What should I include in an explainer video?

Include the audience's question, a clear answer, a concrete example and one useful next step. Add the practical instructions and qualifications the viewer needs to understand or act on the answer correctly.

What should I leave out of an explainer video?

Our recommendation is to review long background introductions, feature catalogues, unsupported praise, repetition, unrelated detail and competing requests. Keep a detail when it changes what the viewer needs to understand or do.

Should an explainer video include company history?

Include company history when it directly answers the viewer's question or explains something they need to judge. For a practical process explainer, a short identification is often enough, with the fuller story on an about page.

How do I shorten a video without losing important information?

Identify the sentences that carry the answer, then review the rest as examples, qualifications, background or repetition. Preserve essential conditions and a useful example, and move separate topics to another page or film.

How can I check whether I cut too much?

Ask a newcomer to explain the answer and next step after hearing the revised script. If they need missing context or misunderstand a condition, restore that information in clear language before rendering.

What to Leave Out of an Explainer

Keep the details that help a viewer understand and act. Give the rest a more useful home.

An explainer video should include the viewer's question, the answer, a concrete example and one useful next step. Choose details that help the audience understand or act on that answer. A whiteboard explainer video becomes easier to follow when background, repeated points and unrelated requests give way to a clear explanation.

Decide what the viewer needs before cutting words

A script can be short and still feel crowded. The problem is often the number of decisions it asks the viewer to make: meet the organisation, understand the service, compare features, remember a process and respond to several requests. Our recommendation is to write the viewer's question at the top of the draft, followed by the action the explanation should make possible.

Use those two lines as an editing test. Keep a sentence when it answers the question, makes the answer concrete or helps the viewer take the next step. Move a useful but separate detail to the surrounding page, a reference document or a later film. Remove a detail entirely when it adds praise, repetition or background without changing the viewer's understanding.

The six-item cut list, with replacements

These are our editorial recommendations, illustrated with an invented community tool library. They are starting points for review rather than rules that override the viewer's actual needs. Keep any instruction or qualification that is essential to using the explanation correctly, and have the process owner confirm the final wording.

Consider cutting	Before	After	Keep it when
A long introduction about the organisation	Our community library began when a group of neighbours came together with a shared vision for a more connected neighbourhood.	Need a tool for one job? The community tool library lets members borrow one.	The organisation's identity directly answers the viewer's question; otherwise put its history on the about page.
A catalogue of every feature	We offer drills, sanders, clamps, saws, gardening tools, online reservations, reminders and a volunteer programme.	Find the tool for your job, then check its availability.	The viewer is choosing between specific options and needs those differences to decide.
Praise without useful evidence	Our amazing, revolutionary borrowing experience makes every project effortless.	The item listing shows whether the tool is available and what comes with it.	A relevant claim has evidence and helps the viewer decide; describe the evidence rather than adding adjectives.
The same point in several forms	Borrowing means you can use a tool temporarily. You take it for a short time and bring it back after use.	Borrow the tool for your job, then return it by the agreed date.	A brief recap helps the viewer recall a difficult step, rather than repeating the entire explanation.
Detail that belongs in a reference	The catalogue groups equipment using our internal stock codes and several administrative categories.	Search for the tool by the name of the job or the item.	The detail affects the viewer's action or is needed to understand the instruction correctly.
Competing requests at the end	Join today, volunteer, donate, share the video, read our story and browse every tool.	Open the catalogue and check whether the tool you need is available.	The explanation genuinely presents a choice; make the decision and its alternatives explicit.

Original illustrative edits for a fictional community tool library. Confirm any real borrowing instructions with the organisation before using them.

Edit the draft in three passes

First, underline the sentences that carry the answer. Read only those sentences and check that a newcomer can follow them. Restore any missing link in the explanation before removing more words.

Second, label each remaining sentence: example, necessary qualification, background, repetition or separate topic. Keep the examples and qualifications that the audience needs. Move a separate topic to another destination, and remove repetition that does not help the explanation.

Third, read the new script aloud. Cutting can leave a pronoun without a clear noun or a step without its reason. Fix those joins with a short, concrete sentence. Then ask a reviewer to explain the process back to you without looking at the draft.

A copyable keep, move or remove worksheet

Use this worksheet on one paragraph at a time. Our recommendation is to preserve a copy of the original draft so useful details remain available for the website, a longer guide or another film. A clean script and a separate reference can serve the reader better than squeezing everything into the narration.

VIEWER: [Who is watching?]
QUESTION: [What do they need answered?]
NEXT STEP: [What should they be able to do?]

SENTENCE: [Paste one sentence.]
JOB: [Answer / example / necessary qualification / background / repetition / separate topic]
DECISION: [Keep / move / remove]
REASON: [How does this decision help the viewer?]
NEW HOME, IF MOVED: [Page, document or separate video]

FINAL CHECK: Can a newcomer explain the answer and identify the next action?

Avoid cutting the meaning along with the length

Three common editing mistakes are easy to spot when the viewer's question stays visible. Use the finished explanation as the standard: it should still be accurate, understandable and useful after the cut.

Removing the example and keeping abstract claims: keep one concrete example that shows what the explanation means.
Deleting a necessary condition to make a sentence shorter: retain the condition and simplify the wording around it.
Replacing every specific noun with 'it' or 'this': repeat the noun where the listener might otherwise lose track of the subject.

Review the focused version in AutoScribble

AutoScribble turns a typed idea or pasted script into a narrated animated explainer. Paste the focused script and include the audience, question and intended action in the brief. Review the proposed narration and directions before rendering so an extra topic or repeated introduction is easy to catch.

Choose the film length and orientation for its intended placement, then confirm the displayed settings and quote. Watch the complete result for clarity before downloading the MP4 or sharing a private link. If you change the script after rendering, review the edit-and-remake confirmation and its displayed credit cost before creating another version.

Product details in this guide were checked against AutoScribble's creation flow and rendering code on 2026-09-12.

Create a whiteboard explainer for [audience] answering [one question]. Use this script: [paste draft]. Keep [essential example or condition]. Focus the explanation on [one outcome] and end with [one next action].

Try this with your own idea

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Common questions

What should I include in an explainer video?: Include the audience's question, a clear answer, a concrete example and one useful next step. Add the practical instructions and qualifications the viewer needs to understand or act on the answer correctly.
What should I leave out of an explainer video?: Our recommendation is to review long background introductions, feature catalogues, unsupported praise, repetition, unrelated detail and competing requests. Keep a detail when it changes what the viewer needs to understand or do.
Should an explainer video include company history?: Include company history when it directly answers the viewer's question or explains something they need to judge. For a practical process explainer, a short identification is often enough, with the fuller story on an about page.
How do I shorten a video without losing important information?: Identify the sentences that carry the answer, then review the rest as examples, qualifications, background or repetition. Preserve essential conditions and a useful example, and move separate topics to another page or film.
How can I check whether I cut too much?: Ask a newcomer to explain the answer and next step after hearing the revised script. If they need missing context or misunderstand a condition, restore that information in clear language before rendering.