Knowledge is everything, especially when you’re trying to fix or set something up, but sometimes the instructions don’t make life any easier - they do the opposite. Anyone that has experienced something like this will appreciate the power of a well-placed YouTube video, whether you are reminding yourself how to change a bike tyre, working out how to boost your wi-fi signal or researching the best brands for skincare.

They show how effective explainer videos can be at informing and helping people, and it is because of this that YouTube has become the world’s second largest search engine. Today, product explainer videos play a vital role in raising awareness about and engaging audiences in your product or service. They harness the explanatory power of video and allow you to share the perfect information across platforms, devices and at every stage of the sales funnel.

The features that make product explainer videos great

There is a reason that product explainer videos work so well; they are packed with features and qualities that make them great at sharing ideas and engaging with audiences. They are able to combine visuals, voiceovers and onscreen text to communicate a lot of information in a short amount of time. Creative visual thinking takes this information to the next level by making it accessible, memorable and engaging.

Explainer videos are also versatile. They can work well on a wide range of devices and are equally at home whether they are on your website, YouTube or social media. The versatility of an explainer video goes further than this however. They can be tailored to both share your message in the perfect way and feel relevant and relatable to your audience. They also offer many opportunities for you to include your personality, values and branding. It might be the colours you choose, the characters or actors that tell your story, the tone and style of your language or the clever placement of a logo.

The best product explainer videos are ready for every challenge. Due to the creative freedom they offer, they are able to tackle every subject. They can make the dry feel entertaining and the complex feel simple. Depending on the type of explainer video you choose, they can cover everything from abstract services and apps through to concrete products firmly rooted in the physical world.

There is one other superpower a good product explainer video will be able to access - the ability to layer and connect ideas. Explainer videos are equally at home giving a top-level view or focusing in-depth on one feature for the entirety of the video. The ability to layer and connect ideas means that one video can also do both, showing how a product, service or idea develops and how it fits into the bigger picture of your offering and company.

Product Explainer Video Uses

This skill set makes product explainers ready to tackle many angles and areas! Think of them as the friend that has your back. This blog covers more lessons we can learn from great product explainer videos. We’ve gone through just some of these uses here and provided product explainer video examples.

Pitch videos

Pitching your product or service is tricky at the best of times, let alone as the world begins to work more remotely. By drawing on their versatility, a product explainer video can help you overcome these challenges by capturing the essence and key features that you want to share in a short, engaging and memorable video. We did this for Blue Volt, explaining the service they offer.

Detailed explainers

As someone gets further down your sales funnel, explaining what makes your product or service work is a must. Often, this is in the technical details, which require a deeper level of explanation than initial pitch videos. Because they can be tailored precisely to your needs, product explainer videos are perfect for this. We did just this for EuroQol, explaining the translation process the EQ-5D goes through.

Celebrating what makes you unique

There is a reason you started your organisation and created your product; you made a better solution than the ones previously available or pioneered something that was missing completely. The features that underpin this are what make you and your product special, and they deserve to be shared and celebrated. Thanks to their ability to communicate your personality, explainer videos can help here as well. They helped Thrive Scholars to explain what makes them unique.

Sharing your story and values

Increasingly, we don’t just buy a product or service, we buy into the story of the brand and its values. Storytelling is nothing new, and our brains are wired to receive stories. Explainer videos can capture your essence and personality as they share your history and values. They can be rooted in your brand through the style, voiceover and elements you include - and make all the difference as someone makes their way through the buyer journey. We helped eBay explain their connection to the circular economy in this video.

Show the bigger picture

Often, a product or service can be part of a much bigger offering or network. Understanding this offering can add vital context to an individual product. Explainer videos are great at showing how something fits into the bigger picture, thanks to their ability to layer and connect ideas and points. This allows you to create a cohesive and complete picture for viewers. We did this for WeTransfer, showing how different parts of their business fit together and have helped them achieve their goals.

The proof is in the pudding

As we’ve seen, a product explainer video comes with a lot of great features and can slot into your marketing and promotion on many levels. But how do audiences respond to these videos? Wyzowl found that 96% of people asked had watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service and 88% of people had been convinced to buy a product or service after watching a brand’s video. This fits with Wyzowl’s finding that 92% of marketers say video is an important part of their marketing strategy.

Research into YouTube backs this up. YouTube has two billion monthly users, who collectively watch over one billion hours of video a day. Think with Google also found that 1 in 3 people born between mid-1940s and the mid-1960s said they use YouTube to learn about a product or service.

Should you use a 'talking head’ or a whiteboard animation explainer video?

We mentioned earlier that there are different types of explainer video, each with different strengths. We specialise in whiteboard animation, and pioneered the style when creating the RSA Animates series. The RSA Animates series has had over 100 million views and based on its success, we wanted to understand how audiences reacted to whiteboard animation.

To do this, we worked with Professor Richard Wiseman, Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. Together, we compared a ‘talking head’ video with a whiteboard animation that used the same soundtrack. We asked the test group to rank these videos and found some startling results. The main findings of our research were:

• Viewers were 66% more likely to share the whiteboard animation

• The whiteboard animation resulted in a 15% increase in information retention

• The whiteboard animation was 33% more entertaining

A product explainer video can bring you to whole new audiences and guide them through the decision-making process. Product explainers are perfectly primed to capture every aspect of you and your product, and to take your message far and wide.

We have been making explainer videos, including product explainer videos, since 2004 and we’re passionate about whiteboard animation. We’d love to talk with you if you think whiteboard animation could help you share your product with the world! Book a discovery call today.