Beginners guide: How to write an explainer video script

Manh Tuan
July 15, 2022
Your questions

As an explainer video production company, we know that writing a script is not an easy task. Not only is it essential to convey your message within a certain word limit, but you also need to choose the right wording and sentence structure from a copywriting standpoint. Not to mention the research required to target the right audience and turn them into potential customers..

In this guide we will share with you basic techniques on how to write a powerful script. So in the end, whether you decide to let a professional company make a video for you or you make it yourself, you will understand the big picture.

How to

Tips and tricks

Scriptwriting

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What is an explainer video?

An explainer video is a short video, typically under 2 minutes, whose main purpose is to explain something. Additionally, explainer videos also show how it could help solve audiences’ problems. Nowadays, people usually connect explainer videos with animated explainer videos, however, explainers also include live action videos.

Explainer videos are often placed on landing pages, homepages, and paid ads (Facebook, LinkedIn ads), where they attract and engage the audience. Thanks to great visuals that are always more eye-catching than long paragraphs of text, videos help increase conversions and bring other significant benefits. Not to mention the strong impact that explainer videos are having on most online marketing and social media campaigns.

What is the role of scriptwriting in the production process?

Scriptwriting is the first stage in the production process. Based on the finished script, the team is then able to produce the voiceover and design the storyboard. In other words, the script sets the structure of the whole video and that’s why it is the most important part of the video production process.

There are many types of scripts – radio scripts, sales scripts, and even youtube scripts. Explainer video scripts mostly focus on explaining the product or service to the audience and how it can help them.

Scriptwriting process

Research

Surprisingly, scriptwriting is more about research than writing the copy itself. So, what should you research?

Target audience

To make the most out of explainer videos, thorough research on your target audience is essential. The best way is to visualize your ideal customer to whom you’d like to dedicate the video. Here is a list with a set of questions to find your ideal customer:

- What is their age range?
- What is their gender?
- What is the city they live in?
- What is their education?
- What is their occupation?
- What is their income?
- What are their interests?
- What are their core values?
- What’s their lifestyle?

What are their pain points?
How to solve their pain points?

Nowadays, explainer videos are all about the target audience and how what you offer benefits them, not about your product or service features. That’s why by really understanding your ideal customer, you can craft an amazing script that will perfectly talk to them and address their pain points.

Company background

If you are going to write a script for your own company, then it’s not a necessary step.

How does the company want to appeal outside? (Sound strictly professional, friendly, funny…)
What is the company’s tagline?
What is the company’s mission and vision?
What does the company want to achieve?
What are the interesting achievements of the company?

All these questions will help you set the tone for the scriptwriting and the whole video.

Tip 2

Significant achievements are great to include in the script because they will boost the audience’s trust in your product or service.

Products and services

Researching products and services is mainly about learning about their features and how they can help your customers. Once you understand how it can solve customers’ pain points, then you can include the main benefits in the script.

How can the product or service help the target audience?
Why is your product or service better than your competition? For example, faster, cheaper, more efficient…

Tip 3

Focus on the most important benefits your products bring to the customers. Too many benefits will overwhelm your audience. We recommend going with at most 3 benefits.

Write the first draft

After the research phase, let’s make the first draft. Our process when producing the first draft is like this:

Start with brainstorming our rough draft outlines without paying attention to grammar or copywriting.
Once you collect enough ideas, we select the drafts which are great and adjust them so it fits the video length and conveys the desired message.
Copyedit the draft – correcting any gaps or disconnects in the copy. For example, there is irrelevant information that may cause confusion. Or the opposite, we missed vital information which should be included.

Write the final draft

Once the first copy is finalized, then it’s time to write the second draft. Here we are going to finesse the core message, and to do that, we take inspiration from Thesaurus. With its assistance, you will replace and adjust words and phrases to sound better.

Then we just need to proofread our script one last time and the copy is done.

Tip 4

Read the script out loud in order to check if there are any sentences which don’t roll off the tongue nicely or sound unnatural.

The most common script structure

The large majority of scripts consist of 3 main parts – an introduction, the main part, and a conclusion. It’s a standard formula that has been used in all types of storytelling videos and movies for numerous years because it’s effective.

With this 3 part framework, the viewer is sucked into the story right at the beginning which leads them to want to learn more. This way, the viewer will stick to the end of the video which allows you to convey the whole message to them.

Introduction

The most important part of the introduction is the first 8 seconds which is an average attention span of a viewer. Therefore, it’s essential to catch their attention right off the bat otherwise the viewer will just scroll over. You will achieve that by centering the introduction part on your target audience and talking about their pain points.

Let’s take a look at our previous work as an example: Eazimate

The first 14 seconds are dedicated to catch our target audience’s attention. We know who our ideal customer is – your average builder who loves his job but every day has to spend time doing all the administration instead of enjoying life with his family.

As a result, once our ideal customers see this video, they will be very likely to sympathize with builder Pete. This creates an interest and leads to watching the full video.

Tip 5

In the introduction, don’t mention your brand name or your product. As we are centering it around the audience, we just want to catch their attention and address their pain points.

Main part

Now that the viewer is aware of their pain points, it’s time for you to introduce your solution. You can talk about the main benefits of your product or service. Remember to only mention the most important benefits which will solve their problems to not overwhelm the viewer.

Let’s get back to our example: Eazimate

After highlighting the pain points, we introduce Eazimate’s product which helps achieve 3 main goals (starts at 0:24). Also notice that we are mainly describing the benefits and not the features of the product. Product features don’t interest your audience, they need to know the benefits which the features will bring them.

Conclusion

The two previous parts were dedicated solely to the audience while the conclusion is the most “salesy” part and focuses more on you. Now the audience knows that they have a problem and you can help them, but unfortunately, that’s not enough to convince your viewers. After all, there are many other businesses which offer similar products, so why should they choose you? Here you highlight all your achievements and differentiate yourself from the competition.

Do you have decades of experience in your field?
Do you have any certificates?
Do you have high ratings on google or any other platforms?
Have you worked with some big names in the past?
Do you have any testimonials?

Call to action

Your viewers watched your whole video and reached the end. What should you do next? In order to avoid that, you need to include a call to action at the end of the video which tells them exactly what they need to do to learn more.

The call to action must also give clear instructions. Without the call to action, the conversion rate will be a lot lower.

Let’s take a look at our call to action in our example video: Eazimate

The call to action here starts at 0:49. Here the Eazimate company offers a 15 day free trial, which encourages the audience because they can try out the product risk-free.

Here are some other examples:

Buy now on xyz.com
Download the app
Subscribe today
schedule a consultation
Start a free 30 day trial

Include only 1 call to action per video to avoid confusion. If you’d like to test out which call to action works best for your target audience, make more copies of the video with a different call to action in each version (A/B split testing).

How long should the video be?

Explainer videos should be long enough to explain the product, introduce the company and convey the core message without being boring. From our experience, a length between 60s to 90s is enough for any business to convey their message.

To calculate the video length of the script, there is a general rule that 30s of video is equal to 75-80 words, assuming that the voiceover artist will record the script at a natural speed. This means that 60s – 90s video requires a roughly 150 – 240 word long script.

Tips & tricks recap

Thoroughly research your audience. Good research is already a half-won battle.
Tailor the video only around one specific target audience for better conversions
Include only the most important information that the audience needs to hear. Too much information creates confusion.
Focus on 3 most important benefits your products bring to your customers and not features.
Use only one clear and simple call to action
Don’t make the script too long. The video should be around 60 - 90 seconds long.
Read the script out loud in order to check if there are any sentences which don’t roll off the tongue nicely or sound unnatural.

Conclusion

Now you have all essential information on how to make your own explainer video script. Don’t be afraid to rewrite the script multiple times or try something unorthodox. In video production, scriptwriting is the single most important part of the process which sets the stage for the whole video, so take your time perfecting your script.

We are a company that specializes in animated explainer videos and animations in general. We aspire to make high quality video production affordable to small and mid sized businesses. Our videos are made with care and highly customized for your unique business and marketing goals.

Get your customized video

We are a company which specializes in animated explainer videos and animations in general. We aspire to make high quality video production affordable to small and mid sized businesses. Our videos are made with care and highly customized for your unique business and marketing goals.

Get your customized video

How much does an explainer video cost in 2022?

Nowadays, text and images are often not enticing enough. That’s why more and more businesses are considering implementing videos into

7 best places to put your explainer video

Animated videos bring many significant benefits to your business, however, first, it’s important to spread the word about your video

How to choose the right explainer video company

It’s no longer a secret that animated explainer videos have now become an important marketing tool for every business out

Why choose us?

Customized videos

Different English accents, male/female voiceover, story/character-based script, brand colors...we customize every aspect of the video.

Best value for money

You don't want to pay enormous prices or receive a copy-paste video. Here, we do neither. We create high-quality videos on a budget.

Rush order option

Have a tight deadline for the explainer video project? For a small fee, we can produce a video as soon as 14 days after obtaining the questionnaire.

Free consultations

A video is just a tool that you must know how to use. We provide unlimited free consultations to help you with video marketing.

No hidden fees

We believe in transparency. Our pricings are visible on the website, we will not charge a single cent more than we agreed on beforehand.

30 days guarantee

Our priority is to make clients happy. If that's not the case, we offer a 100% money-back guarantee within 30 days, no questions asked.

Beginners guide: How to write an explainer video script

Table of Contents

Is the article helpful? Share it!

What is an explainer video?

What is the role of scriptwriting in the production process?

Scriptwriting process

Research

Target audience

Company background

Products and services

Write the first draft

Write the final draft

The most common script structure

Introduction

Main part

Conclusion

Call to action

How long should the video be?

Tips & tricks recap

Conclusion

How much does an explainer video cost in 2022?

7 best places to put your explainer video

How to choose the right explainer video company

Why choose us?

Customized videos

Best value for money

Rush order option

Free consultations

No hidden fees

30 days guarantee

One and only video website audit

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