Posted by Sometimes, business owners notice that despite having a great influx of daily website visitors, their sales numbers don’t improve. This is more common than you would think, and while challenging, it is not impossible to fix – especially when leveraging explainer videos!
These videos are fantastic marketing tools because they can engage and captivate your audience by conveying complex messages in a simple way and a very short time (usually, in less than two minutes!). They have an incredible potential to turn merely curious visitors into valuable customers – but only if you do them right!
Most experienced video production companies agree that the difference between an O.K. piece and an amazing conversion tool that keeps your brand on people’s minds lies in following five critical production steps.
Today, you’ll learn each of those valuable steps, along with some helpful tips to make the most out of them. So, keep reading and learn how to boost those conversions using explainers!
Using Storytelling to Convince More People
Stories have been an essential part of human culture since our ancestors learned how to speak. From the very beginning, they have used stories to communicate all sorts of things: from warnings and teachings back in those ancient times to personal experiences, news, ideas, and so much more nowadays.
Since storytelling is so deeply ingrained in us, it is no surprise that the key to successful video campaigns often lies in creating a strong and compelling narrative.
By this point, you might be wondering how you even start building one. Well, a good starting point is to structure your video’s script around the need(s) that your product or service satisfies while developing the following topics:
- “What”: explain your character’s pain point in a clear and simple way. This is the moment that will hook in your viewers, so they need to relate with this person and their situation right away. Don’t worry; we will cover how to create this character in the next section.
- “How”: show your audience how your product or service helps solve the character’s problem – a.k.a.: the customer’s pain point. Explain the solution you offer in a subtle way.
- “Why”: tell them what makes your brand unique. You have shown your viewers how they can solve their problems; now, you need to convince them to choose your product or service. You can do this by enumerating the benefits you offer, comparing them with other similar products or services in the market, or highlighting its key features.
Beyond that, try not to use complex words or sentences that your audience will struggle to understand, and instead, keep your script clear and simple. Otherwise, viewers could abandon your video before you make your case.
Mirroring Your Potential Customers Through Effective Characterization
As you may know, the first step in any marketing campaign is to research your target audience. After doing that, you will have a vast amount of information about your customers that you can use to create the main character of your video.
Build this persona as if you were creating your avatar in a video game. Is your audience made up of both men and women? Then, it would be a good idea to have at least one male and one female character. Are your visitors young adults for the most part? Make your character(s) fit into that group, not only in age and appearance, but also in interests, values, and the way they express themselves.
The idea is to make your potential customers identify with the protagonist of your video. They have to relate to their struggles in order to become interested in the solution your product or service offers.
Through effective characterization, you will not only attract your curious viewer’s attention, but you will also give them a personalized experience that builds a better and stronger connection with them.
On Color, Logos, and Other Branding Techniques
At the beginning of this article, we mentioned that explainer videos could help you stick your brand on people’s minds. What if we one-up that and tell you that you can do it in an effective yet subtle and tasteful way?
Yes! You can make your brand more memorable by incorporating your colour palette into the video’s aesthetic. How? By using it to paint the backgrounds, dye your characters’ clothes, or colour the fonts.
To create cohesiveness between all the elements that make up your brand – your logo, your website, and now your explainers– focus on the predominant colours of your palette. Try to pick a few complimentary ones to make it attractive while keeping it tasteful.
Once you have that, you can introduce the other elements that comprise your brand identity. For example, you can add your tagline or your logo in unobtrusive places like the video’s last frame or one of the corners. Just remember that explainer videos should not be overly promotional, so don’t get carried away by including your logo all over the place.
This is how you should brand your explainer videos to give them a professional look and make them memorable. Now your current viewers will be able to instantly recognize them as yours, and your potential customers will be more likely to link them back to your company.
Letting the “Entertainment Factor” Do the Marketing for You
Another way of making your animated video memorable is by making it fun. Nobody wants to spend their time watching boring statistics and listening to a talking head listing the features and benefits of a product or a service. Adding a bit of humor here and there will go a long way in making your content more enjoyable, for that, you can try to look for video ideas for inspiration.
You might tell us, “but this does not suit the tone of my brand!”. Don’t worry – making your explainer video funny is not the only thing you can do to add entertainment value. Entertainment can take the form of cheerful music, interesting scenarios, and attractive visuals.
For example, instead of showing your statistics in a block of text, use a motion graphics animated chart and make your character interact with it.
The sky is the limit when it comes to creativity, and explainer videos are the perfect ground to express it!
Using Subtle, Yet Clear Marketing Cues to Prompt Users into Action
After watching your video, some customers might still be uncertain about how to proceed, and they might need a little nudge in the right direction.
Our advice? Always insert a CTA (Call To Action) at the end of your video.
CTAs are a line of text, piece of dialogue, or an image that prompts your viewers to do certain things. All kinds of purposes can be achieved with CTAs, but here are the ones that can prove most useful for your explainer video, along with some examples:
- Social sharing. One of the simplest and most common calls to action is to include a ‘share’ button. You can customize it according to your content by adding a line of text that says, for example, “Like what you’re watching? Share with your friends!”
- Provide more information. If you want to expand on an idea, give more details, or simply drive more visitors to your website, you can tell them to “Watch next video,” “Sign up for our newsletter,” or “Visit our website!”
- Closing the sale. To convince your customers to buy your product or hire your services, consider adding a button that says “Shop Now!”, “Contact us,” or “Request a quote.”
Summing It Up
Video marketing is one of the best strategies to grow your audience. However, simply making an animated explainer video is not enough to turn those curious visitors into lasting customers. It’s also vital to make your video relatable, entertaining, and memorable.
Luckily, we have given you five suggestions that allow you to tick all those boxes and take full advantage of the raw conversion potential of explainer videos.
By putting these tips into action, you will create an explainer video that your audience can identify with and remember, strengthening your connection with them and building a long-lasting relationship.
So, what are you waiting for? Let’s start boosting those conversion rates!