In recent years, explainer videos have become incredibly popular with marketers.  Websites with walls of text have become as outdated and ineffective as Internet Explorer 6.  The new growing trend is to have a video that explains everything about your site without the viewer having to monotonously scroll through mounds of reading that can be tedious and less engaging.

There are numerous benefits to having a video on your homepage that will help your site out tremendously.

Everyone wants to increase their Google ranking.  In 2012, Compete.com conducted a research study that found that 53% of all internet users click on the very first search result that tops the list of Google.  That means every other website is left fighting for the scraps of the 47% that is left.  Statistics show that the number 10 spot only receives 2.2% of all search traffic.  So if you run an online business, you can see how important search rankings are.

How could this possibly pertain to your explainer video?

Well, the algorithm that Google uses in order to rank websites, greatly factors the amount of total time people spend viewing your site.  With a killer explainer video, you can take advantage of the algorithm as people are more likely to sit and watch a video than to read your text.  Studies have shown that the average attention span is only about 8 seconds (a gold fish is 9 seconds), but the same study conducted by the University of Hamburg found that people will average 2.7 minutes watching a single video online.  So, a whiteboard animation video that is consistently moving and creating new images is optimal for maintaining the attention of someone that lands on your homepage over a static text page.

Take a look at the highest converting products within your niche on Clickbank (the world’s most popular affiliate marketplace), and you’ll notice that almost all of their pages have some sort of explainer video.  

It’s no coincidence.  Explainer videos really do work. 

Comscore, which is a company that tracks data for the online world, had a few key statistics to add to their analytic reports:  “Retail site visitors who view video stay two minutes longer on average and are 64% more likely to purchase than other site visitors.”

Shoeline.com saw a 44% increase in online sales conversions by using videos to showcase their products. “With such positive results on our existing videos, the goal right now is to add video to as many of our products as possible,” says Frank Malsbenden, VP and GM of Vision Retailing Inc., the parent company of Shoeline.com.

These are some staggering statistics.  Clearly, the use of an explainer video will boost consumer engagement.  There are no ‘ifs” and “buts” about it, as the statistics do not lie.  There are countless others that are utilizing explainer videos on their site that will tell you the exact same thing.  Frankly, if you AREN’T using a video on your homepage, you ARE at a distinct disadvantage.

Keep up with and beat the competition with your very own explainer video.