Animated explainer videos are used by businesses of all sizes to boost their marketing and communications efforts. As the name suggests, animated explainer videos use animation to help explain to customers important information about your brand and your products and services.
When done well, they help boost engagement levels, are cost-effective, help you to creatively share your message, are easily shared, and help to boost your bottom line.
In this article, we will explain the top five benefits of using animated explainer videos and why you should consider them as part of your own marketing and communications strategy. But first, let’s start by explaining what an animated explainer video is.
What Is an Animated Explainer Video
An animated explainer video is a short video (usually 1 to 5 minutes) that uses animations and other graphics to explain what your product or service is, how it benefits the customer, the features of your product, or many other things.
Unlike real-world videos, animated videos don’t require any actors, sets, directors, etc. Instead, animated videos are made by skilled animation artists using software programs and voice-over actors to produce highly engaging and quality videos that your customers will want to watch and share.
Animated videos are not new. They have been used by thousands of businesses to spread their message or explain their products and services for more than a decade. Numerous studies have now been done that prove they are effective as a marketing and communications tool.
Now that we know what an animated explainer video is, let’s discuss the top 5 benefits of using them for your business’s communication and marketing strategies.
1. They are Engaging
The first benefit is that animated explainer videos are engaging. What we mean by this is that the video captures the attention of your audience and then once you have their attention the video helps to explain the benefits of your products or services concisely.
This is due to the video using catchy and interesting imagery mixed with snappy and engaging voice-overs that help tell a story that your audience can follow and understand. Higher engagement is also achieved by keeping animated explainer videos short so that the viewer doesn’t lose interest and stop watching.
2. They are Cost-Effective
Animated explainer videos require an upfront investment to get them professionally made. But after this initial investment, they start to pay you back quickly due to fewer marketing costs and a boost in sales. This makes them one of the most cost-effective marketing investments your business can make.
And here’s the thing, as much as they do have an upfront cost, they are nowhere near as expensive as producing high-quality videos that require real-life actors, props, directors, sets, etc.. You can get a high-quality video produced for as little as $500.
Overall, animated explainer videos are both affordable and result in higher engagement, which leads to higher conversions. This makes animated explainer videos one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies your business can utilize.
3. They Allow You to Be Creative
Animated explainer videos make it possible for you to present your brand creatively. This helps your brand message to stand out from your competitors and gives you the ability to make your message much more memorable for customers watching your videos.
For example, when using animated videos instead of real-world videos, you can create characters to tell your brand’s story as it relates to the type of product or service you sell. These characters can essentially become mascots for your brand and be used repeatedly in new videos. This helps to make your videos more memorable and humanizes your brand (even if using a fictional character).
4. They Can Be Shared
Animated videos can be easily shared by your current and prospective customers to their friends and followers through social media channels such as Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.
This helps spread the word about your products and services faster and to a larger potential audience. The best part of this is that it is free—you only have to pay for the video to be produced, which as we’ve discussed, is very cost-effective.
If you want to increase your organic reach, animated videos are a great way to do so. This is especially true for new brands that have low brand awareness in the market and want to quickly build up an audience and customers.
5. They Boost Sales
The final benefit is the most important one: they help boost sales. This is achieved through higher levels of engagement that over time leads to higher conversion rates.
When a customer watches your video, they are told/shown the benefits of your product or service, and then at the end of the video, you can tell them how they can buy your product or service so they can receive those benefits. This makes animated videos a great way to take prospective customers through your sales funnel much quicker and with more success.
The Bottom Line
Animated explainer videos are a great way to explain and communicate important information to your audience. This is especially true given how numerous studies have shown that the average consumer doesn’t have a very high attention span when consuming information online.
Animated explainer videos are highly engaging, cost-effective, allow you to show off your creative side, are easily shared, and most importantly, help boost your sales. For these reasons, animated explainer videos are a great marketing investment for businesses of all sizes to take advantage of. Thankfully, there are plenty of great animated video companies that you can partner with.