10 Best Explainer Video Examples That Get Real Results

Explainer videos are one of the most effective ways to simplify complex ideas and capture an audience’s attention. But what makes the best explainer videos truly stand out?

In this article, we’ve selected 10 best explainer video examples that go beyond nice visuals. These videos combine creativity, storytelling, and real business impact — from startups that raised funding to brands that used video to explain a new product, improve conversions, or connect with their audience in a more memorable way.

Some of these videos may look dated today, and that’s fine. We’re not judging them only by today’s design standards. We’re looking at how well they explained an idea, what they achieved, and why people still remember them.

Let’s break down why they worked and what marketers can learn from each one.

How We Picked These Videos

We didn’t choose these videos just because they look good. We focused on three things:

1. Results

Whenever possible, we looked for videos connected to real business results: funding, conversions, revenue, subscribers, launches, or long-term brand impact.

Not every video has a clean “this video caused this result” metric. But every explainer video example here played a role in a meaningful business moment.

2. Clarity

The best explainer videos make the message easier to understand. That matters a lot when the product is technical, new, expensive, or hard to explain in one sentence.

As an explainer video company, we look at these examples from a practical angle: not just how they look, but how clearly they communicate and what they helped the business achieve.

3. Storytelling

A video can have great animation and still be forgettable. The best explainer video examples use story, humor, pacing, or visual metaphors to make the idea stick.

Quick Overview of the Examples

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1. Accelerant — Simplifying a Complex Insurtech Model

Year: 2021–2024
Created by: Yum Yum Videos
Industry: Insurtech / Financial Services
Style: Motion graphics / Character animation

Accelerant is a strong example of how explainer videos can help complex B2B companies communicate clearly during a high-growth stage. Between 2021 and 2024, Yum Yum Videos produced 9 custom explainer videos for Accelerant, helping explain its insurtech model to investors, partners, and key audiences. You can read the full Accelerant video case study here.

Results:
During that period, Accelerant raised over $340M in funding. The company later went public on the NYSE in 2025, raising an additional $724M at a valuation of about $6.4B, according to Reuters.

Why it works:
The video turns a technical insurance concept into a clear and engaging business story, using clean visuals, motion graphics, and character animation to make the message easier to understand.

Key takeaway:
For complex B2B companies, explainer videos can support investor education, sales conversations, and market positioning during key growth stages.

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2. Dollar Shave Club — Humor That Turned Into Immediate Sales

Year: 2012
Created by: Dollar Shave Club
Industry: Subscription ecommerce / Consumer goods
Style: Live-action explainer-style commercial

Dollar Shave Club’s launch video is a great example of how humor can make a simple offer impossible to ignore. The video follows founder Michael Dubin walking through a warehouse while absurd situations happen around him, all while he explains the subscription model: affordable razor blades delivered to your door.

Results:

 The video reportedly cost $4,500 to make and generated 12,000 orders within 48 hours of launch. The YouTube video has since reached more than 28 million views, and Dollar Shave Club was later acquired by Unilever for around $1 billion. Of course, the explainer video cost can vary a lot depending on the style, length, team, and production quality, but this case shows how powerful a clear idea can be when the execution fits the message.

Why it works:
The humor gets attention, but the message stays clear. Viewers immediately understand what the company sells, why it’s different, and why they should subscribe.

Key takeaway:
A great explainer video doesn’t always need complex visuals. Sometimes, a sharp script, a simple offer, and a strong personality are enough to drive real business results.

3. Spotify — Making Music Streaming Feel Effortless

Year: 2011
Created by: Spotify
Industry: Music streaming / Technology
Style: Animated product explainer / launch promo

Before Spotify became mainstream in the U.S., it had to explain a new way of listening to music: instant access to millions of songs without buying tracks or managing downloads.

This animated explainer keeps the message simple, colorful, and fast-paced. Instead of overexplaining features, it sells the feeling of having all your music available anywhere.

Results:
The video supported Spotify’s U.S. launch in 2011, a key milestone in the company’s global expansion.

Why it works:
It makes streaming feel easy, legal, convenient, and fun.

Key takeaway:
When a product changes a familiar habit, the video should make the new behavior feel natural.

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4. MedVector — Helping a Healthcare Startup Raise $3.5M

Year: 2018–2020
Created by: Yum Yum Videos
Industry: Healthcare / Clinical trials
Style: Whiteboard animation

MedVector worked with Yum Yum Videos on three explainer videos created to support its fundraising efforts. The videos were used together with a focused landing page as one of the startup’s main communication tools. 

MedVector had a complex healthcare solution, and the challenge was to make the message feel clear, credible, and easy to follow. The MedVector video case study includes more details about the project and its results. 

Results:
With a focused landing page and our video as their main communication tools, MedVector didn’t just explain their complex model—they validated it, securing $3.5M in capital on StartEngine to scale their operations.

“Their ability to understand complex topics and visualize them without face-to-face interaction was amazing,” said Scott Stout, CEO of MedVector. (Read the full verified review on Clutch).

Why it works:
Whiteboard animation helped break down a complex healthcare concept step by step, without making it feel cold or overly technical.

Key takeaway:

For healthcare startups, whiteboard animation often works well because it feels simple, educational, and easy to follow — exactly what you need when explaining a complex medical or clinical solution.

5. Slack — Turning a Customer Story Into a Sitcom-Style Explainer

Year: 2014
Created by: Sandwich Video
Industry: B2B SaaS / Workplace communication
Style: Live-action with motion graphics

Slack’s “So Yeah, We Tried Slack…” is a great example of how a B2B SaaS product can be explained through humor, storytelling, and real workplace pain points. Instead of listing features, the video shows the Sandwich Video team dealing with scattered communication before Slack brings everything into one place.

The sitcom-style humor makes the story feel memorable and human, with absurd moments like having meetings in a closet — but the product message never gets lost.

Results:
The video became one of Slack’s most memorable early campaigns. It launched during Slack’s breakout growth period: by August 2014, Slack had around 140,000 daily active users, and by June 2015 it had passed 1.1 million daily active users.

Why it works:
It feels like a funny workplace sitcom, but it still explains Slack clearly: channels, messaging, file sharing, search, and team collaboration.

Key takeaway:
For B2B SaaS, a customer story can be more persuasive when it feels entertaining, relatable, and human — not like a traditional testimonial.

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6. Crazy Egg — A Real-Results Explainer Video Example

Year: 2012
Created by: Demo Duck
Industry: SaaS / Website optimization
Style: Animated explainer video

Crazy Egg was a revolutionary product for a very specific technical audience: marketers, website owners, and SEO professionals who needed to understand how users were interacting with their pages.

This video became famous in the explainer video world because it’s one of the clearest early case studies showing how a homepage explainer video could directly improve business results. Instead of simply describing features, it explains the value of heatmaps in a simple, visual, and practical way.

Results:

Crazy Egg increased homepage conversions by 64% and generated an additional $21,000 in monthly revenue after adding the video — a strong example of measurable explainer video ROI.

Why it works:

It turns a technical analytics product into something easy to understand, showing the problem, the solution, and the value almost immediately — with a simple, funny, and minimalist style.

Key takeaway:
For SaaS products, a clear explainer video can help visitors understand the product faster — and that clarity can directly impact conversions.

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7. Dropbox — The Classic Explainer Video That Made Cloud Storage Simple

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Year: 2009
Created by: Common Craft
Industry: SaaS / Cloud storage
Style: Cutout animation / Doodle-style explainer

Dropbox’s original video is one of the most important early explainer video examples in the history of startup video marketing. Today, the cutout drawings and doodle-style animation may feel dated, but at the time, this simple visual approach was exactly what made the video work.

Instead of trying to look technically impressive, the video made cloud storage feel easy enough for anyone to understand. It explained a complex behavior — syncing files across devices — with a simple story, clear visuals, and a “let me show you” tone.

Results:
The video was featured on Dropbox’s homepage for years and was reportedly viewed around 30,000 times per day, reaching over 25 million total views according to Dropbox. The YouTube version has also accumulated millions of views over time.

Why it works:
It focuses on clarity over production value. The style may look old today, but the message is instantly understandable.

Key takeaway:
A great explainer video doesn’t need to be visually trendy forever. It needs to make a complex idea simple at the moment your audience needs to understand it.

8. Mint — A Visual Milestone in Early Explainer Videos

Year: 2009
Created by: Mint
Industry: Fintech / Personal finance
Style: Motion graphics / Animated typography

Unlike some of the older explainer video examples on this list, Mint felt visually fresh and sophisticated for its time. Its mix of motion graphics, animated typography, icons, and smooth transitions helped turn a personal finance product into something simple, modern, and easy to understand.

The video became an early inspiration for many explainer video companies, including Yum Yum Videos in our first years, because it showed that an explainer could be clear and educational while still feeling polished and design-driven.

Results:
Mint became one of the most successful early fintech startups and was acquired by Intuit in 2009 for approximately $170 million.

Why it works:
It makes money management feel less intimidating by using clean visuals, simple language, and a modern motion graphics style.

Key takeaway:
For fintech products, design matters. A strong explainer video can make a complex or stressful topic feel easier, safer, and more approachable.

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9. Headspace — Making Meditation Feel Friendly and Accessible

Year: 2011
Created by: Headspace
Industry: Wellness / Meditation app
Style: Character animation / Product explainer

Headspace is a great example of how animation can make an abstract topic feel simple and approachable. At a time when meditation apps were still new to many people, the video helped explain the idea of guided meditation through friendly characters, warm voice acting, simple humor, and a calm visual style.

Instead of making meditation feel serious or intimidating, the video makes it feel human, accessible, and easy to try.

Impact:

Headspace became one of the most recognizable brands in the meditation app space, and its simple character animation helped make meditation feel less intimidating for a mainstream audience.

Why it works:
The character animation gives the brand a human, relatable tone and makes the product feel less clinical or abstract.

Key takeaway:
When a product is tied to behavior change or personal well-being, the right tone can be as important as the explanation itself.

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10. Branch — Explaining Complex SaaS Without Overloading Features

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Year: 2021
Created by: Yum Yum Videos
Industry: Tech / SaaS
Style: 2D animation / Product explainer

Branch, a U.S.-based SaaS company, needed to explain a complex mobile linking and attribution platform without overwhelming viewers with technical details. Yum Yum Videos created an animated explainer that turned an abstract product into a clearer story about user journeys, app growth, and better digital experiences.

Results:
Branch raised $300M in Series F funding at a $4B valuation, officially reaching unicorn status as it scaled its mobile linking and attribution platform globally.

Why it works:
The video avoids turning into a feature dump. Instead, it simplifies a technical SaaS product through visual storytelling, clear pacing, and a message built around business value.

Key takeaway:
For complex SaaS companies, the best explainer videos don’t explain every feature. They help the audience understand why the product matters.

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Why These Examples Still Matter Today

Although some of these videos are more than a decade old, the lessons still apply today. The tools have changed, the animation styles have evolved, and AI is making parts of video production faster — but the core challenge is the same: making people understand why a product matters.

The best explainer videos still depend on a clear message, a strong script, the right visual style, and a story that fits the audience.

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Wrapping Up

For more than a decade, explainer videos have shown how powerful the format can be when the message is clear. They can help startups raise funding, support product launches, improve conversions, increase sales, or simply make a new product or service easier to understand.

In this article, we looked at 10 top explainer video examples to understand why they worked, what they achieved, and what marketers can learn from them.

The big takeaway? A great explainer video isn’t just about beautiful animation. It’s about clarity, storytelling, and making the audience understand why your product matters.

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Need an explainer video that actually explains?

At Yum Yum Videos, we create custom explainer videos for U.S.-based startups, SaaS companies, healthcare brands, and enterprise teams that need to make complex ideas easier to understand.

We’ve helped companies like Accelerant, MedVector, and Branch turn technical products into clear visual stories used for fundraising, sales, investor communication, and product education. You can also explore more explainer video case studies to see how different companies used video to support growth, launches, and clearer communication.

If you’re working on a product launch, fundraising deck, sales process, or website video, we can help you shape the message and bring it to life.

Contact us to start planning your explainer video.