Antonio and his hardworking team create an explainer video with all their heart and sweat.
But sadly, they found out that the video isn’t performing the way they wanted it to.
They look into the process and try finding out the loopholes to the best of their capabilities but still fail.
Now, Antonio and his team start wondering what could have gone wrong – Script, Animation style, voiceover, or maybe something else?
However you see – Badly produced explainer videos have negative consequences in terms of loss of productive man hours, organizational & monetary resources, expertise, and opportunities.
Well, only if Antonio and his team had read this list first before creating their video, they could have avoided the following explainer video mistakes:
8 Deadly Explainer Video Mistakes to Avoid
1. Not figuring out who your target audience is
An explainer video made for everyone is a video made for no one. And that’s true.
The video should be made keeping in mind only one goal that you want to accomplish by making your viewers perform a desired action. Before you begin creating your video, take out brief time to understand what your target audience is all about.
Look into their likes, dislikes, buying psychologies, and demographics such as age, gender, location, profession, etc.
This will easily aid you in creating a tailored video best suits the needs of your target audience. Also, if your video’s agenda is strong and straightforward, it will better help you engage your audience.
2. Going forward with a weak & no-hook script
You are already aware of the decreasing human attention spans today which means, you barely have 7-9 seconds to make a mark.
When we talk about an explainer video script, it’s the spinal cord of a video. A weak script is the first step toward failure.
And for obvious reasons, there’s no second chance you’re going to get to persuade viewers into sticking around and watching your video.
Generally, there are 4 signs of a bad script:
- Contains a lazy and ineffective hook.
- The script is all about the company’s tales and fluff, and not about the target customer.
- Misses the key elements of storytelling and completely fails to engage the audience.
- Absence of a CTA to drive customers to the desired destination.
But you can save your script from becoming the culprit of a failed video. You ask how?
Well, right from the start, focus on the customer. Hit their pain points and understand what terms and emotions would make them stay on your video initially.
Slowly build up a narrative by using storytelling and establishing relatability.
Again, ensure the video is all about them and not your company. Stress on the benefits and not the features.
However while doing all this, don’t overcomplicate or stretch your script and make it sound boring. Remember, it’s a short video script and not a novel or movie.
At last, end the video with a solid and actionable CTA. Show them the path through which they can get in touch with you and your product.
3. Ignoring the video’s length
Explainer videos are known to be short in length and crisp in approach.
However, you might have probably come across videos that are either too long or have been unnecessarily stretched. And they are nothing but a big turn-off for your target audience.
Before you decide on the explainer video length, take into consideration factors such as product complexity and at what levels your target audience qualifies for your video.
The video’s length should be sufficient enough to persuade viewers into watching your video and engaging with it.
Within the given time frame, the video is expected to deliver the desired message for viewers to take action.
In the majority of cases, the ideal length falls between 75 to 120 seconds.
But again, this is subject to change given the requirements/key points of the product or service that are to be communicated through animated videos.
So what’s the final say? The ideal length of your video depends on how briefly you want to explain your video. Is it for an advertising campaign or simply to be attached to your company’s website?
In simple words, your WHY will dictate the video’s length.
4. Poor animation & graphics quality
It’s no secret that explaining complex products to customers can be a challenge for SaaS company owners, automotive dealers, lifecare device manufacturers, and many others.
On top of that, if videos contain confusing, overly complicated graphics and rigid animations, it’s unlikely that viewers will stick to the video even for 15 seconds.
By using visually appealing and detailed graphics, video production agencies can ensure the successful and crisp communication of a product’s features.
There are many consequences of a poorly animated video such as disengagement from viewers, bouncing off to competitor websites, play abandonment of videos, etc.
Certainly, the quality of the video is something brands wouldn’t want to compromise at any cost. And this calls for a supreme level of graphics that depict richness in terms of illustrations, background scenes, and flow of characters.
From the animation perspective, professionally animated videos exhibit shades of attraction and visual communication leading to grabbing the attention of viewers.
To experience the above-stated results, the decision to select an appropriate animated explainer video production company becomes even more crucial.
5. Making use of a stock video template
One of the major explainer video mistakes brands commit is using a stock template.
And this is dangerous for 2 reasons:
- It’s nearly impossible that the template will suffice their business and product requirements.
- Thousands of such templates are available for free on the internet so how will brands stand out from their competition if there’s a similar pattern floating in the market?
You see – Stock templates are created keeping in mind a generic and outdated approach brands used to follow earlier to reach out to their customers.
Additionally, the elements present are not up to the standards a business believes its video should carry.
Hence, here comes a key weapon that explainer video makers possess, i.e., Customization.
With their squad of expert professionals, video production companies can cater to your unique requirements and produce videos as per your expectations.
Here, there is a window available for transforming elements into different versions if they fail to suit the vibe of your product, something that is missing with tools.
This is one of the few traits that separate them from DIY tools and average production studios.
6. Not planning the video in advance [storyboarding]
Producing an explainer video is a process that involves many stages such as brainstorming, scripting, illustration, voiceover, and animation.
Despite this, many brands neglect to brainstorm or plan and end up creating videos that lack context, plot, and the message they want to convey.
To avoid such scenarios, there’s one more stage that forms a core part of an explainer video production process, popularly known amongst animation folks as Storyboarding.
It involves preparing a visual blueprint of the entire video and contains details of each shot, camera angles, background details, and scenes that are to unfold.
Also, a storyboard allows creative visualizers to define the entire concept of a video and allows room for pre-production discussions and communication to flow smoothly.
Through this process, the entire video can be visualized and a hassle-free production process can be initiated.
There are numerous storyboarding tools available that can be used to map out the complete video in advance and ensure it’s produced as per a brand’s vision.
7. Lazy voiceover & poor audio quality
A talented voiceover artist can breathe life into your videos.
However, if the artist is unable to develop an energetic and enthusiastic environment with his voice, the audience will likely stick to the video till the end.
Talking about SFX or sound effects, they form a mandatory element of animated videos. It’s because, without the integration of catchy audio effects, your video will become lifeless just like a boring presentation.
Hiring a professional voiceover artist is more than an investment for video production companies.
Considering the versatility and range they bring to the table, brands can leverage their presence and ensure that the message gets communicated smoothly.
8. Wrong distribution strategy
Indeed, creating videos is a difficult task. However, marketing them is even tougher.
Quite often, brands tend to ignore this crucial part which can boost the views on their videos and reach wider audiences.
And that’s nothing but marketing and distributing them at the correct places efficiently.
Attaching videos on your website alone won’t do any good.
For more visibility, it’s recommended to integrate them into your landing pages, sales funnels, marketing campaigns, email marketing campaigns, social media channels, and all those spots where your target audience usually hangs out.
Ask yourself – What’s the use of a beautiful and engaging explainer video if it doesn’t reach your future customers?
To achieve this, your video marketing strategy must be on-point.
Now that you have a comprehensive list containing detailed explanations about the common mistakes brands make while creating videos, it’s important to understand what can be done to get rid of these problems once it for all.
How to avoid the pain of a badly produced Explainer Video forever?
The above animated explainer video mentioned mistakes can not only cost video production companies a tough future ahead in terms of business & credibility but also, brands their time and valuable resources.
When we term it as a pain, we intend to convey to you the importance of choosing an experienced animated explainer video company for your brand videos and how they can help you generate real results.
While your search is on, try focusing on how they have produced videos for their past clients and their animation style.
Does their past work seem promising to resonate with your product as well? As an audience, do you strongly feel the video created by them made you take action?
Were you able to relate to what was being shown to you in the form of characters or infographics?
If your answers are positive to these questions, they might be a great fit for your business requirements.
This way, your video will be in safe hands because you know your product, and they know their video.
Conclusion
To say the least, remembering these mistakes while you sit down to create or get your animated videos produced by an experienced agency will largely help you arrive at an extraordinary error-free result.
In a parallel world, these are roadblocks that might hinder the growth of your product and leave you with peanuts or zero results.
If you want to leave a mark on your viewers, provide them with an excellent video-viewing experience by creating explainer videos and witness an inflow of positive results in the form of leads, revenues, and increased brand loyalty.
And if you want us to create branded marketing videos for you that boost your brand’s awareness, get in touch with our video marketing expert today.
