Explainer videos history isn't ancient, but we have seen it evolve over the years. The plain truth of an explainer video is that it is really just a short-form commercial.
Companies are continually looking for ways to market to their audience, and over the years, explainer videos have become profoundly effective. Explainer videos are usually located on a landing page, your website's home page, or a prominent product page. Some sites claim conversion rates increasing by as much as 144% after including an explainer video on their website.
Let's take a minute to understand how we arrived at this point because there are a couple of videos that really blazed the trail by placing the idea of an explainer video at the forefront of all business marketing strategies.
Dropbox was at the leading front of this marathon. In 2009 Jason Kincaid wrote an article on TechCrunch where he pointed out that reporters and consumers are lazier and they want
"some kind of bite-sized hook that introduces them to your product".
The video resulted in 10 million users signing up for the service.
WOW. What an awesome growth from a simple idea that was intended for shortening the customer journey.
Groupon saw this and really liked the idea of growing by 10 million users and followed a similar process to Dropbox.
Guess what? They saw similar results.
Thanks to these industry innovators, the explainer video market EXPLODED. If it wasn't for the viral nature of the Groupon and Dropbox videos, the idea of an explainer video might not have caught on.
Has much changed since these early days of explainer videos?
Not really.
In general, the videos today look much better, but the goal is still the same.
With an explainer video, you want the viewer to learn what it is your product does quickly.
If you can show the video to someone, and they can tell you what your product is after watching your video, then you're probably in good shape.
The only way you're going to see the explainer video go away is if everyone stops watching videos.
Businesses will eternally need a way to advertise and reach customers, and these videos are a powerful tool to help them do that.
MarginEdge automates tedious processes, connects systems, and radically streamlines key activities, like inventory, cost-tracking, ordering and recipes. Through a 2d animation video I created for MarginEdge, they've simplified the customer journey, which has allowed them to see a drastic increase in lead conversions.
If you're looking to get started on your own explainer video & increase your web traffic to leads and customers, you can always reach out to me & I'd be glad to help tell your story.
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