An “explainer” or “conceptual” video helps your viewers understand complex or abstract ideas using animation and voiceovers. You might want to consider creating one to explain what your department does, a complex process, how clients use your services, or what actions clients might need to take to solve a problem.
Sample
The Registrar’s office created this great video to explain a complex process.
Tools
Here are a few tools you can consider.
PowToon is a ‘freemium’ service which lets you make animations with clip art. You can use their templates and record your own voiceover. If you use the free service they brand it with their logo. If you decide to pay monthly, it costs $59/mo. Annually is $19/mo.
VideoScribe is a whiteboard animation tool. Use their clip art to create an animated drawing and record your own voiceover. You can get a seven day free trial, after which it costs $16.50/mo.
Reasons to create one
#1: Videos boost conversions
If you have a video on your site, you’ll get more interest in your products or services. On retail sites, the boost in certain cases is up to 30%. And others have found that those visitors that view explainer videos are 85% more likely to buy.
#2: Visitors who view an explainer video stay onsite two minutes longer on average
If you’re having trouble keeping visitors on your site long enough to get them interested, a video will almost always help. Video is interesting, engaging, and captivates attention. Then, after a visitor has seen the video, they’ll be better informed.
A lot of selling is gaining familiarity with your offerings. A video keeps people around long enough to get familiar and warm up to the idea of buying.
#3: Explainer videos can boost your SEO page rank
In the weird and mystical world of SEO, the goal is always to crack the top listings on the front page. And if you look at the biggest links for many searches, you’ll find that they often have something in common – well-optimized videos embedded on pages. SEO requires that you bring together many factors in just the right way to climb the ranks.
#4: Video is oh-so sharable
Your brochure may be pretty, but a video link is a lot more likely to be shared. When you want to explain your business or make it easy for others to clue their network in, a video link is often the quickest way to do it. Get a nice video posted, and it becomes that much easier to spread the word.