Looking for a dozen factual reasons to go into creating explainer video for your software businesses?
Did you know that your SaaS product video makes around 52% of your potential customers more confident in swiping their cards and making the purchase?
Well, Crazyegg.com, an online software startup that provides eye-tracking tools, was able to increase monthly revenue by $21,000 by including an animated explainer video.
Sounds like a ton of extra revenue for your business?
JellyFish was also able to close a $800,000 deal 7 days after including an explainer video in their sales pitch.
Well, here are 2 things I’m sure of:
1. You’ve probably already read a dozen articles on why you should go into video creation.
2. You’ve also probably heard from someone (or somewhere) that explainer Videos can boost your conversions, sales, and whatever.
But you are still looking for more reasons to back your strategy up.
Maybe you’re trying to convince your team to begin creating beautiful explainer videos but you pretty much want good reasons why you should!
Am I right?
Great!
I definitely might sound crazy if I said you didn’t know that videos grab more attention than texts or articles. In fact, I’m pretty sure you know that about 85% of all the internet in the US watches video and yields around 66% more leads (qualified).
Or if I said you’ve never come across this:
“Visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text by the brain”
Heard of that?
Yes?
No?
Probably yes, since you’re on this page about to learn the most interesting reasons you should create explainer videos for your SaaS startup or company.
Well, here are 2 things:
Thing #1: if you’ve not heard of any of these really popular video statistics before (which I doubt) then, you’re going to be so much interested in this guide because it’ll definitely blow your mind as I’ll be unveiling a dozen stats to back your video animation game.
Thing #2: If you’ve come across these video stats (which I most likely think you have since you’re already thinking of explainer videos), then you’ll be getting a whole lot more reasons to back your explainer video needs for your software startup.
Now just so this guide doesn’t feel like the millions of other articles out there, I wouldn’t just make a “silly” long list of facts and close this.
Instead, I’ll focus on the value each stats could mean for your business. This way, we’ll ensure you just don’t get a list of facts but why and how to use these data to fuel your software business in 2020 and beyond.
Ready?
Why YOUR SAAS NEEDS AN EXPLAINER VIDEO IN 2020
Video creation has really been on the rise and more businesses are now going for it.
Since 87% of businesses use video as a marketing tool (up from 81% in 2018!)
As a matter of fact, according to Wyzowl, 59% of those who don’t currently use video, say they plan to start in 2020
Basically there are so many reasons why you should go all in on creating explainer videos for your startup. But we’ll be going over a few of them in detail.
[if you’re here to slim then you’d be missing out on a lot more details that would help you – cancel all distractions and read through because there’s as much details in between.
#1: It generates more (qualified) leads.
You need more leads right?
I bet you’ve probably heard this more times than you can count. It’s obvious any startup looking to start using explainer videos wants more leads. And I’m sure you know this could be of help.
I mean, you probably already know it’ll increase leads, right!?
Well, it doesn’t just generate leads but, qualified leads.
Think about how impactful a 60 second explainer video could be.
Let’s use a sales page as an example…
Using a sales page to pitch people to buy your products or services might require long copywriting.
Without an explainer video, you could get a couple of leads (or potential customers) for your startup.
Think about it…
All a customer reads in a long sales page, he gets in a 60 seconds explaining video (if done properly).
When a prospective customer lands on your website, videos are like a boost as they can increase your Lead conversion rates massively.
In fact, research reveals that a homepage video can increase conversion rate by over 80%. It also reports that around 70% of B2B marketers say that including an explainer video hugely impacts marketing return on investment.
#2: It Has the Highest Click through Rate in Content Marketing.
Have you ever tried creating blog posts, tutorial videos or joint webinars to try to generate leads. Well, that could work but let’s look at the case studies we earlier mentioned in this guide.
The first?
Crazy Egg, an online software startup, was able to increase monthly revenue by $21,000 by including an animated explainer video.
Think about it, Crazy Egg ran a campaign with a single (animated) video which was able to increase their revenue by over $20,000 per month.
This simply means, more people clicked on the CTA and actually took action.
Think about it, how many people clicked through your YouTube, tutorial videos and bought your products?
And from the research we did, that very explainer video costs around $15,000 to $20,000 to create.
(Literally paid for itself within a month)
While, JellyFish was also able to close a $800,000 deal 7 days after including an explainer video in their sales pitch.
As a digital marketing expert here at AnimatedVideo.com with over 7 years, I can tell that this provides one of the quickest ROI in Content marketing.
Search engine optimization, social media content creation and blogging might take a little longer to start yielding great results for your company so if you’re wondering why your content game isn’t really improving as fast as you’d thought, then you probably need to start creating explainer videos for your brand.
#3: Allows you tell your startup story (years) in less than 60 seconds.
Here at Animated Video, this is probably one of our favorite reasons you should delve into explainer videos – it lets you create and tell really captivating videos in just a few seconds.
I don’t know about you, but if you’ve come across any explainer video ad, you probably watched through until the very end.
That’s how captivating including videos could be.
Let’s take this Explainer Video from Dollarshaveclub.com.
This could make even an old granny or a 10 year old kid share it out without hesitation.
Why’s that?
Because they didn’t just create an animated video explaining their features, benefits and all of that. Instead they focused on selling their brand stories to get as many customers as they can acquire.
Considering long copywriting sales pages, you might have to use a lot of words to tell stories (though might be more captivating).
Or think of your tutorial videos…
It might take around 5 to 30 minutes just to tell captivating stories that grab your customers’ attention.
Webinars?
Also take longer than explainer videos.
In fact, reports find that explainer videos that last around 60 seconds convert better! According to respondents asked, no explainer video should be longer than 2 minutes and most prefer videos that are no longer than 60 seconds.
Remember CrazyEgg.com’s explainer video?
Well, it’s exactly 2 minutes and 38 seconds which generated an extra $20,000 in monthly sales.
Long stories can be cut short in explainer videos and that can save you a ton of time in content creation & marketing for your software startup.
#4: It’s the quickest way to brand your business.
Prior to this very guide that we’d thought we’d publish for you guys, we did a bit of research and found that the millions of articles out there only focus on the sales aspects of explainer videos.
That’s not so good as it is also a really great way to brand your videos.
Think about it, if Visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text by the brain, that means your explainer videos would definitely be remembered tens of thousands of times faster than written content.
But…
Only if it’s SUPER ENGAGING!
Your explainer videos should strictly follow your branding so as to ensure you get as many people to remember your videos (or company). Especially for ads retargeting purposes.
Talking about branding and conversions, let’s move to the next awesome statistics by Hubspot.
#5: 65% of Executives Visit Your Website & 39% Call You After Viewing a Video About Your Product or Service [Hubspot backed up].
I bet that’s self explanatory, right?
About 40% of executives would go on a call with your brand after viewing a video about your products or service.
This is even more effective with explainers or animated videos about your products.
It’s also super effective with ads. Especially Lead Generation Facebook ads for your target audience with an engaging explainer video.
Your target audience basically watched the video ad (probably on YouTube or Facebook), and according to this research by Hupspot, 39% would jump on a call with you.
Now here’s the thing…
How much is one customer worth for your business?
$10, $199 or $999 monthly?
Let’s assume you run a video ad with a super targeted audience using an engaging explainer video to go through your products and how it can help your target audience. And you run a $1,000 Facebook ad, that could turn out to tens of thousands of dollars on yearly, recurring revenue.
#6: Explainer video improves the understanding of the product in 93% of cases, (Backed by Wyz Owl study)
Look, there’s no better way to explain your products using explainer videos. Let’s take a look at how Airbnb explains what their service does and who it is for.
You see, creating explainer videos kind of depends on how entertaining it is. Entertaining in a way that sparks actions, shares, sign ups etc.
This way, you can better see your products because according to reports by Wiz Owl, explainer videos improve how your potential customers (or audience) understand your product.
That’s not so great with copy as you’re a software company. Going into details in writing might be long and can easily get boring, sending users away.
Think about the last animated, explainer video you watched!
Pretty entertaining right? And you pretty much get the ins and out of the product or services.
This is why here at AnimatedVideo, we place the following as priorities when putting your animated videos:
1. Custom work: we try as much as possible to create what fits all of your specific needs
2. Unlimited story revision: we ensure you’re 100% satisfied with the message you want to portray in your campaigns.
3. You get a dedicated project manager (super exciting right!?)
“Wow! The team at Animated Video did a wonderful job on the video that they created for my company – Restaurant Expert Witness”
#7: It strikes your customers emotions!
As one working in the software market, I’m sure you’ve heard that people don’t buy features, they buy emotions.
That’s why stories are super entertaining and captivating. And things even get better as these types of videos can easily tell your captivating stories in less than 120 seconds.
Think about it…
After watching your entertaining, animated video, you’ve gotten your customers to be like:
“That’s exactly how I feel”
“That’s what I’m struggling with!”
Now at this point, you’ve literally gotten them to trust you (or your products).
Pitching them your products or services become super easy and you can get your audience swiping their cards to get your software or service.
#8: It allows you to present videos in an educational yet captivating way [whiteboard videos].
In recent years, there’s been a debate as to why businesses should use whiteboard explainer videos for their startups & businesses.
But as time passed, 90% of video marketers feel the level of competition has increased in the past year.
I bet you feel the same way too.
Am I correct?
Now for this reason, marketers, startups are now creating engaging whiteboard explainer videos.
Have you thought about that?
Yes?
No?
If No then let’s quickly enlighten you on the various types of explainer videos your software startup should be creating right now!
1. Animated explainer video
2. Whiteboard explainer video
3. Live action explainer video. (This is especially effective for B2B SaaS companies where live action videos of people are shot, featuring digital and motion designs).
4. Screencast explainer video
Note: Be sure to follow our blog as we’ll be publishing more detailed guides on the following 🙂
For this guide, what’re whiteboard explainer videos?
Unbounce.com estimates that you can expect as much as a 20% increase in page visits if you include explainer videos in your web pages.
It also significantly decreases your in page bounce rates as visitors tend to stick longer watching your videos.
Think that’s not enough reason?
Another study by Wistia, reports that visitors (or users) tend to spend an average of 2.6 times more time on pages that have a video than ones that have no video.
#9: Better email click through rates for your email marketing campaigns.
Email marketing is no doubt one of the best forms of digital marketing and it’s been like this for years.
Though a few reports and industry experts say email marketing click through rates are declining especially during this pandemic, explainer videos tend to change that.
As a matter of fact, a research by Forrester states that by including an explainer video in your email can increase click-through rate by over 200% to 300%. That’s more than double your normal click through rates.
While most data out there say that participants already use video (83%) as part of their website marketing content, a lot more marketers say they’re now using it specifically for video email marketing.
Or use it to improve their emails campaigns.
#10: Mentioning “Video” in Your Email Subject Line Boosts Open Rates by 53%
Talking about email marketing and how powerful both marketing tools are, your startup can easily improve your open rates by about 53%.
This is probably the most ignored email marketing technique for businesses. (And it’s also probably the most hidden).
Most software startups create great content explainer videos yet do not strategically insert the word “video” in their email subject lines whenever they send email campaigns promoting their videos.
According to this research by Capterra, for every $1 spent on email marketing campaigns, you get an average return of $44.25.
Thus imagine creating great email campaigns that include engaging explainer videos.
And if I’m being honest, as a marketer, I also tend to forget this. Thus here’s a quick advice:
“Never forget to include the word ‘video’ in your email subject lines whenever you’re sending email campaigns (or even cold reach outs).”
#11: Your Landing Pages Could Rank!
Search engine optimization is a buzzword today hence is extremely competitive.
Google’s algorithms are constantly changing but here’s what we’ve noticed here at AnimatedVideo.com.
Ready?
Videos can double your searching rankings. Personally, we’ve used video to improve our search rankings and we strongly believe it’s key especially in a “noisy” blogging community.
As a matter of fact, 93 percent of online experiences start with a search engine!!!
And since the top (3) search results gets 55% of all clicks, we’ll definitely bet a dollar that you’d want a page #1 ranking.
To get this, you can upload your explainer videos on YouTube and on your web pages.
In fact, including videos in your webpages drives a 157% increase in organic traffic from SERPs.
#12: All the Above Stats all Lead to “More Sales” [data backed up]
Think about it, explainer videos increase email open & click rates, tell better stories, hit emotions, generate more leads & conversions which then leads to sales.
Right?
So think about it…
Is creating explainer videos (whiteboard, animated, real-human etc) worth it?
Well, as a software business, it is completely worth it. But you must be able to do it the right way!
How do you go about that?
Here are a few tips to help (we’ll be diving deep into these in the coming articles here on our blog so if you love this content, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter here at AnimatedVideo.com for more awesome content):
1. Focus on identifying the ONE, specific problem your target audience is facing.
2. If it’s not super engaging that even your grandparents would share, then we advise you take another look at your strategy. (A whopping 76% of respondents say they would share an explainer video even if it’s a marketing video – if it was entertaining).
3. The shorter the better, 60 to 120 seconds perform best, buddy!
4. ALWAYS REPURPOSE (Facebook, Twitter and most importantly, YouTube).
5. Finally (and I guess most importantly), your call to action should be super clear and easy to act!!
Explainer videos attract tons of clicks to your web pages (or websites homepage), grabs attention and builds trust immediately.
What’re your thoughts on this?
Are you using explainer videos for your SaaS or startup?
If Yes, how effective is it? Let us know in the comments below 🙂