There are many reasons but we're only going to cover the top 14 in this article.

Converting visitors into customers is the main goal.

Website visitors are more likely to explore other content and convert when they watch explainers - stats show that having an one on your homepage can increase conversions by 80% (EyeView).

Just this stat alone will probably make spending money on an explainer video a ROI-positive investment if you sell products or services on your website and get a decent amount of traffic.

What is an Explainer anyway?

Well, we can consider it as a "new" marketing tool because it is still somewhat of a novelty in the business world - they became a thing around 2011.

Here's a quick Google Trends search of the term "Explainer Videos":

They are usually short videos, from 30 seconds to 90 seconds, that highlight the technical or commercial advantages of a product, service or concept.

Here's an example from MezzoLab:

Briiief from MezzoLab on Vimeo.

Fun, right?

Based on animated illustrations - which are usually 2D (although there are also many 3D and live action examples), which, after edited and synchronized with voice-over, special effects and soundtrack, results in a simple way to convey a complex message.

Illustrations should be attractive, conform to brand standards, and transitions capable of showing dynamism, fluidity, and engage the viewer with the content of the explainer.

As an increasingly sought-after marketing option, often outperforming other forms of promotion, we will do our best to present valid reasons for a CEO to be persuaded to invest in an explainer video.

1 - Shareable

The fact that explainer videos are so easily shareable in social networks make it a great tool for promoting a brand, cause, service or product.

Social media users are more likely to watch and share a video, especially if it's a well-produced and funny one, than a long video or read a text.

Video is 1200% more likely to be shared on Social Media than images and texts combined.

jknjmIt’s important to keep in mind that the so-called sharable videos must have really good quality because not all of them are shareable by the target audience.

70% of consumers have shared videos about products or services on Social Media.

Keep in mind, there is a high-cost of producing a cheaply-made explainer for your brand: 62% of consumers reported that watching a low-quality video is likely to make them have a negative perception about the brand that's promoting it.

Only the best, most distinctive, spectacular, interesting, or comical explainer videos get shared on social media.

Here's an awesome example by Poo-Pourri -> +10 million views and counting.

2 - Easier to understand

It is usually very difficult to explain, simply and quickly, software or technical products due to their nature.

Content that has complex applications or is technologically advanced usually requires a demonstration, for example, a SaaS product or a consulting service.

This may require PDF documents, slideshows, sales calls, and more.

An animated video can concentrate a lot of information in a light and fun way, making life easier for the buyer, summarizing a message that could otherwise become long and boring.

3 - Easier to remember 

Viewers remember 95% of a message when they watch it in a video.

They remember just 10% when they read the same message.

When's the last time you bought something you didn't remember about?
Hopefully never, because that doesn't even make sense.

4 - Increase conversion rates

In addition to wanting our target audience to be well-informed about the product we promote - because an uninformed potential customer won't buy your products or services - there is one main goal: to convert.

That is, to convince the user that what you're selling is a good choice and that he can trust your brand.

According to research 55% of viewers who watch explainer videos visit the company's website, and about 24% make the purchase after being motivated to access the page through the video.

In fact, 96% of consumers say that video helps them make purchase decisions.

This demonstrates that they are a really important means to persuade people to take action, be it scheduling a call, request a quote or even make a purchase.

Make sure to use a strong and simple to understand Call-to-Action at the end of your video so that viewers know what next step to take if they're interested in what you're selling.

Here's another fun fact: 64 Percent Of Consumers purchase services or products after watching a branded video.

5 - Speed and versatility of Animation

One of the biggest advantages of using Animation / Motion graphics is that they're typically faster and cheaper to produce than traditional films.

We may be talking about less than half the time of production in many instances, mainly in the logistics phase and pre-production, as the means are very different.

The versatility of this technique is very useful because it can be used as a complete piece of marketing or complementing others.

Their applications range from short animations with four, five, six elements / moments, or full explanation videos - that attract the attention of potential customers.

So, whatever the communication strategy chosen in the company, Motion Graphics and Animation will always fit like a glove.

6 - Great for Sales Calls

Time is money so anything that saves your teams' time is a good investment.

As these videos are usually much better at explaining ideas than regular human beings, they save time.

One of our clients, ArchDaily, reduced the duration of their sales calls by 25%, which in their words is a big deal.

If your sales reps are doing calls 60% of the time, how much money is 15% of their time worth to your company in additional sales?
What if they could sell just 10% more, how would that impact your revenue?

Here's the video we produced that helped them slash the time it took their sales reps to explain and sell their SaaS platform:

ArchDaily Explainer from MezzoLab on Vimeo.

7 - Educates your viewers

The truth is, when a visitor comes to a website, which is hopefully filled with great content, there is sometimes an adverse reaction if it seems too much to take in.

While some users will continue to consume your content before making a decision, many will leave the site and visit another - which means that we have completely failed in capturing the attention and involvement of the potential client.

But one of the solutions is precisely to have a video explainer on the web page, because they attract attention and involve the visitor from the first moment.

If we can make the video arouse curiosity in the viewer upon his arrival, it is very likely that the visit will continue after watching it.

It is very common for a multimedia option like this to influence the user to continue to navigate throughout the site, already informed since he didn’t need to read pages and pages of text, but obtained the concise information through the explainer video.

Video is also the type of media that your users prefer to consume when they want to learn more about a product or service: According to eMarketer, users are 4 times more likely to prefer watching a video about a product, than reading about it.

8 - Awesome for SEO

Pages that use SEO-optimized video get ranked higher on search engines.

According to Forrester, having a video on your website increases the probability of getting ranked on the first page of Google results by 50 times! 

In fact, 82% of marketers polled said that the effectiveness of using SEO-optimized video as tool is increasing.

Users spend 88% more time on websites that have video which is also good for SEO.

Videos are also a great way to get discovered on Google: 62% of all Google search results now include video.

Companies that use video on their website get on average 41% more traffic than the ones that don't - just imagine how much revenue a 41% increase in traffic would bring to your company.

9 - Video is the king of ROI

51% of marketing professionals worldwide say that video outperformed all other types of media in terms of ROI.

Needless to say, almost every "Marketing Trends for 2018" article is betting on video to be one of the best investments in marketing for the near future - 46% of marketers are planning to add video as a part of their content strategy in 2018.

According to HubSpot, companies that use video grow revenue 49% faster than companies that don't and 70% of marketers say that video is the type of content with the best ROI.

It's no wonder that 85% of companies reported that they're likely to start using or continue to use video in 2018.

10 - They help you better understand what you're selling - seriously!

During the process of producing an explainer video, you'll be asked really simple questions like:

• Who are your buyer personas?

• What pain points are you solving for them?

• What are the main benefits your product or services provide?

• What features does your product or service have?

• What is your Unique Selling Proposition?

• What is the ideal Call-to-Action for people interested in what you're selling?

These simple questions will make you and your team rethink the basics of what it is you're selling and why.

Another thing that will also help you understand how to sell better is the fact that you'll have to condense your best selling points into just one minute - like a greatest hits album that only lasts one minute.

This exercise helps you become laser-focused on what pain points and benefits are the most relevant for your target audience.

11 - It's a lot easier to watch a video on Mobile than read a long text

Here are two interesting stats:

• Twitter says that 92% of Twitter video views happen on mobile. 

• Mobile visits passed Desktop in 2014.

That means that you should probably try to reach your audience on mobile using video.

12 - CEO's prefer video to text

Most purchases are usually decided by an Executive - these are the guys that you want to convince (kinda like what we're trying to do in this post 😊).

Executives are super-busy running their companies which means they don't have a lot of spare time.

59% of executives polled said they preferred to learn more about any particular topic by watching a video, rather than read.

We bet the reason for this is because it's a lot faster to learn by watching a video than reading text.

51% of executives reported bellow the age of 40 said that they made the decision to buy a service or product after watching a video.

And it's not just CEO's: Americans ranked video as the #1 type of content they prefer to consume from brands.

13 - If you're doing Email Marketing, you need video.

Just by adding a video to your emails, you can boost click-though rates by 65% and if you use the word "Video" in your title, you'll get an increase in open rates of 19%.

Using video in your email can also boost your open-to-reply rate by 8 times.

Imagine just how much traffic you can generate to your website just by sending your new explainer to your subscribers and clients.

14 - They're really fun to make

Producing an explainer video is a really fun thing to do - we should know, we make them for a living!

You get to see great ideas come to life through the power of Illustration and Animation, with the help of Sound Design and a great Voice-Over.

That reminds us of a great song - Sound and Vision by David Bowie.

 If you still haven't been able to convince your CEO, schedule a call with us!

Click here to book a free call with one of our video marketing experts!