15 Epic Explainer Video Animated Templates (Plus Infographic)

Video Effects 09/03/2019 6 min read

Explainer videos are pretty much what it says on the tin — videos that explain something. They’re ideal for breaking down fairly complex topics or processes into something much more manageable. There are a few different ways to create them, and whether they are animated or live-action, there are plenty of explainer video templates to draw inspiration from.

Speed up the creation of your explainer videos by working with some ready-to-go templates. Here are our 15 favorite free and premium explainer video templates. You’ll find After Effects, Premiere Pro, and Motion Graphics options here. We’ll also outline some tips to keep in mind before getting started, so stick around until the end!

Part 1: Top Explainer Video Templates to Download

1. Free Explainer Video

This is almost certainly the kind of explainer video you’ve seen before. It’s a tried and tested formula, highlighting a work problem and then introducing the solution. It’s perfect if you want to explain how something will make life more productive or improve workflows, like an app.

The pre-built character will save you countless hours with a designer, and the pack includes a range of emotions and the ability to swap out colors to something more aligned with your brand. Best of all, you can download this template for free!

Download Free Explainer Video Now

2. Service Explainer Video

This explainer video is great for describing a service and its results in a quick and easily customizable way. Editors can change colors and a logo to personalize this clean explanation of why customers should use your service.

Download Service Explainer Video Now

3. Business Meeting – Scene Situation

Clean, professional, smooth – this customizable explainer video from Motion Array is ideal for corporate presentations. Change the images, the text, and colors to customize this video for your brand, and use it for your company overview or just to impress the board members as part of your project pitch.

Download Business Meeting – Scene Situation Now

4. Service Explainer Video

This Adobe After Effects template is nearly two minutes’ worth of customizable assets for you to hone your messaging with. This range of images and transitions is perfect for explaining a service or a brand in more detail, and can be tweaked in just a few clicks.

Download Service Explainer Video Now

5. Explainer for Web

Clear, concise, and to the point – this explainer video is ideal for web companies that want to highlight the key messaging of their services in just a few seconds. Swap the text, logos, and colors in After Effects and you’ll have a professional explainer video for use wherever you like.

Download Explainer for Web Now

6. Outline Explainer Video Kit

This is a wonderful selection of beautifully animated scenes for use in Premiere Pro. No plugins are needed to make the most of these stylish outlines covering all kinds of themes such as brainstorming, creativity, productivity, development, design – everything you’d need to illustrate your business’ explainer video is right here. This Motion Graphics Template will drop right into Premiere Pro’s Essential Graphics Panel to incorporate in your presentations.

Download Outline Explainer Video Kit Now

7. Hand Explainer Kit

Want to add some fun to your project? Want to literally point out some useful information? Try these hand animations, in a variety of poses and interacting with a whole range of text boxes for you to edit. Jump into Premiere Pro to make the most of this easy template.

Download Hand Explainer Kit Now

8. Corporate Presentation Bundle

This neatly packaged After Effects template contains 36 scenes ideal for your corporate explainer video. Text animations and transitions will bring your explainer film to life. Simply edit the text, images, and colors to your heart’s content.

Download Corporate Presentation Bundle Now

9. Social Media Marketing

This vibrant After Effects template makes for a stunning addition to your explainer videos, with some beautiful transitions enhancing a focus on slick typography. No plugins are required for this template, so you can jump right into the project after downloading it from Motion Array.

Download Social Media Marketing Now

10. Cloud Computing – Flat Concept

Character animation can be time-consuming, difficult and costly – but not with this stylish pack of modular animations from Motion Array. This After Effects template gives designers access to a ready-to-go selection of themed characters, perfect for an explainer video for your tech service.

Download Cloud Computing – Flat Concept Now

11. Website Promo

Do you have an app to showcase? A website service you want to explain to potential customers? This clean website promo is the perfect way to showcase that. Finish off these After Effects movements with a voiceover to highlight the key features of your product.

Download Website Promo Now

12. Hands Explainer

Another range of hands for use in your animated explainer videos. The five different positions will almost certainly have a place alongside typography and voiceover to create a clear and striking explainer video.

Download Hands Explainer Now

13. Promotional Opener

This quirky, colorful animation requires no plugins and is perfect for highlighting the key features of your product to convert potential customers. Boot it up in After Effects, switch around anything you like to customize it to your brand, and render it quickly.

Download Promotional Opener Now

14. Chalkboard Writing Template

This chalkboard writing template is a fun, eye-catching texture for your educational explainer videos. The typographical-led After Effects project is a great way to build an explainer video from scratch or to add some life to your other video projects with editable titles.

Download Chalkboard Writing Template Now

15. Doodle Animation – Female Character

If you’ve been staying away from character animation in your projects because you think it might be complex, this After Effects template will sweep all of that away. Add some personality to your explainer videos with this wonderfully designed doodle character. The package contains a range of poses, expressions and accessories and is very easy to use.

Download Doodle Animation – Female Character Now


Part 2: What Makes a Good Explainer Video?

1. Keep it Simple

Explainer videos are all about simplicity. They engage audiences by breaking down complex topics into an easy-to-understand two-minute video. In general, a great explainer video should be between :45 and 1:30. Any longer and you risk having viewers trail off before the call to action.

Often, audiences would much prefer to sit and watch a few minutes of videos than wade through reams of text on the same topic. Reading depends very heavily on the quality of the writer, and it’s easy to get distracted. Explainer videos rarely outstay their welcome.

2. Be Informative

Explainer videos could be purely informational, in the style of a documentary, explaining things like the orbits of planets or how evolution works. Or, they could be created by a brand explaining something that aligns with their business — compound interest or how a piece of software works, for instance. They perform well when sitting on a website amongst other information.

There are three very important parts of an explainer script – the problem, the solution, and the call to action. It’s good to start with the problem and it is clearly called out in the first 15 seconds. Then introduce your product by name and call out some of the ways that they solve the problems stated in the beginning. Finally, you need a strong call to action at the end. Show them how they can find it in the app store or show them the URL to visit your website.

3. Select the Right Style

Some of the templates featured above are more approachable, character-based designs that can help a brand feel warm, inviting, and explain things clearly. Whereas others are more corporate, with clean, professional transitions that would go down well in a boardroom or corporate event. So, one of your first decisions is to consider what style would be best for your brand.

While many of the templates listed above are animated, why not incorporate some live-action footage in your explainer video? If it’s something that can be visualized with real-life scenarios, then some audiences may be more drawn into that than quirky characters. Or you could incorporate some motion graphics within live-action footage to draw attention to specific things. Get to know your audience and build your video based on what they would like.

4. Tell a Compelling Story

Finally, what are you actually trying to explain? Is it an overall service? Or a product you’ve designed to solve a specific problem? Leaning more on typography to explain your service is a visual way to draw in your audience and grab the attention of people who might just be scrolling past in a social media feed. On the other hand, a more complex explainer might benefit from a clear, well-written voiceover script if the on-screen text becomes overwhelming.

We did a blog post outlining multiple online resources for voice-over work called Affordable Voice Over Resources. Be sure to check it out. And if you are inclined to record your own voice over, check out our article on Recording Your Own Voiceovers.

However you decide to create your content, the key to a successful explainer video is simplicity. You don’t want to leave audiences scratching their heads. Get in, get the concept across, and get them clicking the ‘buy’ button as soon as you can. These epic explainer video templates will help you on your way!


Part 3: Hallmarks of a Great Explainer Video Infographic

Finally, crafting engaging explainer videos can take some time to master. That’s why we created a quick reference guide to help you along the way.

The Hallmarks of a Great Explainer Video

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<p><strong>Please include attribution to motionarray.com with this graphic.</strong><br /><br /><a href='https://motionarray.com/video-effects/animated-explainer-video-templates/'><img src='https://ma-hub.imgix.net/wp-images/2019/04/02193547/hallmarks-of-a-great-explainer-video-infographic.jpg' alt='Hallmarks of a Great Explainer Video' width='100%' border='0' /></a></p></textarea>

We hope you have found these tips on how to create an explainer video helpful. Happy editing!