What is an explainer video, and what makes one work
· 5 min read
An explainer video is a short video, usually under two minutes, that answers one question: how something works, why something happens, or what something is. It works if the viewer can repeat the explanation to someone else afterwards. That test is strict, and most explainers fail it for one of four reasons: they answer several questions at once, they start from the expert's vocabulary, they describe things instead of showing them, or they never land on a concrete case.
Answer one question, in the viewer's words
Write the question at the top of the script before anything else. Then check whose words it's in.
"How does compound interest work?" is a textbook question. "Why is my credit card balance going up when I pay every month?" is the viewer's question, and it's the one they'll search for and stop scrolling for. Explain that one. The textbook concept can come in as the answer.
If you can't fit the question in one sentence, you have more than one video.
Start from something they already know
People learn a new idea by attaching it to an old one. Open with the familiar part, then move one step at a time.
Analogies help when they map the mechanism, not only the feeling. "DNS is like your phone's contacts" works because it survives the next question. You know a name, the phone looks up the number, and if the number changes you update the contact, which is roughly what happens to a website's address. An analogy that breaks on the first follow-up question does more harm than none.
Show the mechanism, one step per scene
Break the explanation into three to five steps. Give each step its own scene, and make each scene change one thing on screen: an arrow appears, a number drops, a part lights up. If three things move at once, the viewer watches none of them closely.
This is where animation earns its place. You can show the inside of a battery, money moving between accounts, or savings climbing like a staircase, none of which a camera can film.
Land on one concrete case
An abstract explanation feels clear while you watch it and is hard to recall an hour later. A specific case with real numbers or a real situation gives the viewer something to hold. "Interest compounds" is abstract. "Your $2,000 balance at 24% a year grows by about $40 in the first month you don't pay it" is something they can picture and check against their own statement.
Explainer video example: why phones die in the cold
The viewer's question: "Why does my phone switch off at 30% when I'm outside in winter?"
Here is an accurate answer nobody will repeat:
Lithium-ion batteries experience increased internal resistance at low temperatures, which reduces available capacity under load and can trigger the device's low-voltage protection.
Here is the same answer as a 45-second explainer script, one step per scene:
| Scene | Say | Show |
|---|---|---|
| Hook | "Your phone isn't lying about the 30%. The cold is hiding it." | A phone at 30% going black on a snowy street |
| Anchor | "A battery makes power with a chemical reaction, and like most reactions, it slows down when it's cold." | Particles inside a battery, moving slowly |
| Step 1 | "When the reaction slows, the battery can't push out power as fast as the phone asks for it." | A pipe narrowing, less flow |
| Step 2 | "The voltage dips. Your phone reads that dip as an empty battery and shuts down to protect it." | A gauge dipping, then the power-off screen |
| Proof | "Warm it in your pocket for ten minutes and switch it on. The charge comes back, because it never left." | The same phone, back on at 28% |
| End | "In winter, keep your phone in an inside pocket." | A phone going into an inner jacket pocket |
The anchor uses something the viewer half-knows (cold slows things down). Each step changes one thing on screen. The proof scene gives them a way to check it themselves, which is what makes the explanation stick. And the end turns the explanation into something to do. For the general shape behind this, see how to write a video script.
A checklist before you record
- Can you write the question as one sentence the viewer would type into a search bar?
- Does the first scene start from something the viewer already knows?
- Does every scene change exactly one thing on screen?
- Is there one number, one case or one test the viewer can try?
- Could a friend repeat it after one viewing? Try it on one.
Common questions
How long should an explainer video be?
Long enough to answer one question and no longer. For social media that is usually 30 to 90 seconds. Product and onboarding explainers on a website often run 60 to 120 seconds. If yours runs longer, check whether it answers more than one question.
What are the types of explainer videos?
The common types are animated (illustration or motion graphics with a narrator), live action (a person or product on camera), screen recordings (software walkthroughs), and mixed videos that combine a person on camera with animation. Animation suits ideas a camera can't film; a person on camera suits topics where trust matters.
How do you write an explainer video script?
Write the viewer's question first, in their words. Open on something they already know, explain the mechanism in three to five steps with one change on screen per step, add one concrete case or number, and end with something to do. Read it aloud and cut any word an expert would use but the viewer wouldn't.
Do explainer videos need a person on camera?
No. Many of the clearest explainers are faceless: a narrator over illustrations or diagrams, because the visuals carry the explanation. A person on camera helps when the viewer needs to trust the explainer, as with medical, financial or product advice. See faceless videos vs on camera.
Explainers suit the faceless format well, because the visuals do the explaining. In ThreeCut's Faceless animation format, an AI narrator reads your script over illustrated scenes, so you can show the inside of a battery without filming one. Start from the question in your viewer's words, and the draft comes back already split into scenes you can rewrite.