Explainer videos are an easy and effective way to connect with your customers. These short videos explain what it is your business offers, helping to clarify your product or service and ultimately increase sales and conversion rates. They also allow you to work with teams outside of your geographical location since animated explainers don’t require actors or live shots. You can get your message out quickly and effectively without having to leave your office or home.Additionally, an explainer video can help generate new customers by making your product or service easy to talk about and share.
Is an animated explainer video better?
Animation gives you storytelling ability unlike any other. Through engaging imagery and text, you’re able to relay your product or service in a simple and effective way that’s easy to understand. Plus, animated explainer videos are often more cost-efficient with a much faster turnaround time than traditional video production.
They’re easy to revise and change, and in some instances, they have a longer shelf life than live action video. You won’t have to worry about an employee that starred in the video leaving the company. And you can easily add product updates or changes if need be.
It doesn’t matter what your business model is—animated explainer videos work in a variety of industries from government departments to ad agencies and beyond.
Why Your Business Needs an Animated Explainer Video
There is a wealth of benefits that animated explainer videos can offer your business. Here are nine reasons you need an animated explainer video:
- Rank better. If ranking in the search engines is a priority for your business — and let’s face it, it should be — an animated explainer video can help increase your rankings overall. Google considers the amount of time a person spends on your site when ranking search results. That means giving your audience something engaging and entertaining to watch will keep them on your website a bit longer, which can eventually help boost your rankings. To take it a step further, you can include a transcript of your video on your site. This lets you target more keywords. It also helps make the video accessible.
- Clarify without losing your audience. Most people would rather watch something then read a drawn-out explanation of a product or service. This is especially true for those businesses with complicated or hard to understand offerings. Communicate with your audience in the way they want to interact. Share relevant information they need to know with a professionally made animated explainer video.
- Prove you’re the best. Animated explainer videos not only allow you to clarify complex products or ideas for your customers, but they give you an opportunity to explain just how useful or life-changing your business can be. You have the chance to educate your consumers by answering their questions, which will help them come to a decision about whether they want to use your product or service or not. They also make it easy for you to tell consumers why you’re the best choice over a competitor.
- Spread your message. When you use an animated explainer video to demonstrate your product or service, you’re also creating a shareable piece of content that customers can utilize. Shareable content is one of the easiest ways to generate buzz about your company. You’ll be able to reach new audiences since your viewers will be sharing the video with their network, which may be outside your own. Remember, there are multiple platforms where you and your consumers can share your video, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, LinkedIn, email blasts, and even TikTok.
- Inspire more sales. According to Insivia, 85% of Facebook videos are watched without sound. An animated explainer video makes it easy to relay your message with closed captioning. When you have exciting animation paired with subtitles, you’re communicating with your target audience the way they want you to. Aside from the closed captioning, you can put the most important messages right there in the video.
- Get better ROI. When it comes to your advertising dollars, it’s all about the best return on investment. Hubspot concluded that 50% of consumers want to see videos from brands. What’s more, including video on your site’s landing pages can increase your conversion rates by over 80%. In other words, an animated explainer video is a marketing tool with one of the best ROIs.
- Boost your other marketing efforts. Once you have an animated explainer video, the sky is the limit. Utilize the video on your social media platforms to increase awareness and boost engagement. Incorporate it into various email marketing messaging, too. By using an animated explainer video across your marketing initiatives, you’ll find that they’re all increasingly more effective.
- Video is ideal for mobile. It’s no secret that most people use their phones to seek out information. In fact, eMarketer reported that 2.16 billion people watched videos on their mobile phones in 2019. Make your company accessible to your audience with an animated explainer video — one of the easiest types of content to view on a mobile device.
- Give your company an edge. Perhaps the most important reason your business needs an animated explainer is that they allow you to showcase your personality. Even if you’re not offering the most glamourous service, product, or solution, an animated explainer can make your company exciting to existing customers and future prospects alike. You’re able to use colors and animations that pop while remaining true to your brand.
With more consumers turning towards videos to get their information, you need to make sure your business is creating visual assets that resonate with your audience. If you don’t have a cast of people available to speak in your video or you offer a complicated product that would benefit from an animated demonstration, animated explainer videos are the perfect solution.
Not equipped to create an animated explainer video of your own? A video production company well versed in the art of animation can help. Give your business a boost with an animated explainer video.
Patrick Rafferty is the owner of RaffertyWeiss Media with over 20 years of experience as a producer and director of TV spots, corporate image films, and marketing videos.