What Not To Do When Making An Explainer Video

An explainer video is a short animated video that thoroughly explains different types of sophisticated issues, business, and product/service concepts. It simplifies and breaks down complex theories into several fundamental concepts that are easy to absorb. The immense popularity of such videos is one digital marketing trend that was already steadily going on for many years.

However, despite all of this, some brands are still not making their explainer videos in the right manner. They are consistently making the same, problematic mistakes that don’t let them achieve their targets.

Below, we are mentioning such mistakes that you seriously need to avoid when making an explainer video:

Making Long Videos

How long was the last video that you watched? A minute? Two maybe?

This is the ideal length for any video, whether it's an explainer video or any other one.

We live in a fast-paced world where the audience is quick and less responding. People usually take an interest in a video if they feel the content is engaging.

Long videos bore people out and this results in them not responding to the video’s CTAs. Also, if such videos are on your website, they will increase your bounce rate as well.

Please keep your message as concise as possible. Try not to make your video longer than 90 seconds. Audience engagement tends to waver off beyond this point. Even if you have a complex script, try to strip it down to the most important elements to ensure that it fits within your required timeframe.

Going Too Much In-depth Into The Topic

An explanatory video (or any marketing video, really) is too short to talk about all of your features all at once.

For your videos, determine the ideal length. It helps you to organize your video format and keep your video in line with your goals. Many sites for social media are targeting short videos of between 15 and 60 seconds. The longer a video is, the more difficult it is to hold the attention of the audience. Exceptions, however, exist, such as in-depth tutorials.

But the problem here is the narrative. Too much talk about yourself or your brand and the user loses interest. Keeping the video all about how it can provide value to the user is key here.

Using Overcomplicated Visuals And Animations

Visual content is extremely engaging, appealing, and memorable as well. More and more graphics are being used by advertisers to express their messages and synthesize their ideas. However, confusing graphics can lead to many drawbacks.

By confusing graphics or overcomplicated visuals, we mean too much information being relayed to the user in a very short span of time. This can make the user uneasy about the video, making them leave off.

Ask your 2D animation company to keep the visuals and graphics in your video entirely simple so that they resonate with the audience.

Placing Your Explainer Video Anywhere Else Other Than The Top Of The Funnel

Explainer videos work the best on top of the funnel since they provide users with the most basic level of information about your product or brand. However, some brands make the mistake of placing the video further down the funnel, where the user actually has acquired a sense of information about the product already, making the presence of the explainer video utterly useless there. Ask your 2D animation company for advice on this and they will probably tell you the exact same thing.

An explainer video needs to drive users into the funnel not accentuate their information bank.