Why Are Explainer Videos Important in Marketing?

Your customers don’t care about you.

They care about their own problems. The more you talk about yourself, the less interest they'll take. And on top of that, our attention spans are shrinking day in day out. The average attention span dropped by nearly a quarter in the last 2 decades (from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds today. We’re now lagging behind the humble goldfish in terms of being able to focus on a task or object.

The reason? Constant bombardment of texts, tweets, comments, shares, emails, and our brain can’t help but get trapped in that rabbit hole only to never come back to main task. As a result, it has become harder to get any marketing message across.

This is where explainer videos come to the rescue. They offer customers exactly what they want – solution to their problems. With engaging storytelling, explainer videos show off your brand personality in the positive light, and educate customers on how your service works.

Let’s take a look further into what makes explainer videos great, and how do they help marketers grow their business?

What Are Explainer Videos?

Gone are the days when you could hand over a brochure explaining your service to the customers. Explainer videos have taken over this role now and that too in much lesser time.

Explainer videos are short animated videos that present a business in the best possible light. They explain what they do, why they’re useful, and why people should choose them over everyone else.

Explaniner videos typically last from 30 to 90 seconds (average of about 200 words per script). Think of them as a persuasive sales pitch with a new medium to inform the customers about a particular service. And the more persuasive your brand message is, the more the audience trusts you. It’s this trust that creates lifelong customers.

Top 7 Reasons Why Businesses Should Invest in Explainer Video Marketing

Irreplaceable – That’s what videos are for marketers.

Almost 90% of customers have stated they want to see more videos from brands in 2021, which makes video more effective than ever.

No wonder that more than 99% of current video marketers will continue using video in 2022, and two-thirds plan to increase or maintain their spend in the future.

However, the perks of creating explainer videos are much more than lead generation. Let’s look at other reasons why marketers should invest in this high-performing tool.

1. A Video is More Memorable Than Text.

If a picture’s worth a 1000 words, a 60-second video is worth 1.8 million words, according to James McQuivey of Forrester research.

In this age of information overload, customers won’t stick around on your social media or website for more than 20-30 seconds. If they don’t find anything worth browsing, they won’t think twice before leaving.

An explainer video not only holds your customer’s attention but stretches the dwell time upto 60 seconds.

Take a look at how Freshwale explains the working principles of an autonomous all terrain intrusion prevention complex. The 3d-illustrated processes make it irresistible for a viewer to stick around till the end.

2. Versatile - You Can Use Them Across All The Channels

Nearly 8 out of 10 videos are watched on mobile devices. If you don’t adapt to the changing preferences of platforms where people watch videos, you’ll never grab fresh customers.

A. Website

Use an explainer video on your website to explain what your company does, how it can help customers, and why people should do business with you. Just like F.Learning studio made an intro animation video for MODO, a platform that helps manage data and deliver clear insight for the energy industry.

B. Emails

An explainer video in conjunction with product centric emails can increase your click-through rates. Marketo used email automation to send the backlog of website videos. As a result, their CTR shot to 144%.

C. Social Media

Explainer videos are excellent for Facebook and Instagram ads because they allow you to get maximum exposure for mobile users. Watch how D2C travel accessories brand Lo & Sons leveraged Facebook to highlight common issues people face while travelling.

3. Improve Conversion of Prospects Into Customers

Customers are much more likely to respond if they see the product or service in action. A more interactive video results in greater visitor engagement and, therefore, more conversions. Infact, a report by Social Media Week suggests that interactive videos have an estimated 90% completion rate.

The perfect example of how explainer video helped a brand grow is Dropbox. All they did was put a 120-second explainer video and their conversion rates went up 10%. This 10% hike led to 10 million additional customers and an extra revenue of $48,000,000. Not bad for a “mere” 2-minute video!

4. Videos Have The Greatest ROI

As marketers gain understanding of how to use videos to greater effect, the ROI shows no signs of dropping down. According to Wyzowl, 87% of video marketers reported a positive ROI - an enormous leap from the lowly 33% in 2015.

You might think crating a video burns a hole in your pocket. Not anymore! Whether you’re non-profit, one-man agency or a small scale startup, you can make engaging explainer videos without much investment.

A lot goes into video making. It takes more than just a camera to create a video that's uniquely yours. You need to upload, digitally record, utilize stock videos, and edit. A video marketing software can do all these things for you.

Cost-Effective Video Marketing Tools

Here are some of the best ones in 2022 –

1. Biteable - The click-and-drag application offers free features with paid plans starting at $15 per month.

2. Promo - This online video maker has plans ranging from $39 up to $249 per month

3. WeVideo - This versatile application offers educational pricing to Non-profits. The rest pay between $4.00 and $29.99 per month.

4. Powtoon - Claiming to be the video tool of choice for 96% of Fortune 500 firms, this tool offers three pricing tiers - a $19/month plan, a $59/month plan, and a $99/month plan.

5. PlayPlay - With premium video features and a super user-friendly interface, PlayPlay offers a 7-day free trial. Paid monthly plans start at $160 per user and enterprise plans are $500 per user.

6. Animoto - This one-size-fits-all tool offers unlimited videos without a watermark for $15 per month. While the $39 per month tier offers platforms for multiple users.

7. Magisto - Carrying an AI-based assistant, Magisto offers three plans - Personal is $4.99 per month, $9.99 for professional and $34.99 for business.

5. Videos Carry a Good Dose of Emotional Appeal

You want people to feel comfortable doing business with you, right? Well, how would they feel if they were talking to someone who sounded like they were reading off of a script? The answer is not very comfortable at all!

Explainer videos negate that stiffness with powerful storytelling in a matter of seconds. Greenwing Technology, eProcurement solution provider utilizes whiteboard animation series “The Adventures of PunchOut Catalog Man” to clear out the confusion of Procurement and Punchout Catalogs.

The video conveys exactly what suppliers would feel after PunchOut resolves their issue and then directs them to the landing page.

6. Best Way to Boost Your Brand’s SEO

If you’re not on the first page of search results, no marketing strategy can help you generate leads. Hubspot says 75% of Google searchers never get past the first page. The higher you rank, the more traffic. This is where Explainer videos come to the rescue.

Embedding an explainer video on your landing page not only increases the length of time that visitors stick around, but, also, the number of conversions to paying customers.

Similar to Dropbox, a local mobile bar company, Bespoke increased their overall conversion rate by 7% after embedding an explainer video on their “about us” page. It was because the video captured the interests of its intended audience, which resulted in it going viral and attracting links. It gave the audience a peek behind the scenes and featured the services in action.

7. People Tend to Share Videos More Than Anything

More than 90% consumers share videos they’ve watched online. Which means you’ll earn more backlinks. And the more and better back links you have, the better your rankings will be.

Perhaps, one of the iconic examples of an explainer earning a massive amount of backlinks is the “viral” video from DollarShaveClub.com. Before the commercial, hardly anybody knew about Dollar Shave Club, but it soon became a household name after the video.

YouTube reports that the Dollar Shave Club video was uploaded on March 6, 2012. So far, the video has been viewed more than 6 million times and has attracted almost 90,000 links, and the site continues to attract links naturally each month as writers continue to write about it.

Takeaway – Explainer Videos Are Every B2B Marketer’s Favorite

The takeaway here should be that businesses of all kinds benefit from explainer videos. Looking at these numbers, you might say videos are reaching the saturation point. But the good news is the buyers love visual content. And apparently, video marketing is still underutilized by marketers.

If your business wants to boost marketing efforts or relaunch an existing web page or brand, don't be afraid to use free video marketing tools (mentioned above) or hire a professional content marketing agency to create an explainer video.

IncrediContent is a content marketing agency that helps businesses grow sales by creating and managing content on their websites and social media platforms, helping them engage better with their target audience, and increasing awareness of their businesses and brands. Contact us to learn how we can help your business.

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