Put simply, an explainer video is a short animated marketing video that explains your services and benefits to customers in a quick, simple, and digestible way that anyone can understand.
It can address potential customers pain points quickly and show how you can help them; it helps build trust.
Explainers are usually dynamic and catch the user’s attention quickly. They should work as a stand-alone video with no context—as a simple intro to the brand or product. The video usually addresses the user’s problem and shows the solution. We don’t weigh heavily on the features; it’s more a benefits-led pitch.
If you’re in the USA, you may know it as a modern-day elevator pitch.
What do Explainer videos look like?
Generally, an explainer is an animated video; it can be illustrated bespoke or made up more cheaply with stock images. So, the look and feel can vary quite a lot.
We’d recommend hiring a professional explainer video company to produce it, not an automated website. Automated video websites tend to all have the same look as they reuse the same designed assets and are very limited. The script is also often the exact same format with little variance or use of storytelling.
With a professionally created video, the script and visuals will be much more relevant and better focus your marketing—so it may cost more initially, but you’re bound to get a higher ROI. They’ll also represent your company or brand more effectively with bespoke imagery tailored to your branding, show that you put value in your brand, and make you instantly recognisable.
There are various levels of quality and budget with explainer animation, and the design can be pretty flexible in style. You see simpler icon-style videos, right up to bespoke character design, rigigng or animation, or more hand-drawn videos to bring warmth and friendliness. The visual look primarily depends on what you want to say, who your audience is, and your video budget. We’ve written a post about what affects the cost of animated video production.
NQC
Video by Digital Finch
Where are explainer videos used
They can also be used in meetings, on your company website and blog, and are generally pretty effortless to share across social platforms and in email newsletters.
You can have more than one video; you may find each product or service offering needs an animated explainer video and a general company services overview.
You may have an explainer video series on the site or a very short mini-explainer series on TikTok or Instagram Reels as a social media series.
Wherever a potential client will see you online, you can use it.
Explainer video Tone of Voice
One of the great things about explainer videos is that they can be a little light-hearted. They are often a lot less corporate and formal than your standard corporate video production and more conversational-sounding, so they speak to people more directly. It’s not just a brochure.
Because it’s designed and animated (not filmed), you can be a bit out there with the visuals if you want to, and the look can be very conceptual as long as it makes enough sense. We’ve designed and animated dancing grannies, Trump, planets, dragons and all kinds of silly or out-of-this-world stuff. This kind of unique content will make you stand out, it doesn’t always need to be silly. Visual metaphors can also work really well to get the point across quickly.
On the other side, if you have a sensitive topic to convey, an explainer video can be good for promoting what you do without putting anyone at risk. It anonymises the content so that it can be more relatable, too. This can work especially well if you need to safeguard any people you work with, for example, if you’re a charity organisation that works with young people who need a video to explain your services. An explainer doesn’t have to be funny or silly; you can also be serious and create empathy when needed.
Who can use explainer video?
Explainer videos can be used in marketing strategies by all kinds of businesses, brands, and charities. We’ve worked extensively in Public information, Healthcare, Services, Technology, and more.
We often receive the most requests from charities and businesses offering services. However, an explainer video can also work well for products. As the name suggests, if you need to explain something, an explainer video can help.
They don’t always follow the same format, and an explainer can be adapted to suit your needs.
If you have a complex sale, for example, in medical, healthcare, or SaaS, explainer videos may be helpful as part of your marketing strategy. They can also be purely educational with no or minimal sales attached.
What is it not
Explainer videos are generally not lengthy.
90 seconds to 2 mins or under is optimal for runtime, the more concise, the better! The ideal length, according to studies, is just 45-90s long.
People tend to have a short attention span when online, so you need to be able to capture their attention quickly and then show how you can help them.
Generally, it’s not a filmed video; that is usually more like a general marketing or corporate video. It’s not strictly limited, you can incorporate filmed parts, but with animated elements. But generally, explainers are almost always animated; they’re often 2D, but they can be 3D animations or a mixture of both.
It’s not a generic brand/company story video. Usually, an explainer is much more targeted and talks about the benefits of a particular product or service, not a company history or an ‘About Us’ style video. You probably need both on your website!
If you want to learn how an explainer video production can benefit your company or organisation, contact us or click to view more video samples.