an attention span of around eight seconds. If the content on your website doesn’t grab their attention immediately, they’ll likely move on to another website. The longer you hold the attention of your users, the more likely they are to spend more time on your site.

 Explainer videos increase amount of time spent on your site

And then the longer your audience stays on your site, the more likely you are to make a conversion. Statistics suggest that well-made explainer videos can increase conversion rates on average by 15 to 50 percent and certainly there are case studies that show even higher increases. Obviously including a strong call to action is vital to see these results, but is this not compelling enough to get started on your explainer video today?

 Explainer videos get shared and are excellent for your SEO

It is important that the content on your website be engaging to your audience, but it should also generate attention from the search engines such as Google & Bing. Video is ranked higher on both search engines as compared to just text, making it a powerful SEO tool. And video content on social media sites is shared 1200% more than text/images.

Not to be minimized is how effectively video is for conveying your brands personality. When done well it dramatically increases engagement and allows for a more personal relationship with your audience. Explainer videos can be a fun and entertaining option to reflect your brand culture.

Explainer videos can be produced in a variety of styles

WordStream which provides software and services that help marketers get more out of online advertising ran a feature on some of the more popular types of explainer videos which included:

Live Action Explainer: A non-animated promotional video explaining your business’s product or service. Examples of this include the Dollar Shave Club and PooPourri videos (see below). Live action explainer videos are usually best for companies selling a physical product or people-oriented service, such as a restaurant, or consulting group. Having flesh and blood people in your explainer video can create an emotional connection for viewers, as we are naturally drawn to other human faces.

Animated Explainer: The most popular type of explainer video, animation is often the preferred format for explaining services or intangible tech products like software. Some services involve few, if any, physical objects, making live action an unrealistic option. Animated explainer videos allow for more creativity and are easier to edit or update when you want to make future adjustments.

Whiteboard Explainer: A whiteboard video is an explainer video in which animation is hand drawn and erased on a whiteboard. This format of video has become popular due to its ease of operation and low cost, making it one of the cheapest types of explainer video to create.

Motion Graphic Animation: This video animation style conveys an explanation through simple animated graphics. Since there’s always constant movement, this style is designed to be engaging and easy to follow.

Explainer video examples

With explainer videos becoming so popular, there are plenty of examples to choose from. Here are a few:

1.    Dollar Shave Club

With their video title, “DollarShaveClub.com - Our Blades Are F***ing Great,” you know Dollar Shave Club is going for something edgy. They follow through and go all-in with this wacky video. What makes this explainer video work so well? Dollar Shave Club knows their audience really well, down to a tee. Their market is 20-30-something year old men who would be open to the idea of ordering a steady supply of razors online. The video’s language and humor match their ideal audience perfectly.

Dollar Shave Club is a great example of a well-structured explainer video. They start with a brief overview of the service (get great razors delivered to your door for $1/month), they introduce the problem (most blades are too expensive, have un-necessary features that jack up prices, and it’s easy to forget about buying new razors), and re-iterate the solution their service offers (cheap blades delivered monthly to your door).

2.    PooPourri

PooPourri is successful for many of the same reasons Dollar Shave Club is, and it’s no surprise that their styles are quite similar. You’ll notice that PooPourri’s explainer video is largely live action, but switches to some animation to show the intricacies of how PooPourri works (no one wants to see a live action load dropped into a toilet). Also, check out that big green button at the end of the video – it’s begging to be clicked, ending with a strong call to action.

It’s worth noting that matching this tone of humor for your own explainer video would be quite difficult – most businesses will be better off more subtle humor. PooPourri is an outrageous product, so their humor can be outrageous as well.

3. Mint

Mint is a perfect example of why some businesses are much better off with animation rather than live action. Mint takes advantage of animation to illustrate how it draws financial info from different parts of a user’s life and curates it all into one setup. Mint’s animated explainer video also uses screenshots of the actual product, familiarizing viewers with the product’s design and arrangement.

4. Airbnb

Airbnb uses a cool combination of live action and animation to show the unique (and reasonably priced) experiences obtained by using Airbnb. This explainer video does a great job of showing the perks of the Airbnb system while also explaining them verbally.

5. Spotify

Spotify relies exclusively on fun animation and a rockin’ soundtrack to explain their digital music service. The video matches the lively music with fast paced cutting, and the video’s color scheme fits perfectly with the Spotify design, so we already feel familiar with it. Not much needs to be said; Spotify doesn’t over complicate, instead relying on a tune and a few lines of text to show that they’re all about the music.

In conclusion

If you don’t have a company explainer video for your business, I would recommend creating one immediately. And if you have a website, put the video front and center on your home page. (Really good for SEO)

 It should also be the featured video on all of your social media platforms. For example, on your Facebook page and on your YouTube page pin it as the video that stays on top, especially for new visitors.

Company explainer videos can be produced for the different stages of your marketing funnel: awareness, consideration, conversion, loyalty, and advocacy. Each stage should offer different messaging and a different call to action.

Contact us should you wish to schedule a free call to discuss how an Explainer Video can immediately help your business dramatically increase sales and conversions.