Explainer videos are an incredibly effective way to communicate information about your products.
It’s easy to see why they’re so popular — in fact, they’re one of the most common types of marketing videos.
By combining visual content and voice over, you can help your audience understand complex topics while telling a compelling story about your brand.
It might be tempting to produce explainer videos in-house, but pro voice actors offer a number of key benefits.
In this article, we’ll take a look at how explainer videos work and what a professional voice actor to contribute to your content.
Explainer videos tell potential customers what your product or service can do for them.
A good explainer is both informative and promotional.
In other words, viewers should learn about your brand, but they should also be motivated to make a purchase.
In the video below, voice actor Jane A. outlines the core functionality of Sanebox, an email management app.
She explains features like AI sorting and bulk deleting, but she also talks about the overall reasons to use Sanebox.
Remember that customers are more interested in the benefits than technical explanations.
At the end of the video, everything comes back to saving time in your inbox.
Even if your video is complicated, make sure to conclude with a simple statement that tells viewers why they should care.
One tricky question is how much to focus on details compared to the basic information.
An ideal video will offer a general enough idea to get people interested while also preemptively answering common questions.
Still, you don’t want to take up too much of your audience’s time.
First, you’ll have to come up with visual content for your explainer video.
This needs to be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Consider your budget, topic, and audience to decide what makes the most sense for a particular project.
In this section, we’ll cover three common types of explainer videos and give you a general idea of when to use each one.
Your visuals will affect every other aspect of production, so this should be your first priority when you start developing a new explainer video.
The AllTrails video below demonstrates the power of animation.
The visual and voice over combine to show what AllTrails does and how it makes life easier for users — all in 38 seconds.
The video quickly covers some key features such as offline maps, real-time overlays, and sharing maps with friends.
They could have explained the same concepts with live-action video, but the animated style makes it easier for viewers to understand the main points.
Furthermore, it aligns with the tone of the voice over as well as AllTrails’ image as a convenient, easy-to-use hiking companion.
We’re also seeing more companies use whiteboard animation to convey information.
The visual indicator of someone “writing on the whiteboard” helps viewers follow the progression of the video.
Of course, this requires careful coordination between the script, voice over, and animation.
Here’s one example recorded by British voice actor Nicola B.
Keep in mind that animation may not work as well for complex subjects that need to be covered in-depth.
As these two examples show, animation is ideal for simple topics like the functionality of a mobile app.
Whether or not animation will be sufficient to get the point across depends on the content of your video.
Screen sharing is a strong alternative to animation, especially for software and other digital products.
This way, you can show exactly how your product works or how to perform particular tasks.
We used screen sharing ourselves in the explainer video below to help users understand how to use Voice Crafters.
While animation is more abstract and conceptual, screen sharing is perfect for going through individual steps.
Remember that you don’t have to commit to any individual style.
Our very own explainer video combines screen sharing, live action, and animation to go over big-picture points while also covering the details.
Simply sharing your screen for the entire video may not be particularly engaging, so don’t be afraid to spice things up with other visuals.
Finally, live action usually makes sense for physical products as opposed to digital ones.
You can show how a product works or looks in practice or demonstrate how to set it up.
Again, live action is often combined with other formats to create a more complete video.
Billy Mays’ Oxiclean ads are a classic example of live action explainer videos.
An animation will never be as effective as live action when it comes to cleaning products.
There are a few animations overlaid throughout the video, but the main focus is cleaning up real-life stains.
The same concept goes for most other physical products.
Billy Mays’ characteristic style is an ideal match for the results-focused nature of an infomercial.
Rather than simply droning on about features, he focuses on the core benefit: removing stains that other cleaning agents would miss.
This approach is far more likely to pull viewers in and get them more interested in the brand.
Before you start working on an explainer video, you need to decide what you want it to do for your brand.
This will help you be more focused during the production process, and it will also make it easier to track results and see whether you met your goal.
In this section, we’ll cover some of the key benefits of explainer videos for different kinds of brands.
If you don’t have the resources or staff to develop the video, consider working with a company that focuses on producing explainer videos.
Sometimes, it’s more cost-effective to pay an expert for a high-quality product than it would be to run the entire production in-house.
Explainer videos offer a variety of advantages, but the most concrete benefit is sales.
A strong explainer video can substantially increase revenue by providing concrete information and motivating viewers to order.
Furthermore, a well-crafted explainer video will appeal to users at different points in the customer journey.
A viewer who has never heard of your brand might be interested enough to visit your site to learn more.
On the other hand, someone who was already interested may finally make their first purchase.
While marketers often focus on features, consumers are generally more interested in benefits.
In other words, they want to know why the features are important.
With that in mind, it’s crucial to reference examples and use cases instead of simply providing information.
When you cover features, make sure to connect them to a concrete benefit or convenience.
Think back to the AllTrails example from earlier — they didn’t just mention that you can download maps
Instead, they pointed out the advantage of having access to your maps even when your phone isn’t getting service.
This is a critical use case for hikers who could easily find themselves in an unknown location without internet access.
Explainer videos are the perfect way to communicate those real-world applications in just a few minutes.
It goes without saying that consumers are interested in good products & services for low prices.
That said, they’re also looking for brands with a unique perspective or value.
Contemporary digital marketing is about forging connections with your audience.
This is one of the most important elements of a good explainer video.
At the same time that you communicate product information, you should also be telling a story about your brand — what you stand for, who your audience is, and why it matters.
The right voice actor will perfectly match your brand image and align with other areas of your online presence.
That’s why it’s critical to compare multiple audition tapes when looking for a voice actor.
Every product has a different sales cycle.
If you’re selling a niche or technical item, your audience may not even know what the product does or why they need it.
In some cases, this knowledge gap is the most difficult aspect of marketing.
To bridge the gap, you’ll need to create an explainer video that covers both education and promotion.
This should help them overcome their doubts or uncertainty, eventually understanding why they need your products.
Many companies simply ask someone on their staff to perform the voice over for an explainer video.
For example, product developers often take this on since they’re responsible for the product itself.
However, just because you’re knowledgeable about something doesn’t necessarily mean you’re the right person to explain it.
It’s usually better to have product teams contribute to the script and then have that script narrated by a professional voice actor.
It’s important to cultivate an engaging, positive tone that gets viewers more interested in your brand.
If you’ve ever watched an internal explainer video at work, you already know that clearly and calmly explaining something is a skill of its own.
The people who did the work to create a particular product might not be as good at connecting with an audience.
This is doubly true for explainer videos that double as promotional pieces rather than being distributed internally.
While your employees are dedicated to your product or service, professional voice actors are dedicated to the craft of voice acting.
They’ve honed their skills, purchased equipment, and built up experience working on different projects.
In short, they’re totally prepared to knock your script out of the park — even if they don’t know very much about the topic.
It’s easy to underestimate the advantage of a professional actor when it comes to recording quality and vocal control.
Studio equipment ensures a clear recording that emphasizes the speaker’s voice while eliminating background noise.
A professional voice actor will use a high-quality audio interface, a proper microphone, and an acoustically treated recording environment.
Most companies don’t want to buy sound equipment for a single explainer video, so it’s typically more cost-effective to work with a professional.
When you hire a voice actor, you won’t have to worry about buying equipment, setting up a recording space, or paying for studio time.
You also won’t have to deal with any imperfections that could make the explainer video look less professional.
In other words, professional voice actors remove the guesswork by giving you a reliably excellent product.
Clear speech and perfect enunciation are foundational to successful voice over work.
This is particularly true for explainer videos where actors describe complicated products, features, or processes to an audience with less experience.
Every explainer video should be easy to follow regardless of how much they know about the topic.
Good voice actors have experience delivering clear and comprehensible content on a wide range of subjects.
Remember that clarity also comes back to the script.
Make sure that your writing brings complex topics down to a level that viewers can understand even without any prior knowledge.
Clear speech can make a recording easier to understand, but it won’t make listeners more interested on its own.
Voice overs need to have an engaging and charismatic tone that draws audiences in and makes them curious.
Someone with voice acting experience can match the style you’re looking for and effectively promote your brand while providing an explanation.
Just as internal communications often lack clarity, they can also appear dry in comparison to a professional voice track.
Persuasively speaking about something is an entirely different skill from recording a voice over.
Most viewers only give videos a few seconds before deciding whether to continue.
With that in mind, it’s vital to create a strong first impression that motivates the audience to learn more.
They’ll also help you give off a more unique image, creating positive associations and increasing trust in your brand.
The example below illustrates the importance of developing engaging explainer videos.
It has a strong balance between discussing features and telling a story about why the platform is useful.
The voice actor’s unique cadence is crucial to the overall effect.
Explainer videos are informative, but that doesn’t mean they need to be boring.
An effective speaker can move through complicated sections while injecting some personality.
With that in mind, it isn’t enough to simply understand the topic or be able to explain it in a technical sense.
Like the video above, the one below walks through the advantages of the service while telling a story.
The voice actor has to balance narrative momentum with the nuts and bolts of Docusign.
Their performance matches the company’s ideal tone and cultivates a positive brand image.
Every company and every product is unique, so there’s no one-size-fits-all blueprint for explainer videos.
Still, there are a few reliable ways to improve your content and get better results.
In this section, we’ll go over a few tips for optimizing your next explainer video.
First, ask yourself what your audience needs to know.
Think about what information the average viewer would need before being ready to make a purchase.
You should consider who your target audience is, what they’re looking for, and what questions they might have.
Come up with one or two quick selling points that demonstrate why your brand is the best option.
These basic ideas — key takeaways, audience questions and concerns, and competitive advantages — should form the core of any explainer video.
Remember that your audience won’t wait around for you to get to the point.
Unless it’s absolutely necessary to go longer, you should try to keep your video shorter than around two minutes.
That’s enough time to describe how something works without boring viewers with too many details.
The script should be short enough for your voice actors to read comfortably while leaving plenty of room for pauses.
A typical English voice actor can speak 150 or even 160 words per minute, but that may feel too rushed.
Shoot for something closer to 130 or 140 words for each minute of video.
You can always make adjustments from there if that doesn’t feel right
After writing an initial script, take some time to revise your draft and look for fluff that can be removed from the final video.
With such limited time, it’s important to stay focused on the most important topics.
Remember that you don’t have to cover every feature or function — explainer videos are more about the big picture.
Viewers can always check out your website if they want more details.
There are a few different ways to record your screen for explainer videos.
Both Windows and Mac come with screen recording functionality, but these built-in tools don’t offer quite as many features.
Options like Camtasia (Mac and PC) and Screenflow (Mac only) are two of our top recommendations.
They obviously support screen recording, but they also make it easy to edit your footage for a more professional final product.
The best explainer videos utilize both visual and aural content to get their point across.
Finding a great voice actor is one of the most important steps in developing stronger content.
Your voice actor will be responsible for relaying information, but they’ll also be acting as a literal voice for your brand.
Before searching for the ideal voice talent, consider what you want the final product to look like.
Make sure to include some details about your ideas so that applicants understand what they’ll be working on.
Working with a voiceover artist will help you create a more engaging video.
One key decision for any voiceover project is whether to work with a female or male voice actor.
First, consider your target audience.
If your product is clearly gendered, you may gain more credibility from a voice actor of the same gender.
If you decide on gender and style in advance, you’ll have an easier time narrowing down candidates during the hiring process.
One study found that listeners tend to trust female voice actors and find their vocal style more attractive.
Of course, voice acting is more about the individual’s style and ability than it is about their gender.
The right voice artist comes down to your brand image and the products or services you’re selling.
Localization isn’t right for every video, but explainer videos are often easy to localize.
Translating your script, accounting for cultural differences, and recording audio in other languages may be enough to seamlessly localize content for a variety of markets.
Since explainer videos focus on a product’s basic functions or benefits, they can be a great way to introduce new audiences to your brand.
Another key advantage is that an explainer video’s visual content can usually be the same across multiple languages.
Just translate your script and any onscreen text — it’s really that simple.
The video below illustrates how easy it is to localize an explainer video for foreign markets.
Here’s the original:
And some of the localized versions by Voice Crafters:
If you’re considering localization, keep in mind that different content can require very different forms of localization.
Sticking to narration, screen sharing, and animation will make it much easier to localize without starting from scratch.
Of course, it may be worth investing in a more comprehensive localization in some cases.
A one-to-one translation may not be as compelling for foreign audiences.
It’s important to account for their preferences and desires, which may be very different from what you’re familiar with.
With that in mind, you should work with a translator who understands the target market.
We have experience with explainer videos of all kinds as well as localization in a number of different markets.
Make sure to check out our video translation services for more information.
Some companies have developed incredible explainer videos using only in-house talent.
If you have the talent, equipment, and resources to make it happen, then go for it!
At the same time, most successful explainers involve professional voice acting.
Investing in professional voice work will pay off by adding value to your video and generating more clicks + conversions.
Did you like this article? Have any questions? Please feel free to comment below.
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