Here are our 5 top tips for turning your research into a successful explainer video:



1. Create a Synopsis

When creating your video, keep it short and sweet. The longer a video is, the higher the drop off rate is. Let’s face it, you have to be really interested in a topic to watch a 20 minute video about it.

Pick out main points to keep your audience engaged.

This could be:

• The reason for the research
• How it was conducted
• Discoveries & benefits
• Next steps

The synopsis of your research can be perfectly built into your animated explainer video script. The script is the main body of any video and is what the voiceover artist speaks throughout. We’ll talk more about script writing a little later on. 

2. Use Metaphors

If the topic is complex, it may help to conceptualise your research. Use a metaphor like an animal or cartoon character to help explain a subject people aren’t familiar with. This could be a mathematical rule, representation of a gas or even to portray an emotion.

Personification has been used in education for years. The act of giving an animal or object a human personality not only helps viewers to understand a concept, but evokes empathy in the viewer, which could in-turn increase the retention rate of the video due to a high emotional engagement.

This opens the door for a wider audience to understand why and how your research topic is important. 

3. Use a Friendly Tone

When we’re taught to read and write, it was always in a formal tone, but in the real world, society prefers to address one-another in a more formal and friendly manner. If you’re in the education sector, you may have fallen into the trap of maintaining a high formality when producing and writing content, however, it’s been found that videos in a more conversational and friendly tone have a higher engagement rate.

It also helps to use a personal and conversational style when explaining a complex subject. When creating your video think about your target audience. Would you address them formally or would you completely skip the jargon? Make sure the video script is written to appeal to the viewer. 

4. Have a strategy to get video views

So, you’ve created your video, but how are you going to make sure its seen? Whether you promote your video via email, YouTube, Social Media, on blogs, at conferences or during presentations you need a strategy to ensure the video is seen, or its not worthwhile. 

• If its for a conference can the video still be understood without sound?
• If it’s for social media, does it capture attention in the first 5 minutes?
• If its going on YouTube does it have the correct keyword focused title and description so people can find it?

It’s a good idea to decide where the video is going to be placed before you create it, so you can ensure its built for purpose. 

5. Write a compelling video script

When you approach any animated explainer video company, no doubt they will have one or more professional copywriters who are highly experienced in creating video scripts. Ideally, if you’re a business, you’ll want to make sure you make the most of the copy writer, so your video stands out, conveys all key points well and convinces the viewer to take an action, all in a condensed word count.

However, if you’re creating a video to present your research findings, it’s probably a good idea to produce the script yourself. Many research findings videos include an in-depth, specialised topic, which the copywriter won’t understand as well as you.

For specialised subjects, we recommend a first, rough draft is sent to us for our copywriter to proofread. They can ensure the script is built for video, is understandable and can provide a great structure to keep readers engaged. 

Research Findings Video Example:

Created by the team at Squideo!

If you'd like to speak to a member of the Squideo team about turning your research findings into an animated explainer video, get in touch today!