Why do people watch explainer videos? Because we don’t want to wade through this [eyes up big chunks of website text]—simply put, we think we’ll get to what we want, faster.
Which also means that unless your explainer is geared around this, it's going to fail at meeting your viewer's intent. The viewer may start watching, but not for long if it doesn't keep their attention, or goes on far too long.
So do explainer videos "work"? Yes and no.
As a tool, explainer videos can be a seriously potent marketing tool. They tap into the core principals of engagement: good storytelling, clear concepts, solid production, and memorability. But, they'll only give you the results you want if you make them work for you.
Otherwise it's just more marketing noise in a fancier wrapper.
Whether you're working with professional animation services, or approaching the project in-house, this post unpacks how to make marketing explainer videos highly effective. We explore real-world stats, timeless psychological insights, and examples that show how it all works in practice.
Let's dive in.
Online attention spans are brutal. Studies suggest we have 8 seconds to earn interest before a viewer clicks away.
In fact, videos that fail to explain their value in the first 10 seconds lose up to 65% of viewers.
That’s not much time to make an impression. But it is enough—if you know what you’re doing.
Explainer videos were built for this challenge. Good explainers immediately answer the question: “How is this relevant to me?”, then quickly follow-up with a reason to keep watching. That’s how you gain high video engagement stats.
In summary: How to capture attention?
And hey presto, that’s one very effective video. That’s explainer video psychology.
Humans crave clarity. We’ve all got frustrated with an overly confusing instruction booklet or anything else really that should be simple… but isn’t.
Generally, we turn away from things we find taxing.
There’s nothing that protects explainer videos from this paradigm. If you produce a confusing explainer—people will switch off. Or if you cram it with information or excessive design, you’ll also wave bye-bye to your audience.
Good explainers do these three things well:
This is where ensuring you’ve covered the basics will put you in very good stead.
From the get go—we want to make sure the message is free of jargon, simple and clear, and speaks the audience’s language.
It’s not about “dumbing down.” It’s simply presenting the information in a way that’s most accessible. We make it easy for people to understand and buy-into.
This also helps create trust, builds brand credibility, and of course, increases explainer video effectiveness.
If you want your message to land—and stay there—tell a story. You’ll be tapping into the primal basis for how the brain understands and processes information.
Stories are how we’ve made sense of the world for thousands of years. They’re sticky. They give context. They give us reason to be invested.
To clear up one point here that we get from time to time—a story doesn’t need a central character. It doesn’t need to follow Freytag's Pyramid. It doesn’t need to be “Meet Dave. Dave has a problem. Dave found us. Dave is happy now.”
No, no. A story in this context simply means it has a clear narrative arc. For example: a problem exists, there is a solution, the solution works like this.
A brilliant explainer story probably won’t even feel like a story at all. It’ll just feel like you’re watching something that engages you.
In explainer videos, a story acts as a wrapper. It takes your message out of the abstract and into something human. A clear before and after. A problem. A journey. A better outcome
Essentially the story is the delivery device for the message. It’s your UPS all-paid-up guaranteed delivery. Its only job is to make sure the message lands.
You’ll find a bunch of information about how to create engaging brand storytelling over on our blog.
We like to think we make decisions based on logic. But really, emotion is in charge.
In fact, when someone damages the emotional centre of their brain, they can no longer make decisions at all. The logic’s still there — but the will to act disappears.
That’s all fine and well, but what about B2B buying decisions? Surely when the stakes are high, logic wins out?
Not so fast. We’re not talking about the whole decision-making apparatus here. We’re just talking about the explainer video — and more specifically, what it needs to evoke.
So here’s the more useful question:
What emotions do you want your audience to feel?
Excitement? Confidence? Empathy?
Your message might be full of logical reasons to act — but how do you want someone to feel as they hear them?
Thinking about emotion this way is more strategic than you might think. Say we realise that trust is the key emotion. We can then go back and ask:
Does the script earn it?
Does the visual style support it?
When designing a video brief, it helps to separate content from emotion:
Get both of those right, and you’ll have something far more than a functional explainer. You’ll have mastered the emotional impact of animated video.
You’ll have a video that moves people — and moves them to act. As an aside, you might find our blog on how visuals trigger people interesting.
Of course trust is a huge buying factor. But how exactly do you build it into a video?
The short answer is it’s layered carefully into each aspect of production.
Firstly, does the script sound credible, grounded, and legitimate? Or is it making bold unsubstantiated claims, and big promises?
How does the script sound? Friendly, functional, conversational? Or is there just something about the voice over delivery that puts you off?
What about the design? Is it clean, uncluttered, branded and slick? Or does it seem to lack a bit of TLC?
And finally, relevance. Does this video feel like it’s speaking to me, and my problems? Does it feel relatable? Like they get me, and might be worth more of my time?
Do I trust them?
Sometimes it is worth explicitly stating in a video trust markers. For example, how many countries you operate in, who your clients are, or case studies.
But building trust is much more intricate than simply relying on a line or two. It should very much be a pivotal part of your explainer video strategy and will improve your explainer video ROI.
Explainer videos are by their very nature beasts of engagement. But so too is a sports car a beast of speed—it still needs a good driver!
You’ll find endless stats on how effective explainer videos are. We clearly love them. And we see them do some heavy lifting for clients.
The trick is to ensure all your ducks are lined up and you maximise every stage of production. Write a solid brief, produce a good story, use well-thought-out visuals, and slick animation—and engagement will take care of itself.
Want to see these principles in action?
Check out 11 of the best animated explainer videos we’ve handpicked—each one showing how psychology, clarity, and storytelling come together to drive results.
