It doesn’t matter what your business is – whether you are moving products or promoting services, an explainer video is a great way to draw people in. They get people’s attention, pique their curiosity, and open the door to more meaningful discussion and interaction. Best of all, they’re typically short and can be reasonably inexpensive to produce.
The thing about any type of content, however, is that the presentation has to be right for it to get the right results. Explainers are not immune to this rule. If you want your explainer to do its job, you have to construct it with the right components in place. Here is a short list of things you can use as a quality control checklist to ensure that your explainer is successful.
1. Good explainers don’t explain too much.
It may seem paradoxical, but it makes perfect sense. You don’t want to thoroughly explain your product in an “explainer” video. This is something that many, many marketers get wrong. The purpose of an explainer video isn’t to explain a product or service as much as it is to explain why the viewer should care about it.
Explainers are typically pretty short, and there is just so much one can say about something in that expanse of time. Don’t focus on relaying information. Focus instead on making people want more information (and don’t be sure to instruct them to go looking for it with a solid call to action).
2. Good explainers get the job done quickly.
The most effective explainers are either 30 or 60 seconds in length. Produce videos longer than that, and you’ll start losing people quickly. As any freelance copywriter or custom writing professional will tell you, it is far easier to write more than it is to write less. This is where working with the pros can really leave you at an advantage. A copywriter with experience writing explainer videos can extract the right bits of information to highlight and will always steer the viewer in the direction of more information.
A good writer also knows how to build anticipation and excitement in a short expanse of time. The first five seconds of an explainer are crucial. Anyone who advertises on sites like YouTube knows this all too well. In many cases, advertisers literally have just five seconds to make their case before the “skip ad” button appears and your next customer has clicked past to watch a cat play the piano for the umpteenth time. Don’t let your video go ignored and unnoticed. Get to the point and get there instantly if you want people to keep watching.
3. Good explainers tell a story.
The focus of your explainer videos should always be on people, not products. Hit the user experience angle hard and hold off on the product details until you’ve captured the click-through or email address or have gotten the viewer to do whatever your video tells them.
One very effective way to maintain the human angle is to contain the information in the video in a narrative. Many explainer videos begin by introducing a person and giving a little bit of info about him or her. In a large number of cases, that person represents the company’s ideal avatar. If you have really done your research, that persona can create instant relatability that draws the viewer in. It’s not just people who benefit from product X; it’s people like me. See the difference?
Of course, you don’t have to use this angle – plenty of successful explainers don’t – but you do have to keep it real in the eye of the viewer. Keep that in mind as you decide how to tell the story of your brand journey.
4. Good explainers reinforce your brand.
Your brand imagery needs to be all over the visuals. It’s non-negotiable. Subsequently, the copy needs to augment the visuals, not the other way around. I’ve harped on this quite a bit in the past, but I do so because it’s just that important. People will latch on to what they see instantly and will build memories and responses off them. Make sure your video looks good and has well-written copy so that people associate your words with what they’re seeing.
5. Good explainers are believable.
Don’t try to use hype to sell the concepts in your explainer videos. Outrageous does not equate to effective. In fact, the less believable your video is, the less response it will get… or worse: Your video could go viral for all the wrong reasons. You can use a light-hearted, even humorous approach without being over the top.
Think about the people that you know who have really good senses of humor. What gives their personalities that kind of magnetism? Most of the time, it’s the spontaneous, real nature of their words and behaviors. Your job when producing explainers is to capture that element of realism. That is the thing that will really draw people in.
Final takeaway: There’s such a thing as trying too hard with explainers. Don’t try to inundate your audience with information in an explainer, and don’t let the length of the video get out of hand just because you have to include one more tidbit of information. Draw in your audience with curiosity and sincerity, then give them the finer details once you have their full, undivided attention.