In our previous case study about explainer video length. We researched the correlation between an explainer video’s length and audience retention rate on our YouTube channel. We found that:
- Explainer videos of 1 minute or less in length have an average audience retention rate of 77%
- Between 1 and 2 minutes long in explainer videos have a 57% audience retention rate.
- Explainer videos that are between 2 and 3 minutes. And more than 3 minutes long, have 47% and 40% audience retention rates, respectively.
Although the 1-minute (or less) group has the highest audience retention rate, we’ve experienced a lot of cases where 1 minute is barely enough of a window to contain a sufficient amount of information about a product.
Therefore, we continue saying that the ideal length for an explainer video is between 1 and 2 minutes. Considering the audience retention rate for the amount of content put in the explainer video.
However, we believe that the most significant content should be in the first minute of an explainer video.
But what should I put in the first minute of my explainer video?
Target Audience Specification
Specifying your target audience is among the most crucial tasks for new business owners or start-ups.
With that said, when you decide to make an explainer video, it’s safe to assume that you’ve already established who your target audience is.
Identifying a target audience provides a clear focus on whom your business will serve and why those consumers need your products or services.
Specifying at the beginning of your explainer video who a particular product will serve best will hook that audience and they’ll want to watch the entirety of the video. Your video will pique their interest.
The possible drawback: You’ll reach a smaller audience, but they’ll be more strongly interested, instead of a wider audience with less interest.
Relatable Problems + Ingenious Solution
You have to carefully articulate the problem your audience is experiencing. The problem that you solve for your customers will be the bread and butter of your video.
Understand what it means to them and the major pain points you’re resolving for them.
Your concept, product, or service is the solution that acts as a magnet to attract your customers.
Once you’re clear on which problem(s) you’re solving with your product, you will have made a giant step in your sales and marketing efforts.
Ultimately, you’ll fine-tune that message with several different types of diction and phrasing to match your target audience’s preferences.
You need to adjust to the words your audience prefers. If you’re a B2B company, that means you should use business terms in addition to sounding more formal and less wordy.
Basically, writing an explainer video script is like writing a piece of copy for your blog. You should write content with diction and tone that appeal to your target audience.
The difference is that you’ll have a voice actor to read it out loud and graphics to help your target audience to understand your message.
In an explainer video, you have to present your product as the hero of all the problems that you have just talked about.
You don’t have to do a complete introduction of your product; just the name is enough for this part. Then, you move on to a deeper explanation.
The Actual Explanation
This is the part where you provide more information about your product: what it is, what it does, and how it gets the job done.
Brevity is key in an explainer video. Long-winded explanations will turn off your audience.
Take between 20 and 30 seconds to explain what your product does and how it does that.
The tricky part is keeping the explanation short while piquing your audience’s curiosity at the same time.
In our video “What Is Pinterest?”, we tried to explain the basic concept of Pinterest as briefly as possible.
This is how we worded the explanation:
Use Pinterest.
Collect pictures from any website with your browser, laptop, tablet, mobile, and post them on your board.
Create as many boards as you want: cute animal babies, delicious-looking cookies you just baked, things your husband really want for Christmas, or your proud collection of every Chuck Norris movies. Just anything you can think of.
We’re sure that we summed up Pinterest in only two sentences but still raised enough curiosity so our audience would check out Pinterest for themselves.
See how we used interesting nouns to keep it simple, yet still descriptive? That’s one way to attract your audience. You just have to know what they are interested in.
Product Benefit
As a company, chances are you have competitors that sell or produce similar products that serve a more or less identical purpose.
A quality product should always have its own perks and uniqueness compared to a similar product from another company. This is where you show your audience what your product has that others don’t.
According to the Business Dictionary, a product’s benefit is the “actual factor (cost-effectiveness, design, performance, etc.) or perceived factor (image, popularity, reputation, etc.) that satisfies what a customer needs or wants.”
In a niche with fierce competition, the slightest product benefit can attract customers more than you might imagine.
Those three points should be sufficient enough to inform your audience while keeping them curious about your product, and one minute should be enough if you word your ideas effectively.
After exceeding the one-minute mark, you need to add the finishing touch to your explainer video (i.e. call to action)
Call to Action
The CTA is the one element responsible for prompting actions such as visiting your website or sending an inquiry email, making it one of the vital components of an effective explainer video, along with the condensed message and stunning visuals.
You should give enough screen time for your CTA so that the audience can read all the information given in your explainer video. Most of the time, companies tend to have very short screen times for their CTA, which means that most people miss what’s being displayed.
Be sure to read our article on the most common CTA mistakes to avoid. We have plenty of other information about explainer videos on our blog.
Takeaway
Generally, an explainer video’s audience retention rate decreases exponentially as its duration gets longer. However, according to our research, anywhere between 1 and 2 minutes is safe for an explainer video.
This means you can provide enough content about your brand, specifically about:
- Who your product is useful for,
- What pain points your products can help with,
- How your product can help with those pain points, and
- What your product has that other brands don’t…
Without compromising the audience retention rate.
What do you think should be in your explainer video? Let me know.
