If you have a product you are trying to sell, explainer videos are a great way to boost your customer base. Here's how:
In a digital world, establishing a website is a necessary part of running a business. But more and more, what constitutes a good website is not overloading a page with text and images, which can slow down load time and actually drive customers away. According to YouTube, the number of hours people spend watching videos has risen 60 percent year over year, and that's just videos that are screened on YouTube. Marketing research shows that consumers are 12 times more likely to share video content than text or photos.
What works best to drive marketing and website traffic is content that is simpler and easier to share, and videos hit both of those requirements.
Explainer videos are clear and concise, combining dynamic images with explanatory audio to provide better exposition about products. Studies have found that site visitors are more likely to visit a page with videos than one simply containing images and text. Once on a site, they will decide whether or not to buy a product based on how easy it is for them to understand it.
Nobody reads the manual
Having a good product is only half the battle. A consumer will only buy the product if they understand how it works. And the average consumer would sooner use a product manual as a doorstop than use it to understand how the product works.
"Customers appreciate a simple way to explain how your product works."
Apple realized this when, in the late '90s, they ran a series of commercials that pitched their new iMac as not only user-friendly but easy to set up. "There's no step 3," a 30-second TV ad, demonstrated the best qualities of an explanatory video.
Apple's campaign emphasizing the ease rather than the burden of new technology helped drive the iMac to icon status. In an era when home computers required hours, sometimes days to assemble and program, Apple emphasized simplicity, and they effectively demonstrated their product in less time than it takes to microwave popcorn.
Apple realized one undeniable fact about the average consumer: You can design the most cutting-edge piece of technology, but if you do not have a simple way of conveying how it works, then consumers will not care.
Explainer videos capture attention and provide better insight into a product. Demonstrating how it works can help turn a curious passerby into a customer.
Good explainer video, great buzz
Explainer videos are about conveying something of substance with just the right amount of flash. Consumers identify with relatable characters, simple but striking visuals and dialogue that is easy to understand. Old Spice saw an increase in traffic after releasing its online campaign with the "Old Spice Man," and Dropbox saw an increase in traffic after releasing its own explainer video. With an increase in traffic comes an increase in sales.
Consumers love starting a good buzz.While there is no exact formula for a video going viral, there is a general consensus that a viral video is two things: memorable and short. In many ways, explainer videos are primed to go viral. Typically, they are less than two minutes long, and they are designed to be memorable with dynamic visuals and compelling characters.
Since an explainer video uses animation to create a character that consumers will identify with, they are more likely to remember the characters and the video itself later. According to Western Ontario University Research, people recall 10 percent of visual information and 70 percent of audiovisual information three days after seeing an audiovisual presentation on average.
An explainer video is dynamic, straightforward and will encourage customers to not only buy the product, but also share information about it – effectively getting customers to advertise your company for you.
Consider this explainer video about Samepage: the character in the explainer video heard about the service from a friend, and then signed up for it, and shared it.
This animated short mirrors what happens in the real world: Consumers rely heavily on word of mouth from the people that they trust, so when a consumer shares an explainer video, they are effectively telling all of their Facebook friends that this is a good product. Utilizing an explainer video encourages consumers to share products and drives up business.
Creating a good explanatory video motivates the consumer to try the product, share information about it and encourage other people they know to try the product, too. With all of that at stake, why shouldn't you invest in explainer videos?
