Audiences today have high expectations from the quality of a video these days. To maintain audience attention, businesses need to communicate more effectively. When you want to make a strong first impression, you have to grab your viewers’ attention in 10 seconds.
Why?
Because according to some studies, the average American has an attention span shorter than a goldfish!
Although the study is highly debatable and you shouldn’t take it at face value, indeed, people are now easily losing interest in content because of the overflow of online content.
Most people now have a smartphone and are more than willing to share their opinion with the world. While they’re eager to give you feedback, they may be less willing to take a look at your marketing material. To make sure your marketing materials reach the right audience, you must understand how to grab your viewers’ attention in 10 seconds.
Here are a few tips to attract an audience at the beginning of a video –
1. Tease at the Beginning
You need to give a few clues or hints at the beginning of the video to reveal what’s inside the video.
This way those who are interested in the topic will stick around to know more. Most of the successful youtube videos are the same. In the beginning, they give a hint about what can be found in the video and expose crucial info that’ll be elaborated on in due time.
For example, in this promotional video of Bizexplainer animation studio, we asked our viewers right at the beginning – if they want to get a custom animated explainer video for their business?
If your viewers get to know what’s coming, they are more likely to stick around.
2. It’s all About “You”
When you create a video, it should be all about your viewers. Video creators should make an effort to communicate with their audience through their videos.
In 2017, a Youtube channel management company called TubeBuddy and email management company Hey.com came forth together to forge an alliance. They conducted a study to confirm the view increase of videos with the use of “You” in the first 30 seconds of a video.
According to the study, the videos that used the word “You” once in the first 5 seconds of the video got 66% higher views than the videos that didn’t use the word.
It was also observed that using “You” twice in the first 5 seconds increased the view count 97% higher.
3. Keep Your Words Simple
Just like blogs and articles, you need to use simple easy understanding in a video. This is true, especially at the beginning. If you use hard-to-understand words in a video, viewers will get annoyed.
Try to make it so that the video speech sounds like a simple conversation. To do that you have to keep the video script simple and short. Try to avoid slang of sorts.
If you have no choice but to put hard words in the video script, then at least keep it simple at the start.
Having an easy-to-understand start will keep your viewer’s attention.
4. Throw Some Texts
It’ll be best for the viewers if they see what they hear. Using animated text along with the video speech will be appealing to your audience. If you manage to use moving text in the first 5 seconds of the video, it’ll become a powerful hook to make the viewers stay. This is because we rely heavily on our sight.
According to the hierarchy of senses established by the Greek philosopher and polymath Aristotle, Sight is at the top followed by hearing. Although a2018 research by the University of York has shown that this hierarchy is not universal for all the cultures across the world, there is still some truth to it.
Our brain devotes one-third of its space to sight. According to Professor Asifa Majid from the prestigious University of York, Aristotle’s hierarchy of sense is true for the English language.
When we watch a video, if we see the same text that we are hearing then it’ll increase the effect.
It’s because we are processing the same info through the two most important senses we have.
It’ll then take the viewers less time to understand what you’re saying in the video which means they’re not getting annoyed by your content.
5. Use Characters in Your Video
You should use characters in your video whether it’s live-action or animation video. People will find it easier to digest the information and relate if there are characters in the video. Especially if a fun and friendly character lead your viewers, then they’ll be invested in it.
This way your audience will be connected with the video and you’ll gain a certain amount of trust.
6. Strike Up a Conversation
If you can make the video like you are conversing with your viewers they’ll relate more.
With a conversation-like setting, they’ll feel more connected to your video. If you can lead the conversation in the ideal direction, your audience will feel emotionally invested in your content.
So strike up a conversation at least at the beginning of the video. Ask questions to the viewers and make a promise to answer them in due time.
7. Make it Relatable
You should already know who your viewers are.
Or who are the people you are making a video for?
So you also know what kind of problems they are facing and what are they looking for.
So talk about one or more of the problems at the beginning of the video that your audiences are currently facing themselves. This way the video will be more relatable and make sense to them.
8. Visual and Sound Quality
You need to pay attention to the overall visual and sound quality. With poor picture and sound quality, you can’t expect your viewers to stick around. You have to make make the visuals and sound decent enough to be compelling to the eyes and ears. Poorer quality also means that you are not serious about your video and don’t care about the viewers.
9. Emotional Connection
Your viewers are not a robot. Because if that’s the case then it’ll probably be the terminator watching your video and that’s not good news. Since the viewers are human beings and have emotions, connect to them using those emotions. Tell a story that’ll get them emotionally hooked.
10. Edit Some More
Even if you use all the tips above your video might fail with a lack of editing. Using common old scenes in the background can make your viewers tired and they can perceive your video as boring. Spice up the editing a bit and remember to use compelling and relatable background. Use other graphical elements in the video along with animation if necessary.
Final Verdict
If you’re looking to grab your viewer’s attention in just 10 seconds, you have a lot of options. If you are looking to create a video that will stand out from the crowd the tips above may help.
Grabbing your viewer’s attention is hard, but not impossible. If you want to hold your viewers’ attention, you need to ensure that every aspect of your videos is engaging, relatable, and tailored to the interests of your customer base. You have to keep your audience engaged and make sure they are interested in what you have to say.
If you want help with user engagement in your video you can contact us.
We can make Custom Animated Explainer Video for your business that’ll engage your viewers.
