Why Explainer or Overview Videos Work

Given how effective video overviews are at introducing products without the expense of large media buys, we expect that soon these overview videos will be as ubiquitous as corporate Twitter accounts.

ExplanatoryVideos.com

What is this thing we’re calling the “overview” or "Explanatory Video", anyway?  We think of it as a kind of elevator pitch, elaborated.  Not only does it describe your product, but it also encapsulates the bigger idea of what your company is trying to achieve.  This type of video focuses primarily on explaining the whats, whys, and hows of your product in a concise and engaging form, tailored to your target audience.  It’s a fantastic mechanism for spreading your word across multiple audiences – tech bloggers, customers, financial stakeholders – anyone who needs to “get it” immediately.

What is it about these videos that makes them so compelling?
1. Better conversion rates. At ExplanatoryVideos.com many of our customers have a much higher ROI.
2. Allows users to vicariously taste your product, without having to sign up first.  Demos allow the user to be the passenger while you test drive your product for them.
3. Increased likelihood that your product will be covered by the media.
4. Increased likelihood that the media will cover your product in your own words.
5. Opens up the pool of potential users.  About 70% of the population say that they learn better with a multi-sensory approach – one that uses a combination of text, motion, and sound in introducing new concepts.  There is also a significant subset of the population that won’t bother reading text beyond headers and simple paragraphs.  By including a video on your site, you are tapping into these users who would be hard to reach otherwise.
6. Your best elevator pitch told consistently, ad infinitum.  Having an overview video is like getting your A team in the same elevator every time.
7. Increased audience engagement.  Just the process of clicking the “Play” button alone implies a certain amount of deliberate attention, that your brain is engaged, and ready to directly take in the information that will follow.
8. Better search results. Creating a video, particularly if it is added to Youtube, is about discovery.  Supplementing your text with video helps you improve organic Google search results.
9. Invites sharing by your users.  Making an overview isn’t about creating the next “viral” phenomenon – it’s about helping users understand what your product is about, and why it is important to them.  And because the current web environment makes it so easy to share videos via social networks and other media, a video is a great tool for your hardcore fans to evangelize your product and do your marketing for you.  A video can easily shown to customers, employees, tech bloggers, financial stakeholders – anyone who needs to “get it” immediately – and has a useful life well beyond your home page (though these side benefits can be harder to quantify).
10. Relative affordability.  The cost of creating and distributing an overview video is much lower than an ad campaign with media buys, often by several orders of magnitude, and can be created professionally in a range of several hundreds to several thousands of dollars.  And though that may sound like a lot for a startup, a video can quickly pay for itself it by making it that much easier to pitch your company to potential investors and customers.
With that in mind, suppose you want to create an overview video for your next product launch or round of funding.  Here are five things we stress when working with our clients, learned from producing literally thousands of videos for tech companies of all shapes and sizes.
1. Prioritize your messages.
The biggest mistake companies make is trying to say too much with their videos.  They want to describe several possible use cases, do a full walkthrough of the product, list the benefits of their solution, and build it all into a “viral” storyline.  Most videos that try to do everything end up accomplishing much less than a laser-focused video.
The most important reason to prioritize the messages and keep things concise is that it’s common to see a precipitous dropoff in viewership around the 90 second mark.  One common recommendation we make is to avoid a full walkthrough of the user interface, and instead choose to show enough highlights for the user to get started.  Your interface will most likely change, and besides, if your product is well-designed, why describe every feature if users can figure it out on their own?  Just give them enough to get it and get started.
2. Pick your audience and stick with it.
The most common request we get is to create something that is “funny and engaging, like (insert x company here)’s” video.  The problem is that the video needs to be appropriate to your target audience.  For example, if your company is trying to enter an enterprise or financial space, your tone may need to convey the idea that you can handle sensitive information seriously.
Though this may seem obvious, most people come to us after they have an idea for a video, without consideration of the audience at hand.  Making an overview isn’t about creating the next “viral” phenomenon – it’s about helping users understand what your product is about, and why its important to them.

3. Tell viewers what to do.
Most web companies will want their users to sign-up, download, or start using your product immediately after watching their videos.  We’ve found that explicitly telling a user what to do with a call-to-action at the end of the video is more effective than letting them figure out how to proceed – even if the next step seems fairly obvious.  If you want the user to download your product, tell them where they can download it, and make sure there is a nice “Download” button nearby.
4. Feature the video prominently.
The video isn’t very useful if people can’t find it.  Don’t hide it behind a text link – feature it on a home banner, with a nice thumbnail still of the video behind an inviting “Play” button.  If your video has a person in it, you may want to consider making that your poster image – we have some evidence that poster images of people are more likely to be clicked on than other images.
5. The quality of the production matters.
Viewers need to be able to follow what you’re doing, especially when screenshots can be hard to read in web resolutions.  You need crisp editing, with close-ups where appropriate, and good quality audio.  Most importantly, the words need to be written specifically for video – marketing blurbs often lead to sentences that are awkward when read aloud.
A sub-par production that lacks clarity and attention to detail can reflect poorly on your company or product. 
So when in doubt, hire out.  That’s why companies like ours exist.
Once you have a video, the first measures of success is to show it so someone in your target market who has never heard of your company or product before, and ask them to summarize what you do after they see the video.  If they get it, the video will probably treat you well.

So contact us today at ExplanatoryVideos.com and we will get started on your video today!