In the crowded and competitive world of SaaS marketing, companies are constantly searching for new ways to capture customer attention and communicate their value proposition. One increasingly popular tool that checks both these boxes is the animated explainer video.
Explainer videos – short, animated videos that explain a product, service, or concept – have become a go-to marketing asset for all types of SaaS companies. But why are explainer videos so uniquely effective for SaaS brands specifically?
There are a number of core reasons why animated explainer videos are an ideal marketing vehicle for SaaS businesses:
Drive Conversions and Sales
At the end of the day, marketing is judged by its ability to drive business results and sales. On this front, explainer videos deliver a knockout punch.
Studies across industries conclusively show that video content converts better than other formats:
- Wyzowl survey showing explainer videos increased conversion rates by over 4%
- WebFX research indicates that video leads to an 86% increase in click-through rates
- Companies using video enjoy 41% more traffic from search versus non-video users (Wix)
Specifically for SaaS brands, video can boost conversions across the entire customer journey:
Lead Nurturing
- Send personalized intro videos to new leads to explain key product benefits
- Educate prospects further down-funnel with tutorial videos on advanced features
Website Conversion
- Feature an intro video on your homepage to capture visitor attention
- Embed demo videos on pricing or product pages to answer buyer questions
Customer Onboarding
- Send new users onboarding videos to help them get set up and acclimated
- Share training videos to help customers master workflows and features
Because they combine sight, sound, and motion, videos are simply better at conveying information in an engaging way. Audiences are far more likely to stick around, absorb your messages, and ultimately convert after watching a video.
Leveraging explainer videos at each stage of the buyer journey can help significantly lift conversion rates for your SaaS.
To maximize the potential of explainer videos, partner with a talented SaaS explainer video production company like 10 Studio. Their team of expert animators and marketers crafts high-converting explainer videos to grow your SaaS business.
Captivate and Engage Viewers
First and foremost, animated videos are simply more engaging, memorable, and attention-grabbing than static content.
While a blog post or whitepaper relies solely on words and images to relay information, explainer videos incorporate dynamic visuals, characters, motion, music, and more. This multimedia format provides diverse sensory stimulation that text alone cannot match.
Studies consistently show the power of video for viewer retention and recall:
- Viewers retain 95% of a message when delivered in a video format compared to 10% when reading text (Insivia)
- 92% of mobile video viewers share videos with others (Crisp)
- 80% of customers remember a video they viewed in the last month (Hubspot)
With animated video, you can communicate complex ideas and messages in a format optimized for memory and engagement. Rather than risking viewers losing interest in static content, explainer videos allow you to capture and hold viewer attention in a profound way.
This is the first key to effectively conveying your marketing messages and value proposition.
Explain Complex Concepts Clearly
A core challenge for any SaaS provider is explaining how their technology works and demonstrating its value, especially for software with sophisticated functionality.
Written content alone often fails to convey how complex software operates on a practical level. Explainer videos provide the perfect medium to clearly explain and visualize complicated SaaS concepts.
Through custom motion graphics, you can literally show how your software works rather than just telling:
- Demonstrate complex workflows and processes step-by-step
- Use friendly characters and visual metaphors to explain technical capabilities
- Visualize abstract ideas in a tangible way
Rather than overwhelming customers with text descriptions of advanced technology, explainer videos use dynamic visuals tailored to distinctly explain your offering. Viewers gain an easy-to-digest understanding of even the most complex product capabilities.
Beyond showcasing product functions, explainer videos also enable you to effectively communicate your SaaS business’ value proposition by:
- Visually demonstrating how customers can achieve goals and solve problems using your product
- Using real customer examples and testimonials to showcase success stories
- Comparing features to competitors to highlight your differentiation
The versatile animated format empowers you to clearly convey concepts that are difficult to get across in static mediums. This allows customers to fully understand the value you provide.
Build Brand Trust and Credibility
In addition to engaging viewers and explaining products, explainer videos also enable SaaS businesses to build credibility and trust.
Watching a slick, professionally produced explainer video unconsciously makes audiences view your company as more legitimate, trustworthy, and authoritative. Quality video production is associated with larger, more established brands in customers’ minds.
Strategic elements you can incorporate to further boost perceived credibility include:
- Client logos and testimonials: Social proof demonstrating real customer success goes a long way to strengthen trust.
- Company history: Quickly summarizing your business origins and track record establishes you as an experienced industry player.
- Team introductions: Putting faces to your company reinforces you are real people customers can rely on.
- Value positioning: Emphasizing how you help customers provides reassurance of your commitment to their needs.
The script, visuals, music, and more can all be tailored to craft your desired brand image and positioning. As a result, beyond just explaining your product, explainer videos can be shaped to build familiarity with your SaaS brand itself.
Customers are far more likely to buy from a company they trust. Animated videos allow you to meaningfully influence customer perceptions around credibility and ultimately, purchase decisions.
Rank Higher in Search Results
Lastly, explainer videos provide SEO benefits to lift your SaaS business’ visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Videos keep visitors on your website longer, a key positive signal for search algorithms like Google. The below data highlights how video viewers have better engagement metrics:
- Visitors spend 88% more time on pages with video (WebFX)
- Pages with video generate 80% longer time on site versus non-video pages
Beyond engagement, the video also expands your SEO keyword footprint by providing alternate media to rank for terms. Transcripts from explainer videos allow you to optimize for informational keywords that viewers search when researching solutions.
Moreover, explainer videos are highly shareable content. Each viewer that shares your video essentially becomes a marketer distributing your content across their own networks. This viral potential amplifies the SEO value of each video.
The combined engagement, keywords, and sharing benefits make video content like explainer videos a fantastic way to elevate your SaaS SEO rankings.
Key Takeaways
Here are the core reasons why animated explainer videos offer such an effective marketing vehicle for SaaS businesses looking to drive awareness, engagement, trust, conversions, and sales:
- Engaging format that captures viewer attention and makes messages highly memorable
- Clearly explain complex product concepts through dynamic motion graphics and visuals
- Build trust and credibility by conveying your brand image and positioning
- Boost conversions across the buyer journey from lead to customer
- Enhance SEO rankings by improving engagement metrics and generating shares
The unique combination of audio, visual, motion, and informational elements enables explainer videos to influence audience understanding and perceptions in a way unmatchable by static content.
Investing in a high-quality animated explainer video tailored to your specific SaaS offering can greatly strengthen your overall marketing strategy and results. The data clearly supports explainer videos’ ability to captivate viewers while driving significant business impact.