The key to a successful animated explainer video is a killer script that effectively communicates the value of your product or service in a light, entertaining, and most importantly, informative format.
Statistics show that 84% of conversions occur on the first visit and that landing pages with a well-made explainer video convert 96% better. That means investing the necessary time and effort to plan and create quality explainer videos can drastically boost your conversion rates.
However, learning how to write an explainer video script that is effective and engaging is not easy.
To help you get started, we have compiled the 7 essential components of a great explainer video script below.
1. An attention-grabbing hook
Regardless of how compelling you make your video title, if you can’t convince viewers to stick around within the first few seconds of your video, they will leave.
To get them hooked, you need to address their greatest pain point at the very beginning of your video.
Use visuals, on-screen text, and your voiceover to show how the audience experiences the problem from their perspective. Make sure you use an interesting and clear voice to build an emotional connection.
To get this right, you need to know your audience. This means digging into customer data and customer service calls to build an intimate picture of what your customers are going through.
A great example is the hook statement in this Crazy Egg video:
Here is the line that follows that statement:
“Okay, look what probably keeps small businesses, well, small is that they don’t know why their visitors aren’t converting. ”
This line when combined with the opening statement works because it helps the audience understand and admit the problem they are currently facing and why they need help. Now, that the video has gotten their attention, what next?
2. The Problems With Other Solutions
After grabbing the attention of your viewers, you can build on that connection by touching on how existing or alternative solutions are ineffective or inadequate. The point of this part of your video is to tell your audience the drawbacks they face when using existing solutions to address the problem.
You can mention the competing product explicitly or just strongly hint at it. The Crazy Egg video takes the direct approach:
Here is the line:
“I mean sure your web analytics tool will give you loads of information about what happens with your visitors, but it doesn’t give you any clues about why all those visitors leave your site without subscribing, without buying, without calling, sorry Google Analytics. See, that’s where most businesses get stuck and they stay stuck.”
3. Your Own Solution to That Problem
After showing viewers the drawbacks and inconveniences of using other solutions, it’s time to tell them how your product or service takes a different and more effective approach to solving the problem.
The key here is to focus on benefits and not features. Your viewers are not there to watch you spend a whole minute bragging about how your product is the greatest thing to happen to humanity. What they care about is how your product or service can help and benefit them.
Ask yourself, “what is the purpose of my product’s features?” and “how do they help my customers?.”
Here is the solution line from the Crazy Egg video:
“It’s a shame really and it’s all because you can’t make big improvements to your site’s conversion rate until you know why your visitors are leaving, until you know where on your pages they are getting frustrated. But it doesn’t have to be that way and that’s why we built Crazy Egg so you can see the elements on your pages that are causing visitors to hit the back button. Once you see all the stuff that is broken, you can fix it, and more of your visitors will start buying, opting in, and calling up.”
This text hits all the right notes. It further addresses the customer’s challenges, before introducing the company’s product as the right solution to the problem and highlighting the benefits the user will get from their solution.
4. How It Works
This part is where you explain how your product addresses the user’s problem in day-to-day scenarios. It should be the longest section of your video and it’s where you highlight the impact of the key features of your product.
When explaining the features of software products, it is best to use an animation style that shows the interface of your software and how the user can interact with it.
The Crazy Egg video also nails this section of the script:
“So, what do you get when you use Crazy Egg? A heat map tool to see the places where people click on your pages, so you can keep the things they like and change the things they don’t. A scroll map that shows how far down people are scrolling and where they abandon the page…yeah, now you can pinpoint where on the page to add more interest and where your most important content should go…..”
Crazy Egg optimized this section of the video by showing images of each feature in use. The audience can see how a user uses the heat map tool, the scroll map, and other features to analyze web pages. This builds trust and keeps the viewer engaged.
5. The Results
People want to know how your product changes their situation for the better. The first four parts of your video touched on the problem, inadequate existing solutions, your own solution, and how it works. This part will visualize the customer’s state of being after the problem has been solved.
This is the part of your video where you show what happens after the benefits of your product come into effect. A perfect example is the “Results” line of this Dropbox video. The video promotes Dropbox as a solution to a messy Worklife where files are scattered across different files. Dropbox ends the video with a 30-second line that visualizes what the user’s team space will look like after organizing their files with the app.
Here is the line:
“In your team space, everyone knows what to do. Folder descriptions add context where you need it most. You can create or complete to-dos. Pin important documents. And share your thoughts, right there. Tidying up can change your work life and spark a pretty good feeling…”
6. The CTA
If your efforts captivated your audience and convinced a prospect to watch the video to the end, then all the hard work you put into the video has paid off. Well, almost. The final part of the video is why the audience will be thinking “so what now?.”
You must tell them what to do next by adding a clear CTA (call-to-action) at the end of the piece. Have at least one CTA. It can be to nudge the viewer to download an asset, visit your website, or contact your sales team.
If your CTA is about getting the prospect to sign up for your digital product, it’s always a good idea to provide a trial period for the customer to try out your product to see how effective it is.
The Crazy Egg video nails its CTA. Here is the line:
“….we made it super easy to get started, almost too easy, get your free Crazy Egg trial account right now. Copy and paste your tracking code and select the page you want to analyze. Yep, that’s a 30-second setup folks.”
7. The Tagline
After the brand name, the tagline is often what people remember with brands. There are many successful brands that are associated with a single phrase like Apple’s—” Think Different” and KFC’s—” Its finger-licking good.”
These catchphrases become memorable because they use them in every promotional content they release to the public. You can do the same with your videos. It will help your content stand out and complement the message of your video.
The best place to use your tagline is at the end of your video. This Saleswhale video gets it just right.
Conclusion
The article has covered the most important things to consider when writing an explainer video script. However, each script writer has their own script writing formula and there is no one approach for writing an explainer video script.
What’s really important is that you embrace the fundamental elements of explainer video script writing covered in this article, before adding your own creative ideas. Rarely is someone new to explainer video creation able to make a great video because excellence largely comes from years of experience making many wonderful and awful videos to hone your skills.
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