Jump-start Your Conversion Rates With These Explainer Video Marketing Hacks

Most of the internet users do not have the time and patience to scroll through numerous pages of content to find what they need. 

The visitors simply click the back button after skimming through the webpage for 10-20 seconds, if they do not find what they were looking for. This leaves the marketers an extremely limited window of opportunity to get the attention of the viewers. Failing to do so finally takes a toll on their marketing ventures, and they end up in losing potential sales to competitors.

Most marketers try to get over this gridlock by designing a captivating web page to boost engagement rates. However, in most cases, an appealing web page alone won’t help you to retain your audience. There’s another excellent way to make sure your users stick around in your web page for a substantial amount of time and learn more about your services and offers; i.e. investing in Explainer Videos!

What is an explainer video?

We come across explainer videos quite often as we scroll through the internet. They are short videos (usually whiteboard animation type videos) of 30-40seconds which are generally found on the landing pages of websites.

The explainer videos basically serve one essential purpose – demonstrating who your brand is and what it offers in an efficient and straightforward manner. It provides you with the scope of communicating with your audience directly, which automatically promotes engagement with your brand. As per a recent report, 97% of marketers confirmed that explainer videos helped their users to understand their business policies in a much better manner.

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Today, people prefer video content much more than going through lengthy articles. Due to the digitized lifestyle of this era, the human attention span has already fallen from 12 seconds to a mere eight seconds.  This makes videos the new marketing gold mines as it helps the buyers absorb information easily in a short span of time.

Take a look at these nine top-notch tips for creating engaging explainer videos to make the most of your marketing strategies:

1. Determine your primary goal

The very first step to preparing explainer videos will be to think carefully about what you want your viewers to do after watching your video. Do you want them to buy your product, sign up for your service, visit your website, create an account, or do something entirely different? Disciplined goal-setting will be fundamental to convey the right message with your explainer video.

2. Determine your audience

Your video won’t be of any value if it doesn’t reach the right consumer base. Determine the target age groups, jobs, locations, genders, and other important characteristics of your target consumers to jot down the ideal user community for your explainer video.

Also, you must ensure the video is appropriately designed for your user base and does not involve any sensitive message that triggers uncomfortable emotions in them.

3. Prepare a killer script

Behind every engaging and attention-grabbing video is an excellent video script. And the hardest part of preparing a video script is keeping it brief and concise as well as informative at the same time. Invest some time to brainstorm the script and come up with a creative brief.  A thoroughly brainstormed script will help you identify the goals of your explainer video, who your audience

• Firstly, begin with a brief overview of your product offerings.
• Secondly, describe the problem you aim to solve with your product and elaborate on the specific steps you are planning to take to resolve it; this enables your audience to relate directly to your offering. (You must make sure you use simple terms and clear concepts throughout the video instead of overloading it with dense facts and numbers.)
• Finally, conclude the video with a short call to action (encourage people to subscribe to your channel, visit your website, download a free trial etc.)

Roughly, if you plan to create a video of 30 seconds, aim to have 85 words in your script. If your video is 60 seconds, include 160 words and if it’s going to be more than 90 seconds, prepare a script of 230 words. Finding the perfect balance of video graphics and audio information will be the key to success with your explainer video!

4. Add the video to your landing page

A recent study found that explainer videos on a landing page increase the conversion rates by 80% (and reduce the bounce rates as well). Sometimes when a video is the centerpiece of a page, it works quietly alongside images and articles to persuade the audience and win over visitors. Once the people watch the video, they get a brief idea about what the product/service are about, which helps them to make up their mind about the product instantly.

A walk through video in your landing page is all you need to get maximum people on board, as it allows you to show off your brand without forcing the visitors to go through swaths of texts.

5. Remember, the Shorter it is, the Better

Needless to mention, the longer your video is, it’s less likely the people will pay attention to it. As per the renowned creative writer, Helen Klein Ross, “the less you say, the more likely people are to remember.” Of course, it will be tempting to rattle off about the fancy features of your products and services, but it’s essential that you highlight only the key features briefly; the video must basically serve as a “hook” that gets people interested in taking the next step.

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The basic rule of thumb of explainer videos in the digital marketing industry is 150 words per minute. And do not think that reading faster is going to solve your problem. Remember, you need to give your users some breathing room and time for the message to sink in.

6. Focus on the benefits

Marketing head of Allessaywriter.com suggested, whether you have a new product, web service, or app, the temptation to show off as many features as possible is hard to stem (focusing on 60” HD screen, 100GB of storage, unlimited users, etc. isn’t going to help. Trust me.)

Instead of droning on about technical details, tell people how your service or product is going to solve their problems and make their lives better eventually. Instead of harping on about “100GB of storage” replace the phrase with “Get a lot of space to store your family photos for years to come safely.”

Well, you get the idea.

7. Use visuals only to amplify the message

You might have heard this a thousand times that having professional-looking visuals are extremely important for success. However, I’ve seen plenty of professional videos that achieved great success despite using simple visuals.

The key is using visuals that reinforce the voiceover and illustrate the story. Keep in mind that it’s an explainer video and not an opportunity for you to creating the next Avatar. In fact, too much whiz-bang visual effects and details will play a part in distracting the audience from the original message.

8. Plan for the launch

So, your video is finally complete, and you are quite satisfied with how it turned out. However, unfortunately, your job doesn’t really end here if you are planning to stand out from the crowd. To start driving measurable results, you will need to adopt certain specific strategies.

Here are three strategies that marketers adopt to steer their explainer videos in the right direction:

1. Select an appropriate host

   There are plenty of options out there when it comes to video hosting, but I personally suggest looking at Brightcove, Vimeo PRO, Wistia, or Vidyard.

2. Prepare a proper marketing plan

   Let’s face it, even if your video does not go viral, you can still take some specific steps to get some extra eyes on it. Leverage your newsletter, social media channels, e-mail signatures, blogs and events to share your explainer video.

3. Integrate the video on your website

   Most marketers like to put the video at the very center of their homepage. No matter where you place it, just make sure it integrates seamlessly with your brand and content.

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