How to Write A Killer Explainer Video Script! (Free eBook And Examples)
You want your animated marketing video to be attractive, engaging, and ultimately effective, right? Then focus on developing an explainer video script that is highly persuasive, clear, and compelling! But how can you get to that point? Well, in today’s blog post, we’re going to show you how to write an animation script and give you a template you can use as a guide! Join us 😃
Explainer Video Script: Some Key Concepts
An explainer video script comprises the message to be delivered by the piece, and the dialogue the voice-over will say in the video. It’s the foundation of the whole video and that’s why it’s one of the most important parts of the video production process.
To get to a stunning explainer video, you have to look for a balance between the content (an engaging script) and the form (camera angles, animations, designs, music, and sound effects, etc.). And, additionally, you have to remember that the essence of a video explainer script is conveying how your product or service can help your target audience with their specific problems. That’s your main goal, so forget about bragging about your brand or the amazing advantages of your product.
And if you are looking for free explainer video script templates or an explainer video script example, why not start with this eBook?
How to Write an Explainer Video Script?
And now, the juicy part. Let’s dive into some helpful tips to get to a stunning animated marketing video script! You can find them compiled, plus some other essential information on scriptwriting for explainer videos, in our free eBook “How to write a script”. Here we go!
#1. Get a 10.000 ft view of the project using a creative brief
Since explainer videos can be tailored to accomplish a number of different goals, it’s often a great idea to start your production process by filling up a creative brief around it.
A creative brief is nothing more than a questionnaire designed to help you nail down a few general aspects and goals for your video. It includes questions about the product, service, or message you are trying to convey with your explainer, points or ideas you must communicate with your video, and the end goals you’d want for your piece.
There’s no set number of questions for every project, as bigger, more ambitious ones might benefit from more extensive questionnaires. That said, here are a few crucial questions that no explainer video creative brief can do without!
- What will be the central ideal of your explainer video?
- What’s the key benefit does your message, product, or service bring to the table?
- What makes your product or message stand out from others like it?
- What branding elements characterize your company?
- What would you like the viewers to do after watching your video?
While not containing all the answers you’ll probably need for your video, these five questions give you a great starting point to help you shape the early and middle stages of your explainer video’s production process.
#2. Know your target audience and focus on them
Make sure you deeply know your target audience before you develop your marketing video script. You have to get to that point where you generate a strong connection from them towards the story you’re telling. So, before writing down the explainer video script, try to answer these questions:
- What do they look like?
- How old are they?
- Where do they live?
- Where do they work?
- How do they dress?
- What places do they usually visit?
- Any other information that might be helpful to define them.
With this information in mind, you will then be able to customize the video explainer script according to their characteristics and expectations. Take the time you need to define your buyer persona profile: this is a critical -first- step that you have to accomplish and that will be your guiding light throughout the whole video production script writing process. Why is that important? First, because it will help you craft the characters in a latter stage of production (the storyboard). Also, because it will show them a specific personality and mood. And, what’s more important, if the viewers feel represented by those characters, you will grow trust and empathy towards your brand. Results? More conversions and sales.
#3. Follow the classic script structure
When writing down your animated marketing video script, don’t try to improvise. It’s very important that you follow the classical narrative structure, this is, a beginning-middle-end logic. And this is not just because – if you do so, your script will be much more engaging, coherent, and memorable. Following this structure will also make it easier for you to write it down.
In scriptwriting for explainer videos, these 3 steps remain quite similar, but we call it something different:
Act 1. The What.
First, start by explaining to your audience what problem your company solves. This will generate instant interest and will encourage them to watch the video all the way through. Remember not to name or show your brand yet. At this stage of the video explainer script, you have to focus on your target audience’s problem.
Take a look at this video script example to understand what we mean:
Act 2. The How.
At this point, you have to let your viewers know how your product can address their specific problem. This part usually starts when the brand logo shows up or when the brand is mentioned.
Act 3. The Why.
This is the time to explain to your audience why they should pick you out, instead of one of your competitors. In this stage, describe your product features and main advantages. It’s definitely the most “salesly” part of the video explainer script. It’s your big chance to persuade them about why your product is the best alternative in the market.
Can you identify the 3 “acts” in this video script example?
#4. Structure is great, but don’t forget the Story!
While the three-act structure gives you a fantastic framework to develop the early stages of your script, your explainer video will live or die by the story you tell viewers.
Stories are made interesting by characters, so start by having characters that reflect your target audience! Then, ad a story concept or situation they can find relatable, and that gives your product or message an opportunity to shine.
Lastly, splash some emotion into it. Humor tends to be the go-to choice, but there are plenty of explainer videos out there with stories that take a more personal or heartwarming approach to great success.
#5. Keep a consistent tone and appropriate language
And while we are on the topic of emotion, it’s opportune to mention the importance of maintaining a consistent tone and language when you are scriptwriting for explainer videos!
While “tone” might sound a bit abstract at first, in this context, it just means to keep the whole script “sounding” consistent. If you are going for a more humorous approach at the beginning of the script, don’t suddenly become grave past the mid-point. If you are going for a more dramatic tone at the start, don’t start cracking jokes at the end! These sorts of hard turns in your script will feel awkward and out of place, making your video feel disjointed.
Language plays a crucial role in this as well. If your video is meant to primarily target a younger audience, your language should probably be less formal and more casual. If, on the other hand, you expect your video to appeal to a highly technical audience, allow yourself to include speech and terminology they’d find familiar and relatable.
By doing so, you are not only tailoring your content to the right audience but also increasing its potential appeal.
#6. Maintain your script’s focus
As you work on your explainer’s script, you’ll be tempted to provide as much detail or gush about the many different ways in which your product can help viewers – resist the temptation!
The more focused you can keep your video, the more power and effectiveness your message will have – not to mention that it’ll also make it much more easier to keep viewers engaged that way.
Remember, explainers aren’t meant to be long-winded lists of features or descriptions, but optimized narratives that convey your message in an interesting and compelling way. If you try to cram too much into them, you risk damaging the main purpose of the piece.
#7. Visuals and Sound Design are part of scriptwriting as well!
Sounds weird, I know, but here’s the thing: as you work on your script, you’ll invariably start visualizing and getting ideas of how certain scenes will accompany certain parts of your script. These ideas shouldn’t be left to the wayside or to be tended to later, in hopes you’ll remember all of them!
Make ample use of your word-processor of choice comment tool, and start adding notes to your script about certain visuals and sound cues that come to mind as you write your script. It’s very likely that most of these won’t make it to the final product as-is, but they will most definitively help inform your creative process and nurture other ideas later down the line in the production process!
Does a scene or image idea come to mind when you write about your main character? Write a comment about it. Think a part of the script should convey a specific feeling with a type of music or sound? Jott it down! No idea goes to waste during the creative process of scriptwriting for explainer videos.
#8. Make it short
There is a deep connection between video length and engagement. Your big challenge is taking the most time to deliver your key messages while keeping your viewers hooked. Up to 2 minutes, you’re on the right track. Based on our experience in scriptwriting for explainer videos, we recommend that the optimal length for an animated marketing video is 90 seconds.
You might be asking yourself: “how do I know then how long my video script should be?” Well, we can say that 160 written words represent one minute of audiovisual content. Then, if you aim for making a 90-second video you will then need 240 written words for your video explainer script. Simple!
#9. Get straight to the point
Our attention span has fallen to 8 seconds. So you have to be very straightforward and compelling when communicating your message. Keep your video explainer script simple then! Don’t try to explain everything in one single 90-second video. You will then have the chance to complement that first information with other content (sales calls, blog articles, and more). Just try to identify what is important to include in your video and what should be left out.
Check out the next video script example and see how we’ve managed to explain how this product works without beating around the bush:
#10. Include a clear Call To Action
Finally, it’s vital that you lead your viewers in the direction you want, after watching the video (whether it is downloading a free eBook, filling out a form, sharing it on social media platforms, or anything else). So include a clear, simple, and irresistible call to action to help them understand what you expect from them.
An important rule of scriptwriting for explainer videos: just include one single call to action to avoid confusion. In case your marketing strategy requires different calls to action, you can then make different versions of the same video and add a different CTA to each one.
Bonus Round
You have already learned plenty about scriptwriting for explainer videos, but let me give you some additional considerations you should bear in mind:
- Find the right tone: pick out the tone of your video in a way it resonates with your target audience – a custom narrator, cast, pace and dialog type will be vital to making your video more persuasive and memorable.
- Add a dose of humor: adding some humor to your video explainer script can make it even more fun and increase shares. But keep in mind that you shouldn’t force it: if humor does not fit with your story, just dismiss it.
- Talk about benefits, not features: remember that it’s all about your target audience´s problems. If you talk about benefits instead of features, you will avoid being too salesy (we’ve already talked about this before). Try to turn each feature into a clear and “tangible” benefit for the customer themself.
Of course, you can make the script on your own, at least to have the first draft of it. Despite this, we always recommend that a professional explainer video production company develops it: they have all the background, experience, technology and skills needed to produce a high quality, engaging and memorable script, and therefore, video. At Yum Yum we have wide experience in developing custom video explainer scripts for our clients. We always keep an eye on the details and make sure it has the best quality so as to set a solid basis to get to a premium marketing video. In case you need help with yours, don’t hesitate to contact us and we’ll be glad to help!
Summary
An explainer video script is one of the most important elements during the video production process, and writing it down is not a minor thing at all: it requires dedication, focus, and a great ability to make it highly engaging, attractive, and memorable. In today’s blog post we have revealed some key secrets to getting an incredible animated marketing video script that assures the best marketing results. Now you can start working on your next script. Hands-on deck!
Finally, don’t miss these complimentary tips on how to write an animation script to get to a perfect explainer video for your startup!
