Explainer videos : What is an explainer video? Examples and styles

Here’s our quick guide on explainer videos. What is an explainer video and how can you use it in your business? We’ll also answer common questions about explainer videos for business.

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Explainer Videos

What is an Explainer Video?

An explainer video is a short animated or live action videos that explain how something works, in a way that is simple and easy to understand.

The reason why they are widely used by businesses, government departments, and nonprofits, is plain and simple — they just work.

Since 2009 we’ve created hundreds of videos for businesses around the world. The best explainer videos have key things in common: a great video strategy, a compelling script, captivating visuals, and engaging animation.

How to leverage explainer videos in your business or nonprofit

Explainer videos are great sales tools and for creative storytelling that connects with your audience on a personal level. We’ve created a few use cases for business, and some of the explanation videos we’ve made. In the 15+ years we’ve been making explainer videos, we’ve had the privilege to work with some of the best brands from round the world.

So, we decided to reveal the most common use cases for explainer videos. This is based on our research from the hundreds of businesses we’ve worked with, across multiple industry verticals, and the thousands of videos we’ve made for them.

Explainer Video Examples Typical Explainer Video Length
1. Explain Your Business Most sales explainer videos are 1-2 minutes long
2. Simplify a complex concept 1-3 minutes
3. Launch a new product or service 1-2 minutes is the typical length
4. Educate your audience 2-5 minutes for most topics
5. Demonstrate how your product works 3-10 minutes for a detailed demo
6. Raise awareness or funds for your nonprofit 1-3 minutes of storytelling
7. Train your staff 3-5 minute clips
8. Animated Ad 15-60 seconds based on delivery channel
9. Short Animated Stories 5-10 minutes
10. Social Video Clips 6-15 seconds reels

Explainer video examples that will inspire you.

Here are some explainer video examples and their use cases in detail. After creating thousands of videos for hundreds or business we’ve polished our process and have come to know what works and what doesn’t. Check out the most common explainer video uses cases to inspire your next project.

 

Explain your business

A sales video is the one tool every business should have. It clearly explains what your business does, for whom, and why your target customers should buy from you.

In this explainer video example, you can see how storytelling is able to tie in the customer’s pain points with the company’s solution.

 

Simplify a complex topic

Some of the most complex topics involve healthcare and technology. Creating an explainer video will help simplify complex tech and medical terms.

You can either use the video as an educational tool for students, or educate patients on issues affecting their health and wellness.

 

Launch a new product

How do you introduce a new service to potential customers? Use an intro video.

A launch video can generate an immediate boost in signups, improve brand visibility, and drive sales. A good quality launch video will easily pay for itself in the long haul.

 

Educate your staff or audience

Training your staff on crucial topics involves many moving parts. Recording talking heads has long been the tradition, but animation introduces endless possibilities.

You can use explainer videos to train your staff on topics such as workplace health and safety.

 

Demonstrate product features

In this product demo video, we clearly explained how Stealthbox’s grow box works. Having a product video boosts confidence in your brand, increasing brand awareness, and has been known to reduce customer returns.

We recommend using a combination of short and long-form video content.

 

Raise awareness or funds

Nonprofit organizations such as Disability Rights Oregon advocate for issues that require well planned awareness campaigns.

Use explainer videos to raise awareness on key social issues. The goal may vary, from getting people to sign up and support your cause, to raising money for a specific project.

Explainer video styles we’ve found most effective

For most of our videos we use motion graphics, character animation, whiteboard animation, and 3D animation. We’ve done our best to explain the best uses cases for each style of animation. While there’s no hard and fast rules on what animation style you should use, we can work with you to evaluate your goals, target audience, and the most ideal style to use.

 

Character Animation

Character animation videos are the most common type of video used in marketing. The character represents a typical customer, their pain points, and how the product solves their problem. We recommend character animation for most projects.

Motion Graphics

 

Motion graphics videos can be best described as graphics in motion. They use animated graphics and text to display information in a more interesting way. In situations where you don’t need to show animated characters, animated graphics will do the job.

 

3D Animation

3D animation can be found in traditional and emerging media, such as visualization, visual effects, product design, and more. Making 3D explainer videos is a complex process but the results are extremely rewarding.

 

Live Action Videos

Live-action explainer videos are shot on location using cameras, lights, and actors. Live action is great for TV Ads, Interviews, Documentaries, and video that need to show people. Live action and animation also enhance the quality of your video.

 

2.5D Animation

2.5D animation is created using sophisticated techniques to create a 3D look without using 3D animation software. This style is a great alternative to the more complex 3D animation, while taking the quality of your video content to the next level.

 

Whiteboard Videos

Whiteboard explainer videos consist of hand drawn visuals that are revealed over time. This simulates the illusion of a hand drawing the sketches on a white board. This animation style is mostly used in education and training, and for creating cost effective video content.

Explainer videos connect with your audience on a personal level and inspire action

Connecting with your audience has never been easier. We use video to help our clients communicate their value proposition in the shortest possible time.

This is your flagship explainer video that gives an overview of your offering, and what sets you apart from your competition. It sets the tone for your next discussion with a prospect or target audience. For a business, this would be a sales video, and for nonprofits, your corporate overview video.

Use explainer videos deliver your value proposition in less time

How long does it take for site visitors to understand your business and value proposition? 5-10 minutes? No easy answer to that question.

You can save your visitors time by adding a landing page video the explains your business in the simplest way possible.

With a 1-2 minute explainer video visitors can easily understand what you do and why they should buy from you. Research has shown that explainer videos can increase website conversions by up to 80%.

Explainer Videos

How do we insure your explainer videos will make an impact?

We’ve developed a meticulous step-by-step process for making animated explainer videos. From discovery, script writing, storyboarding, design, and the final animation, we’ve perfected our skills over the years.

For video content such as marketing, education, software-as-a-service, product promotion, training, and B2B videos, the process is pretty much the same.

Leverage our experience and creativity and create videos that give you the results you want to see. Below is a step by step process of how we create explainer videos for any purpose.

Our collaborative process keeps you in the loop a every stage of production. We start with a discovery meeting to get to know your business, your target audience, and project goals. Your feedback is gathered at every milestone so the final product is as much our creation as it is yours.

We write a compelling script and develop a concept that highlights your goals, storyline, entrance hooks, context, and call to action.

We fine tune the script by checking for key components and keywords that are essential in delivering the message. Finally your video script is approved with everything it needs to create a great explainer video.

We then move on to create storyboards, which is a sequence of sketches with written ideas to help you understand how the story will unfold.

Each frame represents a different step in the story and has sketches of what each scene will cover. This is a very important step, as it determines how the story will be represented visually.

Once the storyboard is approved, we design the final illustrations that will be used in the video. We provide a style frame for your approval. A style frame is the full colour design that we use to determine the final look of the video.

Finally the graphics are animated and all visuals are brought to life. This is done in an animation software, baed on the final delivery method.

Most of our videos use voiceover, except in some cases where a narrator is not required. We then send you our recommended voiceover talent to choose from. If you have your own preferred voice, we’ll be happy to incorporate them. Our sound designer finds the right soundtrack and adds sound effects to the video.

Once your video explainer is complete, you get a link to download the files. You can then upload the video on YouTube, embed on your website, or share on social media platforms.

Common questions about explainer videos?

Here are some of the most common questions about our process, timelines, budgeting, and more.

Explainer Videos

A standard 60 second explainer video takes 4-6 weeks to produce. This depends on the type of video we’re making, the style of animation, the length of the video, and other variables. Our high-end explainer videos require 6-8 weeks or more. We do offer rush projects depending on availability.

Our video making process kicks off with a meeting to establish goals and set deadlines. We then write a script, create storyboards, design the visuals, and produce the final animation.

Most explainer videos range from 60-90 seconds. If you need to cover a lot of details then you may need 2-3 minutes. Some videos may need to be longer, such as educational and marketing videos.

Making an explainer video takes 4-6 weeks for a 1-2 minute video. More complex videos require an average of 6-8 weeks to complete.

If you need your video faster, we’ll be happy to help. Speeding up our process does require an adjustment in the budget.

Every stage comes with 3-5 rounds of revisions. If you do need more revisions, no worries, we can gladly accommodate them for a small fee.

The budget required for making an explainer video depends on several key factors. These include the video quality you need, the length of video, and style of animation. Here’s some info on explainer video costs so you know what to expect.

Once the video is complete and agreed payments are settled you’re free take possession of your video content. At this moment you have full copyrights to use the video as you please. For paid advertising videos there may be usable-based fees for voiceover use.

Once we’ve agreed on the scope of the project and costs, we collect a deposit and kick off the project. Request a consultation to get started.

So, what next?

I hope we’ve answered most of your questions on the topic of explainer videos. If not, we’re always available to chat.

Maybe you’re thinking of a cool project that needs explaining and need help getting started, please request a quote. I’ll be glad to meet with you and discuss how we can help.

Creamy Animation