Explainer videos are short, engaging videos that clearly explain a product, service, or concept. They use simple language, visuals, and storytelling to help audiences quickly understand and take action.
Their primary purpose is to educate viewers about a company’s offerings quickly and effectively, often with a focus on showing how these solutions can solve potential customers’ problems.
In today’s fast-paced digital world, explainer videos play an essential role in modern marketing strategies. They bring clarity, engagement, and a human touch to a brand’s message, making it easier to connect with audiences on an emotional level. They prove especially powerful in simplifying marketing communication, as they can convert passive viewers into active customers through compelling storytelling.
In fact, 98% of people have watched an explainer video to learn more about a product or service – an all-time high! Wyzowl.
In this article we explain explainer videos and show how you can use them to increase your website conversion rate and turn clicks into customers.
Our experience: At Wyzowl, we created over 4,000 videos for our customers over the last 14+ years. We’ve seen firsthand how explainer videos can dramatically increase brand engagement. Clients have shared stories with us about how their previously static landing pages have become dynamic conversion points, turning viewer interest into actionable leads.
The Growing Significance of Video Content
In recent years, video consumption has exploded, with statistics showing a steady increase in the number of hours spent watching video content online. More than 80% of internet users consume video content monthly, with over half of them citing that they prefer video content over any other medium.
This growing trend has a noteworthy impact on consumer behavior. People remember 95% of a message when consumed via video, as opposed to only 10% when reading text. This highlights the persuasive power of video content and underscores its importance in crafting successful marketing campaigns.
With such compelling statistics, adopting an explainer video strategy is no longer an option, it’s a necessity for competitive businesses. On top of this, 73% of video marketers have created explainer videos, making this the most popular singular use case for video marketing in 2025 Wyzowl.
Our insight: Over the years, we’ve seen clients embrace video not just for product explanations but for broader content strategies, such as brand storytelling and thought leadership. Video isn’t just a channel – it’s a content strategy in itself.
Understanding Explainer Videos
What Are Explainer Videos?
Explainer videos typically run between 60 to 120 seconds, during which they capture the essence of a product or service through appealing visuals and a succinct narrative. The format can vary, but the intent remains the same: to facilitate understanding and drive user action.
According to recent data, 99% of video marketers say video has helped to increase user understanding of their product or service – this is another all-time high! Wyzowl.
Types of Explainer Videos
- Animated Videos: These are popular due to their ability to depict scenarios and ideas that aren’t easily captured in live-action videos. Animation can simplify complex topics and is suitable for all audiences.
- Live-action Videos: These feature real people and settings, offering relatability and a human touch. They are often used by brands wanting to build a personal connection with the audience.
- Whiteboard Videos: Known for their straightforward approach, these involve graphics being drawn on a whiteboard as a voiceover narrates the video. This format is excellent for illustrating processes or step-by-step guides.
- Motion Graphics: Combining animation and text, motion graphics offer a sleek, professional look that works well when dealing with technical subjects or corporate messaging.
Our experience: We often recommend matching video types to your audience and message. For a tech-savvy crowd, animated graphics may be impressionable, while live-action videos might appeal to audiences seeking a human connection.
The Impact of Explainer Videos on Conversion Rates
Enhancing User Engagement
Explainer videos are masters at grabbing attention and engaging users from the get-go.
By combining visual elements with a concise narrative, they quickly transmit the brand’s message before the viewer loses interest.
Their dynamic nature also helps decrease bounce rates. In fact, including a video on a landing page can increase average time on page by up to 2 minutes.
Simplifying Complex Information
One of the core advantages of explainer videos lies in their ability to break down complex information. Through clever scripting and skilled animations, intricate ideas are presented in a way that enhances comprehension and retention.
This simplification process allows viewers to clearly understand the benefits of a product or service, increasing the likelihood of making informed decisions.
To back this up our stat shows that 87% of people have been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a video Wyzowl.
Building Trust and Credibility
Explainer videos serve to humanize a brand, creating a connection with viewers. By putting a face to a name or showcasing the people behind a product or service, they build trust and credibility among audiences.
Video content is perceived as more relatable and authoritative, establishing a company as a thought leader within its industry.
Driving Higher Conversion Rates
The effectiveness of explainer videos can be seen in their impact on conversion rates. Adding an explainer video to a landing page can boost conversions by up to 80%. This impressive statistic is tied to the psychological factors that videos tap into, such as the appeal of visuals, emotional engagement, and the sense of participation they provide.
These factors combined create a potent tool for influencing purchasing decisions. Notably, 84% of video marketers say video has directly increased sales Wyzowl.
Our insight: Conversion isn’t just about immediate sales. We often find clients utilizing videos to initiate longer customer journeys, using explainer content to foster deeper engagement that culminates in higher lifetime value.
Real-World Success Stories
Dropbox: Simplifying Cloud Storage
This is the original explainer video success story. With a simple animated video placed on its homepage, Dropbox explained the new concept of cloud storage in under two minutes. It reportedly helped the company grow from 5,000 to 75,000 users almost overnight – without a complex marketing strategy.
When Dropbox first launched, cloud storage was a completely new concept – and hard to explain. To solve this, they created an animated explainer video that clearly showed how Dropbox worked and why it mattered.
The result? A huge boost in conversions – and a perfect example of how video can simplify even the most complex products.
Crazy Egg: Visualizing Website Analytics
This video showed how Crazy Egg’s heatmaps helped website owners understand user behavior. The clear visuals and simple narration translated a technical product into an easy-to-grasp concept – leading to a reported $21,000/month increase in revenue.
Crazy Egg was struggling with low conversion rates – until they used a short explainer video to show what made their product special.
The video made it easy to understand how Crazy Egg’s analytics work, and that clarity led to a big jump in signups. It’s a great example of how explainer videos can turn complex, data-driven products into something anyone can grasp.
Mint.com: A new way to track finances
Mint used a clean, animated explainer video to show how its personal finance app made budgeting and expense tracking easy.
The video played a key role in helping Mint attract early users, leading to its $170 million acquisition by Intuit.
Our experience: We’ve seen a pattern of success with companies making complex services accessible through storytelling and visuals, directly linking this clarity to their increased growth and customer delight.
Best Practices for Creating Effective Explainer Videos
Craft a Compelling Script
A strong script is the backbone of any successful explainer video – it’s what turns visuals and voiceover into a compelling, persuasive story.
The most effective scripts follow a problem-solution-benefits structure. They start by addressing a real pain point the audience can relate to, introduce the product or service as the solution, and then highlight the key benefits in a clear, relatable way. This narrative approach creates emotional engagement while building logical understanding.
Clarity and brevity are essential. A concise script respects the viewer’s time, keeps their attention, and avoids overwhelming them with unnecessary detail. Every word should serve a purpose: moving the story forward, simplifying complex ideas, and reinforcing the core message. When done well, a great script doesn’t just inform – it motivates action.
Design Visually Appealing Content
Visuals should closely align with your brand’s identity to ensure consistency and build recognition across all customer touchpoints.
This alignment goes beyond just looking good – it involves making intentional choices around color scheme, typography, illustration or animation style, and tone that reflect your brand’s personality and values. Whether your brand is playful and bold or sleek and professional, the visual approach of your explainer video should reinforce that identity at every frame.
Consistency with existing brand assets – like your website, logo, or product interface – not only makes the video feel like a natural extension of your brand, but also strengthens trust with your audience. People are more likely to engage with and believe in a product when the visuals feel polished, professional, and cohesive.
High production quality plays a crucial role here. Crisp visuals, smooth animation, and clean transitions signal credibility and attention to detail. Poor visuals, on the other hand, can undermine your message and make even the best script feel untrustworthy. In a world where viewers make snap judgments, looking the part matters just as much as saying the right things.
Incorporating Clear Calls-to-Action (CTAs)
An effective explainer video doesn’t just inform – it drives action. Whether the goal is to direct viewers to a website, encourage sign-ups, or prompt a purchase, a clear and compelling call to action (CTA) is essential.
The CTA is your video’s final nudge – the moment where you convert interest into intent. Strong CTAs are simple, direct, and aligned with the video’s message. Phrases like “Sign Up Now,” “Try It Free,” or “Learn More” work well because they’re action-oriented and easy to understand. The best CTAs remove friction and clearly tell the viewer what to do next.
It’s also important to match the CTA with where the viewer is in their decision-making journey. For top-of-funnel videos, a softer CTA like “Watch a Demo” or “Explore Features” may be more appropriate. For bottom-of-funnel content, a stronger push like “Start Your Free Trial” can help seal the deal.
Visual and audio cues can reinforce your CTA – like showing the button on screen while the voiceover says it aloud. And always make sure the next step is easy to follow, with no confusion about what happens after the video ends.
Optimizing for Various Platforms
To maximize impact, explainer videos should be adaptable across multiple platforms – from your website and landing pages to social media feeds, email campaigns, and even paid advertising.
Each platform presents a different opportunity to engage your audience, and your video should be optimized accordingly. On a website homepage, the video might auto-play above the fold to immediately capture attention. On social media, it might need to grab interest in the first few seconds without sound, relying on subtitles or bold visuals. In email campaigns, a short teaser or GIF preview can entice recipients to click through and watch the full version.
Equally important is mobile responsiveness. With a large portion of viewers watching on smartphones and tablets, your video must be formatted to play smoothly on smaller screens, load quickly, and remain visually clear and readable. This includes using legible text, properly scaled visuals, and ensuring fast buffering and playback across different devices and connection speeds.
A seamless cross-platform experience doesn’t just expand your reach – it also enhances viewer engagement and retention, reinforcing your message at every touchpoint and increasing the likelihood of action.
Consistent Brand Messaging
It’s essential that your explainer video stays true to your core brand message. Beyond just looking and sounding good, your video should reflect what your brand stands for, what it promises, and how it communicates with its audience.
Consistency in messaging – whether it’s your tone of voice, value proposition, or the way you talk about your customers’ problems – helps build a recognizable and trustworthy brand. When your video aligns with the messaging found across your website, ads, and other communications, it reinforces your identity and makes your brand feel cohesive and reliable.
For example, if your brand is known for being fun and irreverent, the video should reflect that personality through playful language and lighthearted visuals. If your brand is more serious and professional, the tone should be more polished and informative. Inconsistent messaging – like a casual tone in your video when the rest of your brand is formal – can confuse viewers and weaken your credibility.
Staying true to your brand message also ensures that the right audience connects with your product. People trust brands that communicate clearly and consistently, and trust is a critical step toward conversion.
Testing and Iteration
Creating an explainer video is just the beginning – ongoing testing and optimization are key to making sure it performs at its best.
Start by deploying multiple versions of your video. This could mean varying the script, adjusting the visuals, shortening or lengthening the duration, or testing different calls to action. Even subtle changes – like reordering sections or tweaking the tone – can significantly impact how viewers respond.
Once live, use analytics to track performance across key metrics such as view-through rate, click-through rate, engagement time, and conversions. These insights can help you identify what’s working and what isn’t. For example, if a large percentage of viewers are dropping off in the first few seconds, the opening may need to be more compelling. If viewers are watching the whole video but not converting, the call to action might need refining.
Don’t treat your video as a set-it-and-forget-it asset. Optimization should be an ongoing process, especially as your audience grows or your product evolves. Trends shift, user expectations change, and your messaging might need to adapt over time.
Our insight: Our clients benefit from iterative testing. We advise creating multiple video drafts and gathering feedback, allowing optimization before a full-scale launch. For example, we might create multiple cut downs and sized versions for each platform to see what works best.
Integrating Explainer Videos into Your Marketing Strategy
Placement on Website
Strategically placing explainer videos on a homepage, product pages, or landing pages ensures maximum visibility. Videos in these high-traffic areas encourage visitor interaction and prolong site visits, increasing opportunities for conversion.
Utilizing in Email Marketing
Incorporating explainer videos within email marketing can significantly enhance open and click-through rates. Including videos in emails can increase the open rate by 300%, making the strategy more captivating and effective for delivering messages.
Leveraging on Social Media
Social media provides a powerful platform to maximize the reach of explainer videos. By increasing shareability, these videos can captivate a broader audience. Interactive content can further enhance engagement, encouraging viewers to interact with the brand.
Incorporating into Paid Advertising
Explainer videos can significantly boost ad performance, presenting essential information within a short time frame for target demographics. This efficient delivery ensures the audience understands the product or service offered effectively.
Measuring the Success of Explainer Videos
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
To measure the success of explainer videos, key performance indicators such as conversion rates, engagement metrics – including views, shares, and comments – and return on investment (ROI) should be monitored closely to gauge effectiveness.
Impressively, 93% of marketers say video marketing has given them a good ROI – the highest since this data started being recorded Wyzowl.
Tools and Analytics
Utilizing tools like Google Analytics and video hosting platform insights provides valuable data on viewership and engagement.
A/B testing is another essential practice, helping optimize performance by experimenting with various elements to determine what appeals most to audiences.
Conclusion
As we’ve explored, explainer videos offer an immense benefit in transforming clicks into customers.
They enhance user engagement, simplify complex information, build trust, and ultimately drive higher conversion rates. Their impact extends beyond mere visibility, adding measurable value to marketing strategies.
We encourage businesses eager for growth to embrace explainer videos as a transformative tool. The steps to get started include crafting a compelling script, designing appealing visuals, and integrating clear CTAs. By doing so, businesses unlock potential for substantial customer acquisition and expansion in their market segment.
Final thoughts: At Wyzowl, our years of expertise in creating compelling explainer videos have helped countless organizations transform their digital engagement. By investing time in understanding your audience and tailoring your message, explainer videos can indeed be a robust pillar for growth and innovation in your marketing strategy.
