Financial
October 7, 2021

Why Animated Explainer Videos Work for Your Financial Brand

The world is full of digital noise.

How can you effectively capture and hold someone’s attention long enough to illustrate a complex financial concept or product?

One smart solution for banks and credit unions may be animated explainer videos.

With bold, engaging graphics and an easy-to-follow narrative, explainer videos allow you to get a lot of information across in just a few minutes – or less. They can help your brand reach new audiences, enhance value propositions, and foster loyalty and trust. Along with a strategic array of traditional and digital media elements, explainer videos can be part of a robust marketing plan for your financial institution.

BENEFITS OF EXPLAINER VIDEOS

Here are four main reasons you should consider adding animated explainer videos to your marketing and client retention arsenal:

  1. Videos Make Things Clear: The financial sector has plenty of jargon and easily confused concepts. Animated videos enable you to memorably explain essential financial topics and highlight key features of your products and services. The best explainer videos compare and contrast, break down terminology, or show the steps of a process.
  2. Videos Are a Powerful Digital Presence Tool: Video is the highest-converting medium across most social media platforms, meaning that your calls to action can be more effective than ever. Likewise, websites that feature videos are far more likely to appear on Google’s first page, and visitors are far more likely to stay on a page for longer than the median time of 15 seconds.
  3. Videos Are Versatile: In addition to using them to boost SEO and social engagement, you can embed animated explainer videos in targeted email campaigns, adapt them for in-app onboarding experiences, incorporate them into webinars and live presentations, and even play them on loop in your lobby.
  4. Videos Are Affordable: When you partner with a full-service agency, high-quality animated explainer videos can be scripted and produced at reasonable rates. Unlike live videos, there aren’t multiple actors to hire and hours of footage to capture and edit. Controlled costs are a major reason that so many bank and credit union leaders are impressed with explainer videos’ ROI.

USES FOR EXPLAINER VIDEOS

Here are four ways that you can use animated explainer videos to add value to your brand and strengthen your relationships:

  1. Product Promotion: Explainer videos are great for showcasing and comparing financial products and services, like a suite of credit cards or a range of loan options. You can also give consumers a simplified preview of virtual interfaces or in-branch amenities. At the end of the clip, viewers can apply, learn more, or schedule an appointment with just one click.
  2. Financial Education: Helping your account holders to understand tricky personal finance topics – like the difference between pre-qualification and preapproval – can help establish your institution as a trusted source of information and advice. Sharing best practices for businesses – like how to avoid ransomware attacks – can help to forge meaningful relationships with commercial clients.
  3. Virtual Helpdesk: If your client care team is constantly fielding the same set of inquiries, why not create a bank of animated how-tos and FAQs? Users can access this resource 24/7 – and as many times as they need – and your team members can focus on providing more individualized and high-level service.
  4. Mission and Community Engagement: Now more than ever, consumers want to know that the institutions they do business with are values-driven and take an active role in the community. Using short animations can be a creative and convincing way to present your vision and let everyone know about the local people and causes you support.

HELPFUL TIPS

If you’re starting to see how animated explainer videos could serve your bank or credit union well, here are a few quick points to keep in mind:

  • Your audience will decide to watch or click away in the first seven seconds. Make them count!
  • Make sure that the voice and the visuals are consistent with your brand.
  • Keep each video’s total runtime short – 30 seconds to two minutes is ideal for most topics.
  • Most videos on social media are played on mute – make sure main points are covered with text.
  • Be aware that 75% of viewers prefer watching horizontally oriented videos.
  • If you’re tackling an especially involved topic, make a playlist with several shorter clips.
  • Don’t try to cover every detail. A video is a concise overview – link to a website for the fine print.
  • End your video with a simple and clear call to action that can’t be ignored.

SET YOUR VISION INTO MOTION.

When you partner with LIGHTSTREAM, you’re partnering with a full-service marketing firm that knows the financial sector inside and out. For 15 years, we’ve helped banks and credit unions across the country to develop innovative concepts and content that resonate with their ideal audiences. Are you ready to bring your brand to the next level? Connect with us today.