No one will see your explainer video if they don’t click play. You need to give them a reason to click, a teaser to gain interest or an overview of what they will get from watching. Using a combination of engaging messaging and eye-catching visuals, you can greatly increase the watch rate of your videos. Just remember to have tracking setup, otherwise, how can you compare results?
Avoid the “watch the video” button and the “large rectangle with a play button” technique. It doesn’t intrigue the user into watching. Instead, use animated previews, hooks, and button text that can’t be ignored.
No one will see your explainer video if they don’t click play.
You can’t just put it on your website and hope🤞. Just like your other marketing assets, you need to make them attractive.
You may be thinking that your explainer video isn’t performing as well as you wanted, but a deeper look might show that no one is clicking play so are still not educated on your product.
It sounds obvious, but it’s so common to just embed the video from YouTube and shove it on the homepage.
What makes people click (and how to know if they have).
We need to give them a reason to click. This can be a hook to gain attention and interest or information on what is included in the video.
Giving your audience information like a title for the video, how long it is, key points it covers, etc. helps them choose if they are at the right stage to watch the video.
A combination of the two grabs attention and gives the viewer enough info to make the choice to click play.
But how do you know if they have clicked? Tacking. This can be done by tracking the actual click or using a video hosting site to host the video and track views. Video hosting sites have many other benefits like detailed analytics (watch time, drop off, etc) and options to customise the player, including adding CTAs.
PS: Tracking isn’t 100% accurate; with a huge number of ways to block trackers, it’s important to take these numbers with a pinch of salt. It is, however, useful to use as a way of tracking growth.
Tips and techniques I use to get your explainer video watched.
Before diving in, it’s important to note that sometimes your explainer video isn’t the hero of the page or section. In this case, a more subtle button can give the other elements on the page more of a spotlight.
But on to the techniques…
The “Irresistible Button”.
This technique uses persuasive messaging to create a button that can’t be ignored. This can be combined with motion to grab attention but doesn’t have to if other elements on the page are more important.
The “Eye-catching Preview”.
This involves using a GIF as a preview to show a teaser of the video. I tend to loop the first part of the video as it creates a more seamless experience when the user clicks play and is normally designed as a hook.
This can be a clip from the video, but it doesn’t have to be. It could be designed specially to grab attention and pique interest. Just make sure it’s not clickbait.
The “Focus of Attention”.
This is about using other elements around the video to draw attention to it. It can be using motion, graphics or text. This works well when the video is the main focus of the page or section. This works well for brands that have a lot of personality and elements that can be used to surround the video.
Things to avoid.
The “Watch Video” button.
This is often used when the video is not the most important thing on the page.
Please spend two minutes writing something a bit more catchy and interesting. It will increase your video views massively.
The “Basic Embed”.
This is the most common way to add a video to a website yet is the least enticing to click. You have no idea what the video is about, or why you should watch it. Those who do YouTube for a living know the importance of thumbnail designs, and this is similar in the way that without an eye-catching frame, it’s not very enticing to click.