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If you’re here, then you probably already know all the fantastic benefits of explainer videos to educate audiences, sell products, and effectively convey a compelling message. But before you get started on creating your own assets, I suggest watching some of the best explainer videos out there to see how other businesses have gone about making them.
In this piece, I’ve compiled a list of 30 explainer video examples, from both startups and big companies, that perfectly reflect all the advantages of leveraging this video style. Now, without further ado, let’s get started! 😃
Leveraging animation is one of the best strategies to connect with all kinds of audiences, so let’s go over some of the best animated explainer video examples I’ve come across!
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Our friends at Amazon presented us with the challenge of explaining what Amazon Coins are all about in just 60 seconds. I think this is the perfect example of why the unparalleled capacity of the explainer video style to illustrate and communicate highly technical or complex topics in a way anyone can understand.
Explaining how a digital grid works and clearly conveying how it can benefit users is no easy chore. However, the folk a Cisco manage to successfully do it thanks to the educational power of explainer videos. I really like how this piece takes us on a journey, breaking down what the solution is and what problems it solves in a way that’s incredibly easy to understand.
Sometimes, going over all the wonderful advantages your product or solution offers requires more time than the average 90-second explainer video. And that’s fine! Just look at this explainer video example. It’s almost 3 minutes long, yet it effectively catches and keeps your attention until the end.
What I found really interesting about this explainer video example is how it focuses on concrete data from the company’s success cases. Since BCG specializes in helping marketers achieve their goals with a data-driven marketing approach, the video’s concept is an excellent choice!
What can I say about this piece? The animation style in this video is just so stunning that it keeps the viewer’s eyes glued to the screen from start to finish. Moreover, the explanation is so simple that even if you know nothing about microgrids, like me, you can easily grasp the basics in under two minutes.
Animated explainer videos can be of immense help when you want to convey how your app or software works while explaining how it can help users. I particularly liked that there’s even a short and straightforward description of how to get started with the app.
Here’s another contestant among the best explainer videos regarding animated characters or objects helping brands teach others the ins and outs of intangible products. What makes this piece even better is the use of the brand’s colors to make it easily recognizable and memorable.
This is one of the best explainer videos I’ve come across because it effectively covers all the essential facts about the service while showing concrete examples of how the solution can be implemented. Pretty neat, right?
If you believe that animation might not be the right choice for your brand’s personality and image, then you need to check out this animated explainer video example. Fusebox Energy is a tech company that offers a scalable software solution to optimize electricity usage, and their piece boasts a minimalist and sleek style that goes perfectly with their own aesthetic.
This is definitely one of the best explainer videos I’ve seen, and you know why? The music. Yes, there’s no doubt about the animation quality, but pay attention to how the music perfectly matches the script progression and adds another dimension to it without interfering with the narration.
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Accelerant is a cutting-edge, transparent, and responsive insurance program carrier. They entrusted us with their project to convey their value proposition and core message through a well-designed animated aesthetic that could enhance the script.
So, our talented team created this beautiful piece that’s undoubtedly one of the best explainer videos we’ve worked on. The combination of smooth transitions and clean animations that incorporate the brand’s colors make for a memorable piece that’s sure to stick to the viewer’s mind and set the company apart.
This is one of the best explainer videos showing how you sometimes don’t even need a voiceover narration to convey your message. However, I think it’s important to remember that if you choose this route, you should include captions or text to help your viewers understand your message.
Animated explainer videos allow for a lot of creative freedom. Just look at the amazing style of this example; it’s so unique that the piece becomes instantly memorable. This goes to show that regardless of the industry you’re in, your video style can be tailored to match your tone and image.
What I liked about this particular explainer video example is how it’s part of an animated video series. Yes, you read that right! If you want to cover different aspects of your product or service, you can create several explainers in the same style to make each topic easier to understand than if they were all crammed into the same piece.
I know for a fact that solid storytelling is crucial for a well-developed explainer video, and this example excels at that. Stories are what make a piece engaging and truly memorable; you just need to find a way to turn your explanation into one!
There are some specific cases in which your script doesn’t need storytelling, like in this explainer video example by HP. The animation style is quite simple, but what makes this video different from the rest is how the company directly addresses the viewer and tells them all about their service’s key benefits.
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We created this compelling explainer video for our friends at Foundation Partners Group, a leading provider of innovative funeral and cemetery experiences. The death of a loved one is, without a doubt, a sensitive topic that can be incredibly hard to address. However, an animated explainer video can help explain even the most delicate topics in a tactful manner.
Sometimes, less is more — as long as you have an effective CTA! In this explainer video example, HelloSign, an eSignature solution, has chosen to focus on just the main advantage of their proposition. This way, they can clearly convey their message and generate curiosity in just a few seconds. But what seals the deal is the Call-To-Action at the end, encouraging the viewer to try out the software.
Some of the best explainer videos aren’t focused on breaking down a product or service, but rather on sharing key information people need to understand them better. In this piece, Adobe explains the difference between a digital signature and other e-signatures so their viewers can better understand what Adobe Sign is about.
You can opt for live-action videos instead of animated ones, so let’s check some of the best explainer videos in that style.
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To start off this section, here’s this fantastic video we made for our friends at Recognize, an employee recognition platform with an award system for employees inside Microsoft Office 365. This is an excellent example of how live-action explainer videos can illustrate complex information for industries of all kinds just as well as animated ones.
I think this is a wonderful explainer video example of how you can make live-action pieces more interesting by featuring the CEO or key team members to explain the mission and vision of the company. This can humanize your piece and give it a more authentic feel.
In this explainer video example, we can see how live-action videos work perfectly to demonstrate how an app works and how to use it. But other than that, I liked how this piece’s script makes the message more relatable to the audience.
Caddipay is a “buy now, pay later” service that allows users to make automatic payments on different platforms. In this incredibly short live-action piece, Ashley, a furniture company, explains how to use Caddipay in checkout and what benefits it brings. And they did so in just 15 seconds of footage!
Zendesk Chat is a service that allows businesses to chat with web visitors in real-time, and they’ve chosen to build their explainer video around the concept of “live customer service.” For this, the live-action explainer style was the best choice to go into how the service works while keeping the content entertaining.
And speaking of entertaining content, let’s take a look at this explainer video example. In this instance, we get a fun approach to learning how an app works. It’s one of the best things about explainer videos, being able to inject your message with humor to better connect with your audience.
While Duolingo is not discussing a real service in this explainer video example, it’s still one of the best pieces I’ve ever seen. Once again, we can see just how versatile explainers are, providing you with all kinds of tools to engage your audience and delight them while conveying your message.
This one is also an excellent example of how explainer videos help convey complex information about a service, but what I enjoyed most about it is how the live-action footage makes the story relatable and easy to connect with.
You might wonder what, exactly, makes this one of the best explainer videos, and the answer is actually pretty simple. This piece builds an emotional connection with the audience by tugging at their heartstrings while keeping the tone light and even entertaining. This way, they manage to catch the viewer’s attention to then deliver the message.
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To finish this list of the best explainer videos, I wanted to share with you this video we made for our friends at BetterUp. I love how this piece combines live-action and animation into a synergy that makes the whole piece come alive. So, if you can’t decide between live-action vs. animation, you can just use both!
Creating an explainer video from scratch is not easy, especially if you’ve never done it before. You need inspiration, and there’s no better place to get it than from businesses that have been leveraging this video style for a while now.
So, if you found this piece after scouring the internet for the best explainer videos, then I’d say you were in luck. Each one of these 30 videos has something to teach us and inspire future work, so I hope you’ve taken note of your favorites! 😉
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