Customer Experience

Are the Right Explainer Videos Representing Your Products on YouTube?

55% of people use explainer videos when making purchase decisions. And when consumers are learning about a new product they just purchased, they’re three times more likely to watch a YouTube explainer video than open the instructions provided. Are you serving your customers well, with clear, well-produced explainer videos? Or are your explainer videos being created by Some Random Dude?

Amy Simonelli

You’ve Got Some Explaining to Do

    Imagine your next new business pitch. You’ve thought long and hard about your target audience and how to communicate with them, carefully planned every point and labored over creating the perfect presentation materials. Now imagine you’re called away on an emergency, and the only person available to give your presentation is the guy who runs the snack shop in the lobby. Nice fella. He knows a bit about what you do for a living, and even has some casual knowledge of your product or service. Problem solved. He can explain everything there is to know about your products. Nothing to worry about, right?
    If you haven’t invested in explainer videos for your product or service, there’s a strong chance the unsettling story above is playing out many times a day in the real life of your customers.
      • 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube EVERY MINUTE, with
    1.68 billion
      • worldwide YouTube users consuming that content.

Explainer Videos, Brought to You By Some Dude

    Instead of carefully curated product information, your users or potential clients are getting exposed to poorly produced amateur explainer videos chock full of misinformation and often disparaging remarks about your product and/or company.
    I recently did a search for removing a shelf from my refrigerator for cleaning. There was no content from the well-known manufacturer, but I found multiple videos on the topic from other users. The top two videos alone had a combined 480k views. One even specifically called out the manufacturer for not including this info in the owner’s manual. Yikes!
    It seems self-evident, but it’s worth observing: once someone else makes your explainer videos, literally anyone could be representing your product. For the sake of discussion, and allowing for all other considerations, let’s call this person “Some Dude.” Will “Some Dude” represent your product well? Will “Some Dude” represent your product factually, and in a positive light? Will they offer clean, concise, accurate product information? Roll the dice, because who knows?

Some Explainer Video Statistics…

      • Now consider the fact that
    55%
      • of people use explainer videos before buying as research in their ultimate purchase decisions.
    Adding to the worry, there’s a solid chance your competitors are producing content for similar goods, and those are showing up when users are looking for your product’s information.
    Perform a quick audit to see how things stack up for your product or service. Head to YouTube and search for your product a couple of different ways; by its proper name, (ex. Top Brand Name Air Compressor) and using words consumers generally use when speaking about your product (ex. air compressor). Evaluate the following:
    • Are amateur explainer videos for your specific product coming up on page one of the search results?
    • Are explainer videos for competitors’ products appearing on page one?
    If the answer is yes to one or both of these questions, it’s well past time for you to take control of your YouTube explainer video footprint.
    So, now you realize you need to step up your video presence. What’s next?

Develop a Winning Explainer Video Strategy

    There are varying levels of production quality across YouTube. Experienced video producers can help you determine the best and most cost-effective approach for your needs. Well produced explainer video content doesn’t have to break the bank.
    You’ll want to make sure the team you work with also has search engine optimization (SEO) expertise. This will help ensure that your explainer video investment appears on the first page of a user’s YouTube search. Without SEO, your efforts will be wasted.
    Once your videos have been created, take advantage of many uses beyond YouTube that will elevate your company or product’s online presence, such as brand sites, social media, mobile web and blogs.
    “Some Dude” may or may not know a lot—or a little—about your products and services, but even then, who knows how they’ll present it. Don’t let “Some Dude” be the online face of your product or service. Trust your explainer video content to collaborative professionals who understand the best and most concise ways to present accurate, understandable product information.
THE KNOWLEDGE BASE