Explainer Video Production

Explainer videos turn complex products and ideas into clear, compelling videos that help customers understand your value and take the next step. Educate your audience on complex topics, making them easy to understand.

What Is an Explainer Video?

An explainer video is an animated or live action video that makes a product, service, or topic easier to understand. Most run between 30 and 90 seconds and combine a written script, voiceover, and visuals, whether that’s animation, live footage, motion graphics, or a mix.

Businesses use them on landing pages, in sales decks, and in onboarding flows because they compress information that would otherwise take paragraphs of text or a long demo call. A good explainer video answers one question clearly: what does this do, and why does it matter to me?

The format depends on what needs explaining. A software workflow might call for screen capture and UI animation. A physical product might call for live footage. A concept or process that has no visual form of its own, like a financial transaction or a legal process, usually calls for illustration or motion graphics to make it visible.

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What Are Explainer Videos Used For?

Introducing a Product or Service

An explainer gives people enough context to understand what a product or service does. During script development, the key decision is which part of the product story to lead with. A demonstration or animated scenario can then show how it works without covering every feature.

Supporting Sales Conversations

Some questions are easier to answer with a visual sequence than another slide of text. Sales explainers can follow a customer scenario or show how a service fits an existing workflow. The creative brief keeps the message focused on the question being discussed.

Onboarding Customers

Getting started is easier when customers can see the steps they need to take. UI animation or screen recordings can follow a task through the product interface. The edit needs to leave enough time for viewers to recognize each action before moving to the next.

Training Employees

Training explainers give a procedure or workplace scenario a clear visual structure. The learning objective guides the script, while the storyboard maps out what needs to be demonstrated. Breaking the content into separate modules lets employees revisit the task they need help with.

Introducing a Product Update

A feature launch does not need to repeat the whole product story. A focused UI sequence can show what has changed and how it affects a familiar task. Planning shorter cutdowns during script development also helps when the update will appear across several channels.

Explaining Public Information

Public information can involve unfamiliar terms or steps that are difficult to picture. Motion graphics and illustration can make those details visible while the voiceover explains them. Reviewing the script and storyboard together helps check that the simplified explanation still gives people the information they need.

Types of Explainer Videos

2D Animation Explainer Videos

2D animation uses illustrated characters and environments to tell a story. Art direction establishes the look, while scene composition and character movement shape how the explanation unfolds. Production complexity depends on the number of scenes, illustration detail, and animation each scene needs.

3D Animation Explainer Videos

Looking inside a product can explain more than showing its exterior. With 3D animation, the camera can move around an object, separate its components, or reveal an internal mechanism. Modeling and rendering requirements depend on how closely those details need to be shown.

Motion Graphics Explainer Videos

Motion graphics connect information through animated diagrams, icons, and interface elements. They work well for systems and processes where viewers need to follow relationships between ideas. Transitions can carry the explanation from one step to the next without introducing a character-led story.

Whiteboard Explainer Videos

Watching an illustration take shape gives viewers a way to follow an idea as it develops. In whiteboard animation, the drawing sequence and voiceover need to stay in step. Storyboarding determines what remains on screen and when the composition needs space for the next point.

Live Action Explainer Videos

Some subjects are easier to understand when someone demonstrates them on camera. Live action captures the actual product, setting, and physical actions involved. During pre-production, the shot list translates the script into the close-ups, wider views, and supporting footage needed for the edit.

Mixed Media Explainer Videos

Mixed media explainers combine footage and animation when neither approach covers the subject on its own. Filming can establish the real product before an animated cutaway reveals how it works. Planning the shot composition early leaves room for graphics added during post-production.

Explainer Videos by Industry

B2B Explainer Videos

B2B explainer videos give buying teams a shared introduction to a product or service. Script development needs to account for the different people involved in the decision. An initial overview can establish the business problem, while a separate technical video addresses questions that need more detail.

SaaS Explainer Videos

Software often looks straightforward to the people who built it. For a new user, following one task can be more useful than seeing a tour of every feature. UI animation keeps attention on the relevant actions while preserving the logic of the actual workflow.

Technology Explainer Videos

Behind an interface, information may pass through several systems before producing a visible result. Technology video explainers make those connections easier to follow through diagrams and animation. Technical review of the storyboard helps ensure the simplified sequence still represents how the system works.

Startup Explainer Videos

Startup animation explainers introduce products that may need some context before their purpose makes sense. The opening can establish a familiar task before showing a different way to handle it. Concept development determines how much setup the story needs before the product enters the explanation.

Cybersecurity Explainer Videos

Threats and security responses are difficult to explain when most of the activity is invisible. An animated sequence can trace an attack path and show where a security tool responds. Labels and scene design help distinguish the threat from the response without overstating the product’s protection.

Fintech & Financial Services

A financial services animated explainer can follow a transaction beyond the moment someone presses “send.” The visual sequence shows where the payment goes and which steps involve the user. Relevant conditions need space in the script rather than being left to small text at the end.

E-Commerce & Retail

Product photos can leave practical questions unanswered, especially around assembly and everyday use. A short explainer fills those retail gaps with demonstrations and carefully chosen close-ups. Graphic callouts identify the detail on screen while the voiceover explains its function or purpose.

Corporate Explainer Videos

Corporate explainer animation shows what an internal announcement means in practice. The story might follow a revised process or explain how responsibilities change between teams. Stakeholder reviews during scripting and storyboarding help resolve conflicting instructions before design and animation begin.

Professional Services

Consulting and advisory work can be difficult to picture before an engagement starts. Showing the stages, client involvement, and expected deliverables makes the service more concrete. The script needs to explain what happens between the initial discussion and the finished assignment.

Healthcare & Medical

A 60 second explainer video gives patients a visual reference for procedures and terms they may be encountering for the first time. Illustration and scene pacing help introduce one stage at a time. Clinical review should cover the storyboard because scale, position, and movement all affect the meaning.

Educational Explainer Videos

Knowing a subject well makes it easy to skip steps a beginner still needs. A defined learning objective helps identify those gaps during script development. An animated explainer can then use visual examples and deliberate pauses to give each new idea time to make sense.

Nonprofit & NGO

One video rarely has room to explain every program an organization runs. Choosing a particular story helps connect the need with a clear response. Footage, illustration, and voiceover choices also influence how the people involved are represented and whose perspective leads the explanation.

Government & Public Sector

Public sector explainer videos answer practical questions about services, eligibility, and applications. The storyboard can show what residents need to prepare and where they need to act. Captions and localized versions should be considered early enough to influence text placement and scene timing.

Legal Explainer Videos

Unfamiliar terms can make a legal process harder to follow than the sequence itself. Establishing the order of events gives viewers a starting point before the script adds detail. Visual examples need to leave room for differences between cases rather than suggest one universal path.

Insurance Explainer Videos

Insurance video explainers use defined scenarios to clarify policy terms or claims procedures. Details within the example can change what viewers understand about coverage. Reviewing the narration alongside the scene design helps catch visual implications that the script alone might not reveal.

HR & Recruiting

Preparing for an interview and starting a new job involve different questions. Separating those audiences gives each HR video a clear purpose. For an onboarding series, a consistent graphic system can connect the modules without repeating the same introduction every time.

Hospitality & Travel

Seeing the entrance or meeting point can make arrival instructions much easier to follow. Location footage establishes those reference points, while graphic overlays add directions. The edit can follow the guest’s route in the order they will encounter it.

Real Estate Explainer Videos

Real estate animation explainers can connect a floor plan with a clearer view of how the spaces fit together. Camera movement through a 3D visualization provides that perspective. For developments still in progress, labels should distinguish planned features from completed construction.

Manufacturing & Industrial

The mechanism that explains a machine’s function may be hidden behind its housing. Cutaway animation can reveal the working parts and follow material through each stage. Wider scenes then place that operation within the surrounding production workflow.

Forestry Explainer Videos

An animated explainer uses maps and animation to connect work across locations and time. They can show harvesting stages, regeneration, or the movement of timber through a supply chain. The visual sequence needs to distinguish completed activity from proposed work.

Entertainment Explainer Videos

Before people can enjoy a new game or interactive experience, they need to understand how to participate. Short demonstration sequences can introduce the rules through action. Art direction can reflect the experience while editing gives each instruction enough time to register.

Oil & Gas Explainer Videos

A short explainer shows oil and gas processes that exterior footage cannot reveal. Animated flow paths and equipment diagrams explain what happens within an installation. Storyboarding establishes direction and sequence before the production moves into detailed animation.

Mining Explainer Videos

Connecting surface activity with underground operations requires a view that filming alone may not provide. Cutaway animation establishes that relationship before following material through processing. Camera position and scale need careful handling so viewers retain their sense of location.

Farming & Livestock

Seasonal work does not always fit within a filming schedule. Explainer animation can connect footage from different stages to show the full process. For equipment use or livestock care, the script should identify the conditions under which the demonstrated practice applies.

Explainer Video Production Process

Strategy

As your explainer video agency, we start by getting clear on your goals, your audience, and what you want the video to accomplish. Then we develop the concept and creative direction that becomes the foundation for the script and the rest of the production.

Script

Our animation explainers get to work, developing a script that matches your intent and speaks to your audience. The right words, emotional triggers, and story structure all play a key role in the success of your message. If the story sucks, animation won’t save it.

Storyboard

Next, our explainer video producers sketch out the video scene by scene. The storyboard lets you see how the story will come together, where key moments land, and how the visuals support the script. Once refined and approved, we move to production.

Design

As part of explainer animation production, we design every character, graphic, and prop from scratch, then prepare the artwork for animation. An animatic is prepared to show our ideas on the the planned timing and pacing of the different scenes.

Animation

With the visuals approved, our explainer animation studio moves into animation and sound design. Voiceover, music, and sound effects are added to complete the piece, followed by final revisions to make sure everything looks and sounds right.

Launch

With the final video approved, our explainer video production team prepares everything for delivery. You get the final video file plus 10–15 cutdowns and supporting assets designed to help you get more mileage from the video across different channels.

Explainer Video Guides

Business Case

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Production Craft

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Cost & Budget

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Scriptwriting

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Length & Pacing

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Examples & Inspiration

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Choosing a Partner

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Industry Verticals

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Explainer Video FAQs

Questions

An explainer video is a short video, usually animated or live action, that breaks down a product, service, or idea so a viewer understands it quickly. Most explainer videos follow a simple structure: they introduce a problem the viewer recognizes, show how the product or service solves it, and close with a clear next step. The format works because it combines narration, visuals, and pacing to carry information that would take much longer to read. Businesses use explainer videos on websites, in pitch decks, and during onboarding, anywhere a fast, clear introduction matters more than a long written description.

Attention spans on a website are short, and most visitors decide whether to stay or leave within the first few seconds. An explainer video does more in that time than a wall of text: it shows what the product does, who it’s for, and why it matters, without asking the visitor to read anything. Video also carries tone and personality in a way plain text cannot, which helps a new visitor form an impression of the brand alongside the facts. That’s why explainer videos show up on homepages, landing pages, and product pages, wherever a visitor is deciding whether to keep looking or leave. Beyond the homepage, many businesses reuse the same video in sales decks, email campaigns, and onboarding flows.

Yes. A video on a landing page gives visitors a faster, clearer answer than text alone, which tends to reduce bounce rate and support conversion. The effect depends on placement and how closely the video matches what the visitor came to find out, so it works best paired with a clear call to action right after it. A video placed above the fold, near the headline, typically gets the most views, while one buried lower on the page reaches only visitors who scroll that far. Testing thumbnail, length, and placement against page analytics is the most reliable way to confirm a video is actually moving visitors toward a decision.

Most run between 30 and 90 seconds. Shorter videos work well for a single, focused message, such as introducing a new feature. Longer videos make sense when a product needs more context before it makes sense, like a service with several steps. Length should follow the script, not the other way around: a script padded out to hit a target runtime usually loses the viewer before the end. A video should be as short as the subject allows and as long as it needs to be, nothing more.

Animation gives you control over abstract ideas, internal mechanisms, and things a camera can’t film, like data moving through a system. Live action shows the real product, people, or setting, which works well when the subject is physical and tangible. Animation also tends to age better and is easier to update, since a script change often means adjusting artwork rather than reshooting footage. Live action can build more trust for products where seeing the real thing matters, such as testimonials or a physical space.

It depends on what needs explaining. A software product usually calls for screen capture or UI animation, since the interface is the clearest way to show how it works. A physical product often calls for live footage so viewers see the real object in use. A concept with no visual form of its own, like a financial process, usually calls for illustration or motion graphics. Many businesses mix styles within one video, using live footage for context and animation for the parts a camera can’t capture.

Yes. The script is the foundation. It determines pacing, what gets shown on screen, and how long the video runs. Visuals and animation are built around it, not the other way around. Starting production before the script is finished usually means reworking storyboards and artwork later, once the message changes. A tight script that says one thing clearly is also easier to storyboard and animate than a loose one trying to cover several ideas at once.

A clear focus on one message, a script that respects the viewer’s time, and visuals that match the complexity of the subject. Trying to cover too much in one video usually weakens all of it, since each added point takes attention from the one that matters most. An effective video also earns attention in the first few seconds, usually by naming the problem before introducing the product. Ending with one specific call to action tends to perform better than leaving the next step open-ended.

Common places are a homepage or landing page, a sales deck, an onboarding flow, or a product page. The right placement depends on whether you’re trying to convert a new visitor or help an existing customer understand something. A homepage video usually needs to work for a broad audience, while a video used during onboarding or in a sales deck can go into more detail since the viewer already has context. Reusing one core video across several of these placements is usually more practical than producing a separate video for each.

Yes. Technical products often benefit the most, since animation can show what’s happening behind an interface or inside a system in a way a screenshot or a paragraph of text can’t. Breaking a complex process into a sequence of smaller visual steps, rather than describing it all at once, keeps the video from feeling overwhelming. Involving a subject matter expert during scripting also helps keep the simplified version accurate.

Either can work. Voiceover paces the video for the viewer and frees up the screen for visuals, which usually makes it easier to follow a video with more moving parts. On-screen text works for silent viewing environments, like social feeds, but needs a simpler script since viewers have to read and watch at the same time. Many businesses produce both versions of the same video, a voiceover cut for the website and a captioned, text-driven cut for social, since viewing habits differ between the two.

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Featured Explainer Video Studios

Partners

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