When you’re working in the highly competitive SaaS market, you will need to come up with effective out-of-the-box strategies to stand out. In the realm of SaaS explainer videos, having a streamlined, well-explained video can be a game-changer. Over the last decade or so, these videos have become quite powerful when it comes to explaining a company’s product or service.
Having a well-crafted video can help break down complex features for customers, overcome any challenges they may face, and make an informed decision.
The importance of SaaS explainer videos
As more SaaS offerings are available in the market, videos help one stand out from the crowd. They offer a better and more concise way to introduce a product and differentiate them from competitors. These videos can be used across marketing channels, like the website, and social media, and can even be embedded in your email drip campaign, to reach a wider audience.
These videos offer a more easily digestible format for content and cater more to the modern customer. Research has also shown that people prefer multimedia formats like video, text, or audio to retain information. When complex concepts are presented in this manner, they could drive a customer to make a purchase, improve the overall experience and drive conversions down the funnel as well.
Measuring the effectiveness of an explainer video can help calibrate metrics and ensure a better ROI.
How to measure an explainer video’s effectiveness?
An excellent explainer video may significantly increase return on investment (ROI) and is therefore a very worthwhile investment if it has the correct features, presentation, and information. The following metrics are a few that one should monitor:
- Views: The views received on an explainer video can provide valuable insight into its overall visibility, reach, and impressions.
- Conversions: The ultimate goal of any explainer video is to drive conversions across the funnel. Explainer videos seldom lead directly to a purchase in the case of SaaS. However, they can help drive a request for a sales proposal, a free trial, or queries.
- Feedback: Collecting quality feedback from potential customers or customers can help one understand how well the video has performed. Understanding whether it addresses the primary pain points or queries of a customer can be another way to calculate its overall effectiveness.
- Metrics: There are several engagement metrics that you can pay attention to, including bounce rate, average watch time, and Click-Through Rate (CTR) to name a few. These metrics can show how well your video is received by your audience.
By regularly monitoring these parameters and making data-driven improvements, you can maximize the effect of your explainer film and assure a favorable return on investment. Here are some best practices to ensure better output in terms of the content you share:
1. Use the STORY framework:
The STORY format or framework is a massive game-changer when it comes to outlining the most crucial elements within a video script. This is a great explainer video checklist that you can follow to improve and create more engaging and effective videos.
The STORY framework works as follows:
- Story – Set the emotional tone – This step requires you to set the emotional tone, the stage, and the overall situation.
- Target audience – Who is affected most by the emotion and what is the proof point to add to the feeling?
- Obstacle – What is the problem the target audience is facing and how is that defined?
- Resolution – How does one solve the problem?
- Yes! It works because – add the reason it works.
Post the STORY framework, you can settle on a CTA as the problem is solved.
2. Focus on “One problem, One solution”:
Most SaaS apps are designed to offer multiple solutions or features to multiple problems. It is crucial to focus an explainer video on just one problem and one solution. If there are multiple pain points, consider creating separate videos for them. You want to make it as easy as possible for your customer.
If you attempt to cover many different problems, features, or use cases within one short video, it can become confusing and dilute your overall attempt. Focusing on one particular pain point and showcasing how your app or service solves it can increase trust and offer a better narrative that resonates with your audience.
A more focused approach allows you to also get into the finer details of a particular problem and completely cover every aspect of it. You can comprehensively showcase how your solution works and increase your chances of retaining and improving your viewer’s attention.
3. Avoid distractions:
Most explainer videos are engaging and visually appealing by nature because you want to retain your audience’s attention. However, it’s important not to go overboard and avoid distractions from the core message. Adding elements like music, super text, animations and more can add necessary flair, try to not add it to all parts of your video. Remember again, it’s an explainer video and it has a specific purpose to fulfill!
You don’t want your viewer’s attention to be distracted or taken away from the actual content that you’re trying to share. It’s important to stay away from such fundamental video marketing mistakes and minimize these so that they get exactly what they want from the video.
Try to maintain a minimalist design that’s clean and complements any message you’re trying to share. Keeping quiet, unobtrusive BGM can also improve the viewing experience without becoming a distraction.
4. Test before going live:
Before you publish an explainer video on your web page or launch a marketing campaign based on it, you should do user testing and a restricted release.
For beginners, you could turn your employees into ambassadors by letting them share your explainer videos on social media. This method allows you to collect useful input from your target audience while measuring the video’s impact in a controlled setting.
Analyzing analytics like engagement levels, rates of conversion, and user comments allows you to find areas for development and make necessary changes before agreeing to a larger distribution. Also, look at any correlation between the explainer video and helpdesk tickets.
For example, if more users are requesting a refund because of product not meeting expectations, then it perhaps indicates improper expectation setting through your explainer video.
Making smaller adjustments to ensure your explainer video accomplishes its intended aims is a worthy investment. Even little changes, such as altering the timing, clarifying specific points, or increasing the visual appeal, can have a big impact and effectiveness on your video as well as the leads generated subsequently.
User testing and a restricted release are low-risk ways to assess your explainer video’s success and make data-driven changes, resulting in a higher return on investment and improved customer acquisition.
5. Study and improve – don’t just wing it:
You need to rethink and reassess your plans frequently while making an effective explainer video. Maintain an ongoing program of study into developments in this area of video material. You may greatly enhance your video creation skills by studying top-performing videos, learning what works and what doesn’t, and developing your formula.
If you want your films to have an impact, you need to focus on the little things like social media graphics, timing, tone, and storytelling tactics. In the end, you want the customer to comprehend everything you’re saying, and creating polished, user-friendly explainers will do wonders for your reputation.
To summarize:
When it comes to explainer videos, the simpler the better. Try to break down your goals and work with the STORY format to create better scripts. Also, make sure that you’re always researching and focusing on specific problems to get the best retention numbers.
Ultimately, you want your videos to not just stand out but create an impression of trust with your viewers. Keep up with the latest trends in the industry, ensure you have constant testing, and avoid distractions to get the best output from your videos.