What Is An Explanation Video?

Explanation videos are short marketing videos. They demonstrate and explain how products work, or how people can benefit from using them. This type of content is also called an explainer video.

You can find explanation videos everywhere including on websites, across social media, and on the download pages of apps. Some companies also use explanation videos to run online ads to showcase their features.

Types of Explanation Videos

To understand what the best type of explanation video is for your business, let’s take a look at some of the best and most popular styles.

3. Race For Vision

Animated explanation video

This is one of the most popular explanation video types. Let’s dive in to the advantages it has to understand why.

– Flexibility:

Animation is one of those styles that offers boundless freedom to recreate and visualize everything that comes to your mind and imagination. Great for visualizing different styles and techniques, recreating tricky-to-portray visuals (like in the cases of tech, diseases, or inside of a device), or outlining every small piece of the product. If there’s a difficult problem to unravel and explain, animation is the most flexible way to get it done.

– Time:

With tight deadlines, you have no better option than animation for an explanation video. This doesn’t mean that animation doesn’t require any time to finish. At least 6-8 weeks will be needed to develop an animated explanation video that’s worth watching. But choosing other styles of explanation videos require even more time to produce. So, believe me, this is the fastest option you’ve got for a quick turnaround.

– Budget:

Since many businesses can’t afford big production budgets – especially if you’re running a startup – choosing animation makes sense for this reason as well. It can be a fraction of the cost of other forms (like live action) of explanation video.

– Another reason to choose animation over other styles is that it allows producers to make any future edits and adjustments much easier. Let’s imagine you want to add a new feature to showcase in your explainer video. If your video is live-action this could be a real burden for you to get all the artists and production team back for filming. In the case of animation, you’ll be free to make an edit any time in any segment of your video and with the same or any other production team.

Live-action explanation video

Live action videos are often used to showcase customer experience, especially in terms of creating an emotional connection with viewers. This works well with products like cars, furniture, or even clothes. Shooting a live action explanation video helps the viewers to visualize themselves as an actual owner and helps drive them to purchase it. Live action explanation videos are also a top choice when the producers want to use humor or public figure endorsements.

Let’s take a look at the Dollar Shave Club video. Not only is it a hilarious video, it also makes a convincing case to viewers about the benefits of their blades. The result is 27 million views on YouTube alone. It’s hard to imagine a better scenario for an explanation video that could drive the same viral results for their blades and make their product so famous.

Live action with animation.

This style is often used when the creators of the video want to show both actual customer experience and an inside look of their products. It can work great especially if you want to create an explanation video for apps, software solutions, or electronic gadgets. It also works well for adding animated flourishes to make the live action more interesting.

Useful Recourse
Animation Vs. Live Action: Which is Better for Your Business Video

Whiteboard explanation videos

Next on my list is an animated software explainer video. Cartoon explainers can work well if you want to demonstrate and explain software since it easily blends the actual with the abstract.

I’ve chosen the “Meet Asana” video as it’s one of the best for showing this. If you’re already familiar with Asana then you know that they are one of the best task management apps, not only because of the functionality of their platform but also for their design. In fact, design plays a huge role for users who choose Asana. Knowing that is such a strong sales point, the producers not only show the flexibility of the platform but also emphasize the incredible UI.

Screencast explanation video

Screencasts are often used to demonstrate and explain software and apps. But, they are very dry. If you want an effective marketing video then it would be better to consider this option only in combination with live action or animation. Using just a screencast for your explanation video will be boring and you’ll have a hard time keeping your audience’s attention.

Useful Recourse
Animation Vs. Live Action: Which is Better for Your Business Video

This style is often used when the creators of the video want to show both actual customer experience and an inside look of their products. It can work great especially if you want to create an explanation video for apps, software solutions, or electronic gadgets. It also works well for adding animated flourishes to make the live action more interesting.

Useful Recourse

Animation Vs. Live Action: Which is Better for Your Business Video

Whiteboard explanation videos

Next on my list is an animated software explainer video. Cartoon explainers can work well if you want to demonstrate and explain software since it easily blends the actual with the abstract.

I’ve chosen the “Meet Asana” video as it’s one of the best for showing this. If you’re already familiar with Asana then you know that they are one of the best task management apps, not only because of the functionality of their platform but also for their design. In fact, design plays a huge role for users who choose Asana. Knowing that is such a strong sales point, the producers not only show the flexibility of the platform but also emphasize the incredible UI.

Screencast explanation video

Screencasts are often used to demonstrate and explain software and apps. But, they are very dry. If you want an effective marketing video then it would be better to consider this option only in combination with live action or animation. Using just a screencast for your explanation video will be boring and you’ll have a hard time keeping your audience’s attention.

Useful Recourse

Know Which Explainer Video Style Will Work Best For Your Brand.

What Makes a Good Explanation Video?

Since your explanation video is the first thing visitors should come across when visiting your website (or other channels) for your product, it’s crucial to make that initial contact powerful and engaging. Here are some of the best tips that will help you create a successful explanation video.

Tip 1. The shorter the better

For explainer videos, it’s important to keep the viewers’ attention on your message. When your video is too long, the chance that your video will be viewed until the end drops significantly. Video marketing experts always advise not to go over 90 seconds, but the perfect spot for explainers is considered to be 30-60 seconds.

Tip 2. Script

One of the keys to a successful explainer video is the script. In the production process, this is the foundation and plenty of time should be invested into getting it right. A well-written script should answer the following questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• Why should your target audience choose your product over the others?
• What are the main problems your product solves?
• What are the main benefits you would like to mention in your explainer video?
• What are the product details you would like to explain in your video?
• What’s your CTA (call to action)?

Writing an explanation video script you should also:

• Use simple words. Don’t overload it with technical jargon.
• Make the explanation so simple that it would be understandable even by a kid.
• Choose the right tone that would create the right brand communication with your target audience.

Tip 3. Sound Design

You’d be amazed how sound effects can change your whole video. Proper sound design can turn a dull explanation video to a motivating message that gets people to take action. Your music track and sound design should perfectly match your product, as well as the mood and characters of your visuals. For more on the music aspect of sound design, follow this link to find The 25 Best Royalty-Free music sites.

Tip 3. VoiceOver

Voiceover artists create the first verbal connection with your audience. That connection may be so powerful that it can become associated as the voice of your brand, so be sure to choose the right artist that will sound natural for the viewer, create a mood that will help them focus on your message, and of course sound pleasant to the ears.

Final Words

If you’ve made it all the way here you should now have a solid understanding of what explanation videos are. If your business is ready and you’ve got an idea for one (or especially if you don’t), contact us for a free consultation. We’re always happy and available to answer any questions you may have.