What’s the best length of time for your whiteboard video ad? That’s a question that many clients ask me. The easy answer is: “Long enough to deliver your point.” The length usually depends on application. Our field of expertise is explainer videos for businesses, so here is our view on the issue.
In this article we will talk about ads for sales pages. If you want to make an animated lesson for the purpose of sharing knowledge or an experience, then that requires a completely different approach. You can read about it soon in a separate article.
How much time do I have to grab my viewer’s attention?
You probably know that you have just 8 seconds to get the attention of your web site visitors. Some YouTube researchers say you have even 15 seconds to motivate a person to watch your video until the end. Let’s take an average from both these figures:
In a best case scenario, you have a maximum 11.5 seconds to motivate your customers to watch your sales pitch.
Most TV commercials deliver their messages in less than 30 seconds. If they can do it, so can you. Of course, 30 seconds is another extreme, because you can talk about your product, but it’s often not enough time to tell a full story. You don’t want your ad to sound like a TV ad, because viewers usually associate this with something interrupting.
If you have difficulty making an effective scenario (script), then hire marketers who have been doing this for years. They will write a story that sells.
So, what is the perfect length for a well-done doodle?
For simple products and services, the perfect whiteboard video length is 60 seconds. What is a “simple product or service?” Let’s say:
- a fitness service
- a roofing business or some other business with manual workers involved
- a service that almost everybody has used before, like courier services. UPS, for example, was a pioneer in web-based whiteboard videos. The company did a majority of its presentations in less than 35 seconds
It’s better to make three 30-second presentations and embed them in different sections of your web site rather than to try to sell all your services at once in a 2-minute presentation.
For more complicated products and services you can extend your doodle video up to 90 seconds. What are “complicated products and services”?
- Banking services.
- Real estate projects.
- Consulting services.
- Web-marketing services (like SEO studios).
Want to make it longer and still use the animated presentation for a sales page? Then you better be ready to decrease your conversion rate. How often have you started watching a sales pitch, only to skip to the conclusion? Personally, I do it often. When I see that somebody wants me to spend 3 or 5 minutes of MY life listening to THEIR sales pitch, guess what happens? Right: I quit or scroll it to the end.
If you want to make an explainer video that increases conversion rates, you have to make it shorter than 90 seconds.
“It’s heartbreaking to cut my story and scenario length.”
Of course, your business is unique and very special, and it’s really hard to make your story shorter. Ask somebody to edit your script. It can be some cool-blooded and brutally honest guy who will have no emotional attachment to your future ad story.
There are many companies that love making products that last 3 minutes or longer. We make such videos only rarely, most often when they are educational products.
Before you entrust your script to be edited by somebody you hire, ask yourself a question: is that person motivated to make my script shorter? When you pay by the minute, that company has an incentive to sell you on a longer product.
Our team can make a 60 and 90-second video for the same price. The content will be different, of course, but it will serve the same purpose: to get those conversion rates soaring.
What should I remember about doodle videos and their length of time?
- Grab the attention of your viewers in the first 11 seconds of any presentation you make.
- Remember to include a call-to-action at the end of your sales pitch.
- Keep the doodle video length between 45 and 90 seconds.
- Have another person edit and improve your script. Make sure that “someone” cares to make your video just long enough to get your point across.
You’re still not sure how long your sales pitch should last? Then contact us now.
