Mobile phones have taken center stage in modern life.
It seems there’s an app for just about everything you could imagine and then some.
And if you’re reading this, you’re probably well aware of this already and are eager to release your unique app and offering and launch it in the best way possible.
But if your launch strategy doesn’t include mobile app explainer videos, you’re seriously missing out.
In this blog, we'll go over 10 amazing mobile app explainer videos that intrigued users and led to successful mobile app launches in recent years.
But first, let’s discuss what they are, what they do, and how they work.
A mobile app explainer video helps you launch your app, explaining how it works, describing features, and getting your target audience interested and excited about the app.
Mobile explainer videos are not to be confused with ads or similar marketing videos, although there is some overlap in their usage.
Ads are fast and short, aimed at grabbing attention and letting the viewer know about a product or service quickly.
However, mobile explainer videos are more in-depth.
And as the term implies, they explain the topic in greater detail.
They’re fantastic for software, apps, tech demos, SaaS, crypto, employee training– really any business application you can think of, whether it’s consumer-facing or highly technical B2B areas.
The video format is especially great at explaining more technical concepts in-depth because it can communicate a lot of information without the viewer getting overwhelmed or bored.
This is because of the very nature of video itself.
Our primary senses through which we experience the world, are visual and audio.
Research has shown that while text is great at communicating information, images and sound work even better.
And when you combine moving images with sound, you can hold your audience’s attention and interest, and what you communicate stays fresh in their minds for far longer than with other formats.
So it’s no surprise that video dominates the internet, entertainment, advertising, and marketing– and even areas like training and education.
So you want to announce your app to the world and excite and delight your target audience with its amazing features.
But you can’t really sell something to someone if they don’t first understand it, let alone get them excited about it.
That’s why mobile app explainer videos are perfect for your launch.
With a well-made video, you can grab your audience’s attention, hold their interest, and deliver the information you need with excellent and lasting memory retention, all at once.
If you’re still on the fence, let’s consider how others have done this in the next section.
All great artists regularly draw inspiration from others.
If you want to do great things, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time.
By analyzing what others have done, you can glean valuable insights by figuring out what they did that worked so well.
Then, you can incorporate those ideas into your own videos, knowing how and why those techniques work so well.
If nothing else, it gives you an idea of just how powerful the video format is, because you can see how well it works for others.
Traveling to new places is a wonderful experience.
But it can also be a hassle, with lots of detailed planning to go through.
And a crucial detail that often gets overlooked is safeguarding your health while traveling.
What happens if you get sick or injured in a country you’ve never been in before?
That’s where Kava comes in.
It’s an app that takes care of all these issues and streamlines the billing, too.
This beautifully animated character explainer video for the mobile app explains how it all works through seamless storytelling.
The use of storytelling is a powerful way to draw the audience in, hold their interest, and communicate information easily and naturally.
When we say videos– even animated app explainer videos– are more art than science, here’s an example that proves that point.
The infographic animation for this MS Office app video is gorgeous and stunning.
Your eyes are treated to a feast of bright vibrant colors and slick graphics, paired with a simple and clever script that doesn’t even need words.
It’s an example of the creative rule “show, don’t tell” where the power of this suite of apps is depicted and communicated without needing a tedious list of features and specifications.
If this video doesn’t convince you of the power of animated mobile app explainer videos, we’re not sure what will!
Self-care has become a major issue that everyone seems to be talking about. But how does one make it a practical reality in one’s daily routine?
JoyScore is an app designed to help make self-care a daily habit, helping users de-stress and find peace through simple exercises and techniques.
It also helps track their progress with feedback.
And the animated explainer video they used to announce and demo the app, suitably reflects it.
Note the use of calm pastel colors, slow and graceful animation, and minimal, decluttered graphics.
This video for the Google Calendar App is probably one of the best examples of a mobile app explainer video that we’ve seen yet.
Deceptively simple, the script is disarming and easy to follow.
Paired with light, upbeat music and beautiful graphics and animation, it really delivers its explanation of the app with a serious wow factor.
Mobile payments are now the norm. They’re just so convenient.
So banks and vendors are scrambling to get on board while trying to keep things safe and secure since money is involved.
That makes things complicated, and the consumer wants things to be as easy and simple as possible.
SwiftPass’ mobile app suite can do this.
But how do you explain something this complex?
If you go into detail, you’ll confuse and bore the viewer.
If you keep it super simple, you’ll gloss over the important details and end up not exciting the viewer.
Enter the power of animated explainer videos.
With this video, the complexity is dispelled and explained easily through subtle storytelling.
The power of payment apps is established to start with, and then the problems are addressed by making a secure system of mobile payment.
The video covers all the topics easily without getting confusing or overly technical so that even a layman can follow along and understand.
And the slick animation keeps things visually interesting.
Traveloka is an Indonesian app designed to cover every aspect of touring a new country.
But notice how their animated explainer video does things.
Rather than drop a tedious long list of its many advanced features and capabilities, it runs a story, teasing you to imagine seamless and hassle-free travel.
And then reveals that this app can do all that and more.
This really brings things to life, because the viewer can easily imagine the benefits of traveling with this powerful all-in-one mobile app– thanks to the power of animated storytelling.
Evernote is a surprisingly powerful note-taking app for personal organization.
On the surface, it might seem like a simple app for your to-do lists, but it’s far more capable than that.
Of course, it’s one thing to create an app suite like this.
But it’s another to get potential users to really understand what it can do for them.
As Steve Jobs put it best,
"Start with your user and work backward to the technology, rather than inventing tech and then trying to figure out how to sell it to the user"
This app explainer video hits that target by explaining how all of Evernote’s amazing features work for you.
It shows how you can use the app to get organized, jot down ideas on the fly, take notes, share them, and sync them across multiple devices on the go.
It works so well because it puts the viewer centerstage, rather than merely trying to sell you another piece of clever software.
When Twitter first became popular, people's common reaction was “But what is this thing really FOR?”
There was a lot of confusion about its utility back in the early days of the internet.
Of course, a lot has changed since then.
But it’s hardly a unique story. Pinterest had the same problem too.
So this 3D video by breadnbeyond started with a quick history lesson.
Scrapbooking is a bit of a lost art, thanks to the rise of the internet and mobile devices.
We do everything on a screen now, and far less on paper.
Pinterest was invented to take scrapbooking into the digital world while keeping things simple and easy.
You might not have noticed it right away, but this is another example of storytelling in animated video.
Rather than explaining how to use it, it explains how it can fit into your life and make things so much better, easier, and faster.
You might have heard of Nielsen ratings, probably when discussing television and movies.
For decades, the company has been the definitive authority on what’s popular among the general public.
To keep up with the times, they launched an interactive app that helps you stay current with all the latest trends in sports and entertainment.
This app video takes you through its features and benefits and demonstrates how easy it is to use and enjoy.
There really is an app for everything.
When Chillies Cloud Kitchen launched their app, they put out this fun and stylish video to quickly and simply explain how to order from them.
The music choice is a treat and the overall style and feel of the video really reflects their culture perfectly.
It’s also a pretty simple video, being attention-grabbing and interesting to watch without breaking the bank, using simple text animation and bright colors.
Now if that doesn’t inspire you, we don’t know what will.
There’s a wide range of different types of explainer videos for your app.
It all depends on your specific requirements and needs. Here’s a non-exhaustive list:
Explainer videos are the most common type of videos you see today.
A 2D animated video uses “flat” graphics and perhaps a character, to explain the app and its features.
This is often done in a solution-first approach, showcasing how the app can be used in practical real-life situations, as opposed to listing features and menus in detail, like in a product demo or walk-through.
3D animation is amazing at depicting more complex real-world scenarios but tends to cost more.
But there are situations where it outperforms any other visual style, usually highly technical use cases like industrial and medical fields.
Your animation team can advise you best on whether it’s the right fit for the needs of your mobile app explainer video.
These are probably the simplest and most economical styles to go with.
Mimicking a lecture with a whiteboard, it’s visually interesting and dynamic, while being relatively light on animation efforts.
It works best with concepts that are difficult to visualize and where lots of words and terms need to be explained and defined.
Demo videos are a blend of advert and explainer video, where it’s more in-depth than an ad or promotional video, but still has a sales-pitch kind of feel to it to get the audience excited.
You get a tour of the app and touch on its features and benefits, giving the audience just enough to get interested in learning more.
Screen recording is just what it sounds like.
The video consists of the app itself being used, with a voiceover host narrating as he takes you through the various functions and operations of the app.
It’s pretty simple and effective at explaining how an app works.
This is the question we get asked most often. And the answer is simply: it depends.
Every video is bespoke and custom-made for the client and their specific needs.
As such, the cost depends primarily on the length and complexity of the video.
Other things such as art style and voiceover requirements are also factors.
You can refer to our blog on explainer video costs to set a realistic budget for your mobile app explainer videos (and explainer videos in general).
Text animation and whiteboard, for example, are simpler animation styles than mixed media and detailed 3D.
But this too depends on the requirements of the video, who it’s aimed at, and what it’s trying to communicate.
Each style has its own advantages and works best for certain uses and needs compared to others.
That said, we do our best to find the best possible solution for our clients based not only on their requirements but also on their budget.
If you’re not too familiar with video production, this can seem pretty overwhelming.
But you don’t need to do all the heavy lifting yourself.
Partner with a good video production company, who can guide you through the process.
Rely on their expertise to recommend the best ways to go.
Video production is more art than science, so there’s no real “formula” that works for everyone. It all depends on your product and the audience you want to connect with.
That said, the process usually goes something like this:
You can’t make a good video if you don’t know who it’s really for, or why they should pay attention.
Do a deep dive into your target audience, who they are, and what they will respond to.
For example, if your app appeals to the kind of user that spends a lot of time on Instagram, then putting your videos on LinkedIn might not be the best way to get your message to them.
This is where it’s time to get creative.
And yes, even a simple video that explains how an app works, requires some creative thinking and imagination!
After all, you want it to be interesting in order to grab and hold your audience’s attention.
Brainstorm for ideas and create a script and outline.
Remember to think visually.
If this isn’t really your cup of tea, don’t worry.
Most video production companies have dedicated and talented scriptwriters who can help you bring your concept to life.
You might think storyboards are purely for movies and nothing else, but you’d be mistaken.
Storyboards are a fantastic way to plan out your ideas visually before going into full production.
Think of it as the creative version of laying down a foundation before building the house.
Once the construction begins, you can’t change your mind about where the walls should go without causing serious problems in the workflow.
When conceptualizing your video, it’s important to remember that it’s not about you, it’s about your audience.
Who are they and why should they use your app?
If it’s a highly technical solution aimed at trained professionals, the script will be worded differently than if it’s an app aimed at casual everyday users, for example.
If you're planning on targeting audiences who speak different languages, our blog on video localization can show you some powerful ways of capturing attention in foreign markets
The work isn’t over once your audience is watching your video.
Use analytics tools to glean insights into performance, metrics, sharing, etc.
Platforms like Wistia are great for that.
Find out what people like or dislike about your video, where it’s really connecting with your audience and where it’s falling short.
And then tweak things accordingly. It’s more of an ongoing process than a one-time operation.
It’s a visual world, and video dominates the internet today.
It’s not a stretch to say that video is the de facto language of the internet.
Which leads to the question: is your company speaking that language fluently?
Are you connecting with your audience as well as you could be?
If not, your company is really missing out!
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