The Top 5 Benefits of Explainer Videos

There's been a lot of big claims on explainer videos lately. Some of them are true, some of them are not. We wanted to get to the bottom of this, so we gathered the top five benefits of using an explainer video that will help you to decide if it's a proper tool to add to your marketing toolkit.

So, let’s start with the important question:

What is an explainer video?

An explainer video is a video that takes your idea (or product, or service, or business), and explains it in a way that is simple, enjoyable, and effective. The potential benefits of an explainer video are as follows:

• Increase Click-through rate
• Increase conversions (leading to more money)
• Increased retention and understanding of your product
• Increase SEO ranking

The benefits can be summed up in the following sentence: 

Explainer videos help you make more money. 

Why is it effective?

It makes people pay attention, which is hard enough to do these days.

On top of this it increases retention, increases click through rates, and increases trust and understanding for your company and brand.

The process behind this is that it’s a video that is fun, exciting, and entertaining. Which in turn makes people pay attention.

So without further ado, here are five benefits (backed by research) to using an explainer video in your marketing.

Benefit #1: Increases Conversion Rates

Some people like reading books, some people like watching movies. It doesn’t matter which you prefer, what matters is that you test each method to see which to use in your business.

This study by conversion-rate-experts did just that, and found that when putting an explainer video on a website up against a website that only had text, the difference was astounding. 

The website with the explainer video had 64% higher conversions than the control page with only text.

Having an explainer video that allowed people to watch a video to get information instead of reading was able to increase conversions an absurd amount.

Another study that was conducted by The Relevancy Group found that sending marketing emails that contained a video increased revenue by up to 66%. 

People receive so much email these days that if you don’t stand out, people just don’t pay attention.

Benefit #2: Clarify the Objective of Your Product

People gain a better understanding of a product or service once they see and hear someone explain it. 

An explainer video helps you to connect better with your potential customers by explaining what your business can do for them and why they should choose you over other competing businesses.

When you write a script (or have a script written) for your business, the explainer video format forces you to be direct and concise. 

The objective of your product will be easily distinguishable and easily understandable. And a customer who understands what you do is informed and more likely to purchase if there’s a need. 

When you create an explainer video to explain your product, you're distilling the top benefits, summarizing them, and presenting it all in a way that helps people understand better.

Benefit #3: Rank Better on Google

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. Meaning you’re optimizing your website so that when people Google certain words or phrases, your website comes up first. It used to be enough that you were able to just type the same word over and over and get to the top page of Google. 

But as the algorithm has changed and evolved, more emphasis has been put on the length of time that people stay on a website. Video has been shown to improve SEO rankings and give you a 53 times higher chance of ending up on the front page. 

How? 

Having video on a website reduces the bounce rate of customers. Lower bounce rate equals a higher SEO ranking. 

Google’s algorithm recognizes when there is a video embedded in the website, and if you have posted the video via YouTube, Google will recognize the view counter and increase your SEO ranking accordingly. 

It's also easier to rank a video on the front page of Google than it is to rank a website. So posting your video to YouTube will give you double the opportunity to get your information in front of potential customers.

Benefit #4: Help Your Audience Retain Information

There’s a saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. But a study by Forrester Research shows that a video is worth 1.8 million words. 

The numbers confirm that video is exponentially more powerful than the written word. 

And the evidence also shows that after three days, people who took in information via video retained up to 55% more information than those who just consumed text. 

This means that if you want an educated customer, who knows what you do, your best bet is to go with visual aids. 

Your customer wants to know what they’re getting into before they make a purchase. 

Retaining knowledge about your product results in a reduced customer return rate and higher customer satisfaction. Although it’s not for everyone, 65% of the population learns best visually.

Benefit #5: Grab Audience Attention

Where does the attention of the general population lie these days?

Look around you, and you’ll see people staring at their mobile phones. In a study conducted by Nottingham Trent University, research found that the average person spends 33% of their day looking at their mobile phone.

Video consumption is on the rise for smart phones as well. YouTube reports that mobile video consumption increases by 100% each year.

Ads on Facebook are one of the go-to places for businesses to get new clients. And a study conducted by Refinery29 found that ads that had video had an 87% increase in traffic and a 56% rise in conversions when compared to ads that did not have video.

Conclusion

At this point it’s just a fact that people are paying more attention to video. And it’s a fact that your results increase substantially when you include video as a tool in your marketing.

Let me know what you think about this article in the comments below!

If you'd like to find out how your business can benefit from using an explainer video, schedule a free consultation by emailing [email protected], title your email FREE CONSULTATION and tell us a little bit about your business.

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