Explainer Video Production: The UK Business Guide to Videos That Sell the Idea

What an explainer video is (and when you need one)

Explainer video production is the craft of compressing something complicated into a short video a stranger understands in under a minute. You need one when:

• You're launching a new service people don't yet have a mental model for.
• Your offer involves a complex process — legal claims, tax planning, onboarding.
• You sell a high-consideration purchase where confusion kills conversion.
• You need to onboard new customers, staff or students consistently.

If prospects regularly ask "so what exactly do you do?", an explainer pays for itself quickly.

Types of explainer video

There's no universally "best" style — the right choice depends on whether your offer is abstract (animate it), trust-driven (show a person) or visual (demonstrate it).

What goes into a great explainer

• One idea. The single most common failure is cramming three messages into 60 seconds.
• A hook in the first 3 seconds — the problem your customer recognises instantly.
• Problem → solution → proof → CTA. The structure that has sold ideas for a century.
• Plain English. If a 12-year-old can't follow it, neither can a busy decision-maker.
• Captions and sound design. Watched on mute, it must still work; with sound, it must feel premium.

The explainer video production process, step by step

1. Brief. A short call: your offer, your customer, the one action you want.
2. Script. Hook-led, benefit-first, written for the ear, not the page.
3. Storyboard. Scene-by-scene sign-off before anything is produced.
4. Generate or shoot. Animation, AI-presenter scenes, screen capture or filmed footage.
5. Edit. Voiceover, music, captions, grade and sound design.
6. Deliver. The master film plus cutdowns for your website, social channels and ads.

Because sign-off happens at script and storyboard stage, revisions are cheap and late surprises are rare.

How much does explainer video production cost in the UK?

Our explainer video production starts from £1,499. The main cost drivers are length, style (animation and AI-presenter work price differently), the number of platform versions, and voiceover requirements. Traditional agencies often quote five figures and months of lead time for the same brief; Creative AI production — AI speed, human craft — delivers in days, at a price a UK SMB can justify, without the quality trade-off.

Explainer videos by sector

• Law firms: "What to do after an accident" and plain-English process explainers that turn anxious searchers into enquiries.
• Accountancy: one-answer clips — deadlines, allowable expenses, switching accountants — that position you as the approachable expert.
• SaaS and tech: product walkthroughs that show the value in 60 seconds flat.
• Education: course, open-day and enrolment explainers that fill seats.

We've covered how video works across these industries in our sector guide — the explainer is usually the first video each of them should make.

How we produce explainer videos

We handle explainer video production end to end, in-house: brief, script, storyboard, production, voiceover and edit, delivered with platform cutdowns. One call is enough for us to recommend the right style — animated, AI-presenter, walkthrough or hybrid — and give you an honest quote and timeline.