Imagine you're on a first date or meeting a new group of people. You need to introduce yourself, so you think of information that is interesting and will make a good impression. But how do you communicate it in the most interesting but succinct way.
The same information is important for consumers when deciding on which company they will buy a particular product or service from. The brand must therefore pay attention to what interests its target market and how to present information in the most engaging way.
In our fast-paced world of endless to-do lists, people prefer quick facts and an overview. Explainer videos summarize complex ideas in 30-90 seconds in a visually appealing story-telling format. This makes them ideal for people who want to explore a company and/or product, but don't have time to read a lot of information.
People learn or understand information in two primary ways: through verbal or visual input. Explainer videos appeal to both and therefore engage large numbers of individuals. This, in turn, converts visitors into leads.
Moosa Hemani, Founder & CEO of SETalks
Let's look at five brands that discovered the magic of explainer videos, used them, and reaped huge rewards as a result!
#1 Dropbox
We don't really need to introduce the world-famous Dropbox, but the company hasn’t always been so well known. In 2008 Dropbox decided to launch its service using paid search advertising. The results were very disheartening: The company spent $233-388 to gain a new user, while the product itself only cost $99. The company could not sustain these loses over an extended period.
Dropbox owner Drew Houston did not lose hope and tried other ways to break into the market. He had the idea of uploading a simple video showing how the service worked.
A demo video published in 2008 by the owner of Dropbox.
It took him literally a few minutes to record the video and the awesome results were visible in a matter of hours. As Drew said, "It has brought thousands of people to our site! The beta waiting list changed from 5,000 to 75,000 in one night. It totally got us. ”
When he realized the huge online impact of a simple demo video, he immediately decided to reach out to professionals to ask for an explainer video. Video company Common Craft created a two-minute Whiteboard-style video for $ 50,000, which is a high price tag even today. However, it was money well spent as this video is still talked about ten years after it was launched.
The animated video created for Dropbox in 2009 by a professional video company.
And what exactly did the video do for Dropbox at the time? Let's look at the numbers:
- more than 25,000,000 views
- a 10% conversion rate
- more than 10 million new customers
- a return on investment of $ 48,000,000
Some video marketers say that this video set the benchmark for explainer videos, and Dropbox remains committed to using them. Proof of this is their next explainer video which uses a more modern and contemporary format:
Another animated video for Dropbox which explains how the service works.
#2 Crazy Egg
Another example is the web application Crazy Egg. This app uses heat maps to help website owners discover how visitors interact with their site so they can improve the user interface and increase conversions. This is a sophisticated and complicated service, but most people want a quick, easy-to-understand explanation.
Thankfully, the company's founder, Neil Patel, realized this and decided on a solution that would explain his service in an engaging way. He invested in an animated explainer video. The company Demo Duck created a funny video that, thanks to its mustachioed egg-shaped character, not only attracted large numbers of views, but – more importantly – achieved measurable results for the business.
An animated video that humorously and clearly explains the Crazy Egg application..
The 158-second video increased conversions by a massive 67%. Neil was so excited about the video's results that he wrote his own blog about it in which he revealed that they made $ 21,000 more each month from the video.
The popularity of video marketing is exploding and will ultimately be the most popular way to launch a business. Because video is a visual medium, it is extremely effective when we want to increase understanding of our product or service.
Neil Paton, Co-Founder of Crazy Egg
#3 Rypple
Another example of the successful use of an explainer video is Rypple which also offers a complicated service: a management tool that helps companies achieve improved team performance. The owners were looking at how to increase the number of users signing up for a free trial. They heard about the conversion power of the explainer video and decided to try it for themselves.
The whiteboard-style video that playfully explains the Rypple service.
The content of the video had to clearly show how Rypple helps organizations of all sizes provide real-time feedback to their employees. The company decided to test the effectiveness of the video and created the following for their website:
- Landing page with text and image
- Landing page with a feature video from Facebook
- Landing page with explainer video
And how did the test turn out? I think you can guess!
The landing page that featured the 108-second whiteboard explainer video was the standout winner as it generated 20% higher conversions than the others. This was no surprise as the key information and message were delivered clearly and the characters and their needs and emotions were relatable.
#4 Jellyfish
The success story of Jellyfish further proves that explainer videos can communicate complex ideas, or explain the nature of a business, in a fun and effective way.
Jellyfish is a logistics company that, like any other start-up, was thinking about how to launch its business quickly and attract the attention of its target group. As with the other brands discussed here, they also made the smart choice and decided to invest in an explainer video.
The explainer video created for the Jellyfish brand by SwitchVideo.
The result, which was achieved in just 7 days, opened the door to many business opportunities. In the first week they closed a $ 800,000 deal with a customer who heard about Jellyfish for the first time in the video.
#5 RankWatch
RankWatch is an online marketing platform that helps agencies, brands, and businesses to become more visible in the online world. The owners of the company were intrigued by the results achieved through explainer videos for Dropbox and Rypple.
They decided to find a video production company that could help them achieve similar results. Specifically, they wanted the explainer video to bring them about a 10% increase in trial users. Their search helped them identify Crackitt who created a 90-second 2D explainer video for them.
A 2D animated video that has helped the RankWatch brand grow.
They replaced the original banner on their homepage with an animated video. The result far exceeded their expectations:
- there was a 27% increase in registrations
- the video went viral on Facebook and brought in more than 48,000 likes a day
- the bounce rate dropped from 62% to 35% resulting in a higher ranking in organic searches
These five brands are certainly not the only ones that the explainer video helped so that a startup was transformed into a successful and reputable brand. However, we believe that these examples vividly demonstrate the power of these videos to explain and promote even the most sophisticated ideas and services.
If you have a good product or service, and you are ready for an explainer video that will launch your business, we would love to discuss it with you. Contact us today!
