Today it seems like everything has its own explainer video. They’ve come a long way since the old days, when over-the-shoulder “live” explainers were the norm. Why is explainer video production so popular in 2020? In this article we’ll dive into the science of business animation and whiteboard explainer videos.
You’ll learn why they’re effective, and how to get the best results. We’ll go over the step-by-step process that our team of animated whiteboard video explainer experts follows in order to create compelling videos.
Big results from Explainer Video Production short videos
How effective are whiteboard videos and other forms of business animation? There are plenty of companies who count of them for drawing attention and converting viewers into buyers.
- Crazy Egg launched one particular explainer video that increased their monthly revenues by $20,000
- Rypple (now Work.com) used a video to boost their conversion rate by more than 20%
- Dropbox used a simple explainer video to get a 10% increase in conversions from its 750,000+ monthly views
These big-name examples are among millions of organizations of all sizes now using business animation tools. So, the question is: Why are animated videos, whiteboard videos and hand drawn video explainers so effective?
The answer is simple:
There’s no reason to be distracted by the science of brain chemistry. Instead, for caveman-simple marketing purposes it’s enough to know that combining audio and visual stimulation together are the “secret sauce” for marketing success.
That’s the underlying reason why animation videos are so popular in 2020. Scientific studies have shown that information is retained better when people receive both audio and visual stimulation at the same time.
The stats for explainer videos
Combining audio and visual elements has a multiplier effect: In general, people only retain about 10% of what they hear – and that’s if they were specifically paying attention to the content.
But when auditory stimulus is added to the input, human memory can retain over 50% of that combined information. It’s a huge difference, and that’s why explainer video production is popular in 2020.
Explainer video production help you sell more
Consumers want to learn more about your products before making their choices. Statistics across multiple business niches indicate that viewers who watch a product video are over 60% more likely to buy it.
Likewise, over 50% of consumers have said that seeing product videos increases their confidence in the seller’s customer service capability. Some research suggests that people use the presence – or absence – of video explainer content on web pages as a measure of reliable customer support.
Quality presentation => quality product
Consumers can check pricing and other details on web pages with static text and graphic images. Yet, they also want to judge the quality of your products and services based on video quality.
Buyers need to assure themselves that a product or service will be well-supported after the sale. They know that getting support with e-commerce might be trickier than at a bricks-and-mortar retail store.
When you buy a new product, there’s always at least a little worry about the future: What will happen if this product fails? Will the seller provide customer service after the sale?
But when buyers see a well-crafted educational or promotional video, they know that the quality of your customer service is reflected in the quality of the video presentation.
That’s why all types of business animation – animated explainer videos, hand drawn videos, and whiteboard videos – have become popular in 2020 and beyond.
Visitors take off their shoes and stay longer
That old saying “time is money” applies to the time visitors spend on your website. When it comes to spending time-on-page, the more time visitors spend on your website, the more money they’ll spend too.
As mentioned earlier, we all like to be entertained even when we’re working. SEO researchers have known for a long time that video content keeps visitors on the page for much longer than text alone.
On average, visitors to e-commerce sites stay several minutes longer on pages with embedded videos or links. The time-on-page metric is extremely important because Google search engines give the highest site authority rankings to web pages where people spend the most time.
That’s the main reason why explainer video production is popular in 2020, and it’s driving the use of business animation as a powerful tool in highly-competitive business niches.
Decision-makers prefer watching video content instead of reading text
Research indicates that most senior executives prefer to watch a video instead of reading a text document, when both options are offered on the same web page. It makes sense that successful people find the most effective ways to receive and review information they’ll need for business operations.
Follow the smart money.
If you look to senior business leaders in order to craft your own strategies, then it’s time to start using business animation for your own enterprise.
As the leadership within an organization begins to use video content more and more, that same habit trickles down through the management ranks until it reaches contractors and workers.
Today the competitive norm is to use animated explainer videos, hand drawn videos, whiteboard videos, or other types of business animation.
The “secret sauce” for success is a good script
Just like a big-time Hollywood movie, a well-written script is your foundation for success. That means having a logical storyline written by an expert creative team.
You’ll also need excellent quality video production including on-screen text, graphics, and audio voice-over.
The easiest way to understand the script’s importance is to think of it like this: If you write a good script, then producing a good video is relatively easy.
The ingredients for video script-writing success
How will you know what makes a winning script? Here’s the simple formula for a great video script:
- Introduce a hero
- Show the pain and frustration they feel
- Present a product or service to solve the problem and ease their pain
- Call the viewer to action to either buy a product or make some other type of commitment (CTA)
Step 1 – Make sure that your script tells a memorable story
Even though most whiteboard videos are only a few minutes long, you’ll still need to show and tell a story that catches viewers’ attention.
Keep in mind that those old-school marketing pitches like, “We’re Company A, we want you to buy our Product B, and it’s wonderful because it offers Function C…” just don’t work anymore.
In order to compete for eyeballs, you’ll need to tell viewers a story, and you want a ‘hero’ to tell that story in a memorable way.
The storyline can be interesting, funny, sad, shocking, or anything else as long as it isn’t boring.
For example, instead of the ho-hum traditional marketing script mentioned earlier, here’s an alternative approach that holds viewers much longer:
“Meet Joe. He’s the owner of XYZ, a regional trucking company. He loves the trucking business, but he has a problem…..”
Joe’s your hero because he’s someone that your audience can identify with, since they’re truck company owners too.
To make viewers remember him in a business animation, the creative team will give him enough eye-catching characteristics so that you won’t forget him anytime soon…. Just like the big-beard driver in our example.
That’s your first step. The next steps will seem obvious to most marketers:
Step 2 – Introduce the problem and recognize the pain
Next, the “problem” needs to be introduced and defined. Animated video explainer experts – such as our creative team – can quickly distill the essence of a video’s topic into a short, memorable story.
It’s important to understand that the typical shortcoming in a “home-made” video is its poorly-written script.
Even when a given concept seems “clear” to the people who’ve developed it, the only way to catch and hold consumers’ attention is to write a concise script to follow a logical storyline.
Choose & fight only those battles you can win
Another reason business animation is popular in 2020 is because it helps business owners and managers precisely define the problem that needs to be solved.
That’s because professionally-made video explainers let you focus on highlighting the benefits of a product, instead of simply listing its features in text format.
A sharp focus on topic is especially important for videos that highlight case studies or technology information. Instead of confusing viewers with a broad agenda, it’s best to have your video scripts written by expert animated whiteboard video team.
Step 3 – Present a solution for the problem, and heal their pain
As outlined above, after crafting a good script and introducing the problem, next you should highlight it and emphasize how bad it truly is.
Here’s what the narrator will say about Joe’s suffering:
“It’s so hard for Joe to manage his trucking company profitably because of excessive regulations. He suffers from the same horrible problem each day of every year. He can’t complete his work because he blah blah blah…..
“Even worse, Joe’s family suffers too. That’s because Joe can’t stop worrying about his business problem….. Joe’s corporate profitability and family life would both become much easier with a new technology breakthrough to help lighten the trucking company’s workload….”
If you’re checking your stopwatch, you already know that the total run-time for Joe’s sample script so far is less than one minute.
Since the average length of a basic explainer video is about 90 seconds, you’ll have plenty of time to present your solution for the problem.
In the video’s storyline, we see Joe grumbling about burdensome Government-mandated safety requirements for his trucking company.
But suddenly there’s a ray of hope!
Joe is introduced to Company A’s exciting new technology, Product B, which can quickly solve his problem and heal the pain. Viewers ride along with Joe while he experiences the powerful benefits of Product B.
The story plays out with our hero Joe working happily once the problem is resolved, his frustration and “pain points” have been soothed by Product B, and other stakeholders are also happy.
Problem solved.
Now that you’ve helped viewers by showing an effective solution for their problems, it’s time to call them into action to help you, by urging them to choose the product or service shown in your animated explainer video.
Step 4 – Call viewers into action
An effective whiteboard animation video always ends with an expertly-written call to action (CTA). For our hero Joe, after weaving a description of Product B’s benefits into your storyline, our script-writer’s final task is create a powerful CTA.
The call to action urges your viewers to reciprocate in exchange for the informational value you’ve given them. It’s the critical closing step that drives already-engaged viewers to act on the information in your video.
Simply include the appropriate links or contact information, and you’ll have a winning explainer video. That’s how our business animation team works its magic for your business.
A snippet of the closing script for our hero Joe’s video explainer would look something like this:
“As we’ve seen, Joe’s worst problems can be resolved by the important new technology that’s already available in Company A’s Product B…..
“If you’re a trucking company owner confronted by the same problem, we can help. Just contact us now!”
Business animation for the future?
In conclusion, it’s easy to see why explainer video production is popular in 2020. The powerful forces of shortened attention spans, competitive pressures, and dazzling new business animation techniques have led us to this point.
What will be the future for animation explainer videos, hand drawn videos, and whiteboard videos?
Technology keeps moving forward. It’s difficult to predict the future of business animation. In any case, we’re certain that our team of animated video explainer experts will still be leading the field with the most effective artistry and technology!
Want to learn more about animated explainer videos?
