Have you ever considered producing an explainer video for your business or any other equally important purpose? Wondering what explainer videos are? Well, explainer videos are exactly that, they are videos that provide explanations for products, services, and a whole lot of other things. You’re likely to come across thousands of explainer videos on the internet, especially on sites like YouTube.
Explainer videos are super useful. They help viewers learn about things. For example, if you’re a business that wants to give out instructions on how to use one of your products, an explainer video would prove to be an effective choice. In fact, a lot of businesses have been relying on the medium of explainer videos to boost revenue and even build relationships with their customers.
The file storage service, Dropbox, has been using an animated explainer video for over 3 years to get the job done. Also, the company Vidyard had once reported that their explainer video had helped them garner a 100% boost in sign-up rate when it was used in the pre-launch landing page. At a San Francisco ReelSummit event, Zappo’s announced that they produce around 500 videos per day and that includes explainer videos. Why do they do this? Because of obvious benefits.
However, that’s just the good news. The bad news is that, more often than not, explainer videos fail to achieve what they were purposed for. This isn’t because the product or service is bad. Rather, it’s because most explainer videos are badly made. So, before you go about producing your own explainer videos, here are the most common mistakes you need to be aware of.
Script Outsourcing
We live in a world where outsourcing is the way to go. That’s a good thing, especially if you lack the expertise to carry out certain tasks. However, outsourcing doesn’t work for everything. Some things are better done by yourself. After all, it’s your business and you know your product the best. Can you expect anybody else to do justice for your product or service? The answer is a simple no.
Script writing isn’t all that hard. You can always learn how to develop a script. There are a ton of professional sites out there that teach people how to write scripts. Speaking of scripts, you should make sure that it remains your priority. The video isn’t all that important; no matter how high quality your video is, a poor script is all it takes to ruin things. A badly scripted video is the most effective conversion killer. Melty Cone is a scriptwriting services company in NYC.
For ideas on good scripts, take a look at all the videos you’ve enjoyed in the past. You’ll notice that all these videos have messages that resonate with you. The videos, by themselves, are just platforms that communicate the messages. When creating an explainer video, the script must be developed in such a manner that it address all the potential questions and concerns the customer might have. If you can do that, then you have what is known as an effective explainer video.
Avoiding Research
Researching is the most boring aspect of any video production. However, it needs to be done. A poorly researched video will tend to have no effect on the viewer. What’s worse is that your customers might actually figure out that your video has been badly researched or not researched at all. That’s something you definitely do not want. A well-researched video often packs a certain punch. And that you can get with the right amount of research.
So, how do you go about researching?
Well, the first thing you need to decide is what kind of animation you would like it to have. There are several options. You can go for cartoon animation, white board animation, or even motion graphics. Don’t consider this as copying. These are just video styles and you have all the freedom in the world to choose one that suits your needs. The key is to make sure your video stands out in terms of execution and content/message.
The other thing is you need to research customer paint points. For example, find out why customers aren’t buying your product or what their biggest concern about your product is. As them if there’s anything that confuses them and what challenges they face when using the product or service. The answers to these questions will pretty much form the outline of your message. Customer testimonials serve as a great source for such information.
Convincing Every Single Soul
Trying to get into everybody’s good books is a sure recipe for failure. So, avoid doing that with your explainer video. Your video must be optimized to meet the needs of your target audience. Trying to satisfy everyone will get you nowhere. Always prioritize what’s important and dedicate all your efforts towards those most important concerns. The messages must be aimed at customers who are most likely to buy or return. Melty Cone is an explainer video production company in NYC.
Bothering About Video Length
They say shorter the video, the more viewable it is. Well, in all honesty, video length is a very subjective matter. There are times when you need long videos and times when you need short ones. However, as a general rule, it is safe to stick to a minute or so.
It depends on what kind of customer you’re dealing with and how far down the sales funnel they are. A customer who is right at the bottom might need to know much more to make a purchase decision. As a result, you might need to present more information, which will obviously result in a longer video. For instance, a product explanation video is best when it’s not too long; maybe a little over a minute at maximum. On the other hand, a video discussing a particular solution might have to be longer as there are more details involved.
What is Melty Cone? Melty Cone is a full-service video production company in NYC. We make videos from start to finish; from creative idea conception to final video delivery.
