What Is an Explainer Video and Why Businesses Use One

What is an explainer video? Simply said, it is a short film that explains what a business, product, service, or concept accomplishes. It converts anything that may appear scattered, complicated, or easy to misunderstand into a single clear message that others can follow. 

Current Shopify, Vimeo, and Visme instructions all point in the same direction: explainer films are designed to help people comprehend more quickly.

That matters because most buyers do not arrive on a website ready to read everything. They want the short version first. They want to know what the product is, who it is for, and why it matters before they commit more time.

The Simple Definition Most Brands Actually Need

A lot of articles overcomplicate this topic. The cleaner answer is better.

An explainer video is the piece that answers the first questions a buyer has when they land on your page. It is not supposed to say everything. It is supposed to make the next step easier.

That is why what are explainer videos is still such a common question. The structure seems apparent once you watch it, yet many firms still confuse it with a brand film, a product presentation, or a social ad. Those may overlap, but they are not the same job.

A strong explainer is usually doing one of these things:

• Introducing the company
• Explaining a product or service
• Breaking down a process
• Simplifying a hard idea
• Helping the buyer decide whether to keep going

Why Businesses Keep Using Them

Businesses use explainer videos because they save people time.

That is the plain truth.

Instead of asking a visitor to piece together the offer from headlines, screenshots, feature grids, and scattered copy, the video does the heavy lifting in one place. Shopify’s explainer-video guidance leans on this same benefit by focusing on showing how a product works and why customers should care.

This is also why explainer video marketing works when the message is even slightly complicated. The video is not just there to make the page look active. It is there to cut friction. When buyers understand faster, they are more likely to stick around.A good explainer video production company usually starts here. Not with visual style. Not with transitions. Not with background music. It starts with the question, “What is the audience struggling to understand right now?”

What a Good Explainer Video Includes

You do not need a huge production to make this format work. You need a clear structure.

Most good explainers follow a simple path:

• Problem first.
• Solution second.
• How it works next.
• Why it matters after that.
• Then a clear next step.

That is one reason Vimeo’s current guide puts so much emphasis on refining the value proposition before the visuals are built. If the message is messy, the video will be messy too.

This is where some brands make the wrong move. They jump straight into animation references before they have agreed on the message. Then they wonder why the finished video looks polished but still feels vague.An explanation video only works when the viewer can repeat the point back in one sentence after watching it.

Not Every Explainer Has to Look the Same

Some explainers are built for homepages. Some are made for product pages. Some support sales calls. Some are created for onboarding. Some are aimed at cold traffic that knows almost nothing about the brand.

So no, there is not one fixed format.

For software, screen-led or animated explainers often make more sense because the product can feel abstract. For service businesses, a brand-level overview can work better. For ecommerce, the explainer may sit closer to a product walkthrough. 

Shopify and Visme both support that wider view by describing explainer videos as flexible enough to cover products, services, and concepts in different formats.That is also why a motion graphics production agency can be useful when the thing you are selling is harder to show in real life. Motion can simplify a process in seconds that would take far too long to explain in static copy.

The Best Ones Feel Clear, Not Clever

This is worth saying because a lot of brands get distracted here.

A good explainer is not trying to sound brilliant. It is trying to be understood.

The buyer should not have to pause and decode industry language. They should not need a second viewing just to understand the offer. They should not finish the video thinking, “That looked nice, but I still do not really get it.”

This is especially true for companies shopping for SaaS explainer video services, because software teams often have too much to say and not enough discipline around what the first video should actually cover.

The best-performing explainer is usually the one that trims the message down to its most useful shape.

Where Brands Often Get It Wrong

The biggest mistake is trying to say everything at once.

The second biggest mistake is using the video to impress instead of explain.

An explainer does not need ten feature points, three audiences, four use cases, and a heroic brand monologue. It needs one clear job. Once the job is clear, the structure gets easier, the script gets tighter, and the visuals make more sense.

That is why the format still works so well. It respects how people actually browse. Fast first. Deeper later.

2D or 3D Depends on What You Need to Show

This part gets overcomplicated far too often.

Some businesses act like choosing a style is the big decision. It usually is not. The real question is simpler: what does the viewer need to understand fast?

If the message is abstract, process-driven, or a bit hard to show with real footage, 2D explainer video services are often the easier fit. They keep the focus on the idea, not the polish. You can simplify a workflow, show a sequence clearly, and guide the viewer without making the whole thing feel heavy.

If the product needs more realism, more depth, or more technical detail, 3D explainer video services can make sense. That is more common when a company needs to show structure, movement, layers, or a product that feels flat in regular visuals.

Neither option wins by default. The better one is the one that makes the message easier to grasp in one watch.

It Is Not Just for a Homepage

A lot of businesses hear “explainer video” and picture one thing sitting on the front page of a website.

That is only one use.

A good explainer can help in sales decks, landing pages, onboarding flows, follow-up emails, product pages, ad campaigns, and investor conversations. It works anywhere the audience needs the short version before they are willing to give you more attention.

That is why businesses looking at video explainers services should not start by asking for a style. They should start by asking where the confusion is showing up. If prospects keep asking the same basic question on calls, that’s your clue. If a landing page gets traffic but people still do not seem to understand the offer, that is your clue too.

The video should go where it can remove friction. That is the real use case.

The Best Ones Make the Next Step Feel Easy

An explainer does not need to close the whole deal.

It just needs to get the viewer unstuck.

That could mean helping someone understand the product. It could mean helping them see why the offer matters. It could mean clearing up the one point that keeps slowing everything down. Once that happens, the next action feels more natural. Book the demo. Start the trial. Keep reading. Ask for pricing. Whatever makes sense for the page.

This is especially true for software brands using SaaS explainer video services. Software teams usually have too much material and not enough restraint. They try to squeeze in every feature, every integration, every workflow, and every little advantage. 

The result is usually clutter. A better explainer trims that down and gives the buyer one clean picture of what the product actually helps them do.

That is what makes the format useful. It reduces mental drag.

Most Companies Wait Too Long

This happens all the time.

A business launches the site. The copy sounds decent. The design looks fine. Everyone assumes the offer is clear enough. Then, a few weeks or months later, the same pattern shows up. Visitors do not stay long enough. Sales calls start from square one every time. People ask questions that the site was supposed to answer already.

That is usually when the need for an explainer becomes obvious.

Not because the business suddenly discovered video. Because they finally noticed how much effort the audience is spending just trying to piece the story together.

A strong explainer gives the company a version of the message it can keep reusing. Same core story. Same value. Same logic. Just delivered in a way that is easier to absorb.

Frequently Asked Questions