Why Explainer Videos Are the Perfect Tool for Increasing Conversions
With so many new businesses and brands popping up by the day, it’s important for companies to make an impact quickly to increase conversions.
When a potential customer lands on your website, you have a very limited amount of time to show them what you’re all about and encourage them to buy from you rather than your competitor.
This is where explainer videos come in.
Research shows that 90% of consumers state that this type of video is really helpful, because it quickly and concisely shows prospects what you do and the problem you solve without them having to read reams and reams of text.
But that’s not the best part. Explainer videos have been proven to increase conversion rates at no end, so let’s dive into how exactly they do that.
First things first…
What is An Explainer Video?
An explainer video is a short video (usually between 30 seconds and 2 minutes long) that essentially tells your story.
They can be presented in any way, although animated videos are all the rage at the moment because they offer a fun and simple way to show complicated concepts.
Their main aim, though, is to convey the value proposition of a brand and the key issue that the product solves. If you can do that successfully, you have yourself a fantastic tool that will boost conversions.
Let’s take a look at Dropbox for a moment.
When this digital storage app first emerged on the market, they struggled to show their value to prospects – after all, people could just save their documents to their computer and transfer them via memory stick, so why would they need to save them anywhere else?
To validate the idea and need for something like Dropbox, founder Drew Houston created a short whiteboard-style explainer video that highlight the ways in which the tool could be used.
As a result, the 2-minute video generated 10 million extra customers and an ROI of $48,000,000 in extra revenue.
“It drove hundreds of thousands of people to the website,” said Houston. “Our beta waiting list went from 5,000 people to 75,000 people literally overnight. It totally blew us away.”
Why Explainer Videos Are the Perfect Tool for Increasing Conversions
So why are explainer videos so effective for businesses?
People Stick Around Longer for Videos
You have precisely 7 seconds to grab the attention of someone who’s freshly landed on your website. It’s not long.
With such a limited amount of time, you need to provide content that is immediately engaging, and the colors, moving visuals, and audio content of an explainer video does just that.
In fact, the average video of this kind is watched for around 2.7 minutes, compared to just 28% of website text that’s read. This is because people tend to skim text on a page, but will actively listen and take in spoken and visual content.
Show, Don’t Tell
Research has shown that people retain information better when they’re fed it in a visual way.
This means prospects are likely to remember how exactly your product can help them more so than your competitor who just shoved a load of written text in their face.
Not only this, explainer videos essentially force you into cutting down your value proposition into 200 words to fit into a 1-2 minute video.
Scripts limit the number of words you need, which means you need to find a way to quickly and clearly convey the benefits of your business.
People Love to Share Videos
It’s highly likely you want to get more eyeballs on your website and more people aware of your brand.
While explainer videos give prospects who land on your website a quick insight into what you offer, they’re also the perfect sharing fodder.
This is because internet users are far more likely to share a video than a page of text. In fact, on Facebook alone, videos are shared 12x more than links and text together.
If your explainer video is engaging enough, it will do your marketing for you as people begin to share it around their social channels and beyond.
Google Loves Video
Google and other search engines are in the business of showing people the most relevant content for their search term. And, because millions and millions of videos are being watched every single day, search engines have noted that they are some of the most valuable types of content.
If you have a landing page with a short, snappy explainer video on and your competitor has just a normal landing page with no video, it’s highly likely that Google will place your page higher in the search rankings.
The Magic of Explainer Videos
The great thing about explainer videos is they do more than one thing at a time. Not only do they allow you to highlight the benefit of your product or service quickly and concisely, but they also offer a tool that promotes shares and generates higher search engine rankings.
All of these aspects come together to generate more leads and, off the back of that, more conversions. It’s a win-win situation.
Author’s bio
Ryan Gould
Vice President of Strategy and Marketing Services
An expert search, social and content marketer, Ryan leads Elevation Marketing’s digital strategy department, helping brands achieve their business goals, such as improving sales and market share, by developing integrated marketing strategies distinguished by research, storytelling, engagement and conversion. With proven track record of energizing brands, engaging audiences and managing multidiscipline marketing teams, Ryan is a respected expert in achieving consistent results through creative design, thought-provoking narratives and innovative problem solving.