How to Write an Explainer Video Script

Every explainer video script that works runs on the same spine: hook, problem, solution, how it works, call to action. Nail that order, keep it short, and you are most of the way there. The rest of this guide is how to fill it in well.

I have produced explainer videos where the animation was lovely and the writing was mush, and you can watch people check out around the eight-second mark. Fix the script and the same footage lands. So this is a guide built for use. You get the five-part structure, the word-count math that keeps you on time, a two-column template you can copy, and a full sixty-second script you can pull apart for your own product. If you are still choosing format and length, our companion piece on how to make an explainer video covers the production side.

What an explainer video script actually is

An explainer video script is the written plan for a short video that makes one idea easy to understand: what your product does, and why anyone watching should care. It is usually written in two columns. On one side you write the voiceover or on-screen text. On the other you describe what appears on screen at the same moment. That pairing is the whole point, because an explainer teaches through the eye and the ear at once. When I draft one, I write the visual column first, because deciding what the viewer sees usually tells me which words the voiceover can drop.

Most explainers run thirty seconds to two minutes, which means the script is short and every line has to earn its place. HubSpot has reported that 29% of marketers rank tasks like scripting and editing among the most time-consuming parts of making video, and the script is why. Write it well and the storyboard and the edit both fall into line. Get it wrong and you pay for the confusion twice over. If you want to see what a tight script looks like on screen before you write, our roundup of explainer video examples is a good place to start.

The five-part structure that holds attention

Nearly every explainer that works follows the same order: hook, problem, solution, how it works, call to action. You can dress it up, but this is the load-bearing sequence.

• Hook (first 5 to 8 seconds). Open on the viewer’s world, not yours. A sharp question or a familiar frustration earns you the next ten seconds. Think with Google’s research on video attention has made the same point for years: the opening moment carries more weight than any other second in the video.
• Problem. Name the pain in plain words and make it sting a little. The viewer should think, that is my Tuesday.
• Solution. Introduce your product as the answer, once, clearly. This is the first time you say the name out loud.
• How it works. Two or three quick beats that show the thing in motion. Not a feature tour. Just enough for the viewer to picture using it.
• Call to action. One instruction. Not “learn more.” Something a person can actually do in the next minute.

Keep each block short. If you cannot say the section out loud in one breath, it is too long.

How long should an explainer video script be?

Length is a math problem before it is a creative one. A comfortable voiceover runs about 150 words per minute, so you can size the script the moment you know the runtime:

• 30 seconds: about 75 words
• 60 seconds: about 150 words
• 90 seconds: about 220 words
• 2 minutes: about 300 words

Those are ceilings, not targets. If the video has demo footage or a beat where the visuals do the talking, cut words so the voice does not race the picture. Shorter also finishes better. Wistia’s State of Video report found that videos under a minute hold the strongest engagement, and Vidyard’s benchmark data tells the same story about completion. That is the real reason to fight for a tight script: people watch it to the end. For a deeper look at the trade-offs, we wrote a whole piece on how long an explainer video should be.

65%

Video under 1 minute

20%

Video over 20 minutes

Share of viewers who finish a business video, by length (Vidyard, based on 943,305 videos created by Vidyard users in 2024). Sub-minute videos hold people to the end far better, which is the case for keeping an explainer script near 150 words.

Source: Vidyard Video in Business Benchmark

Four script formulas, and when to reach for each

The five-part spine gives you the order. These four formulas give you the emotional shape. Pick one per video; mixing them muddies the message.

Formula	What it is	Reach for it when
PAS	Problem, Agitate, Solution	The pain is obvious and a little emotional, and you want the viewer nodding before you name the product
Hero’s Journey	The viewer is the hero who overcomes a challenge with your help	You are selling an outcome or a transformation, not a spec sheet
FAB	Features, Advantages, Benefits	The product is technical and buyers compare details, so each feature needs its payoff spelled out
AIDA	Attention, Interest, Desire, Action	A cold audience that starts at zero, like a paid social ad that has to stop the scroll

If you are unsure, start with PAS. It is the most forgiving of the four, and it maps cleanly onto the hook-problem-solution opening you already have.

How I write an explainer script, step by step

1. Write the goal in one sentence, first. “After this video, a marketing manager understands that Tandem books a group meeting in one link, and clicks to try it.” If you cannot finish that sentence, you are not ready to write the script.
2. Pin down who is watching and where. A script for a LinkedIn feed opens differently from one on your pricing page. The platform sets the hook.
3. Draft it long and ugly, out loud. Talk it into a notes app. Do not edit yet. You are hunting for the plain-spoken version of your idea.
4. Cut to the word count. Now bring the runtime math in. Trim to 150 words for a minute, and be ruthless about it.
5. Pair every line to a visual. Move into the two-column format below. If a line has no picture, either find one or cut the line.
6. Read it aloud with a timer. Any word you stumble on gets rewritten. Any spot where you run long gets trimmed. Your mouth is a better editor than your eyes.
7. Show it to one real person from the audience. Watch where their attention slips. That is your rewrite list.

The two-column AV script template you can copy

This is the format every voice artist and editor expects. Audio and video sit side by side so nobody has to guess what pairs with what. Copy this and fill it in.

On screen (visuals)	Voiceover / audio
Open on the viewer’s world: the frustration, in one clear image	Hook line. A question or a sharp statement about their problem.
The problem visualized. Show the mess, the wait, the confusion.	Name the pain and make it land.
Product appears for the first time. Clean, simple reveal.	Introduce the product as the answer. Say the name once.
Three quick shots of the product in motion.	How it works, in two or three short beats.
End card: logo, one clear action, URL.	Call to action. One instruction.

Keep a timing column if your team likes it (0:00, 0:08, 0:20, and so on). For where the visuals go next, our guide to what a storyboard is for picks up right where this template ends.

A full 60-second explainer script, annotated

Here is a complete script for a made-up product, a team scheduling tool called Tandem. It runs about 135 words, which at roughly 150 words per minute gives you a relaxed sixty seconds with a little air. Swap in your own product and the shape holds.

Time	On screen	Voiceover
0:00 to 0:07	Split screen of six messy calendars, notifications piling up	”Your team runs on six different calendars. Booking one thirty-minute call takes nine messages back and forth, and somebody still shows up to the wrong meeting.”
0:07 to 0:18	A meeting invite bounces between inboxes; a clock spins	”Then one person reschedules and the whole thread starts over. Time zones get read wrong. By the time you reply, the teammate you needed is already double-booked.”
0:18 to 0:34	The clutter collapses into one clean Tandem calendar view	”Tandem puts every calendar into a single view. You pick a time that already works for the whole group, send one link, and the invite lands in each inbox with the right time zone attached.”
0:34 to 0:50	Quick cuts: connecting a calendar, greyed-out slots, a green time being clicked	”Connect your calendars once. Tandem hides the slots that cannot work. You share one page, your teammate clicks an open time, and the meeting is booked before they close the tab.”
0:50 to 1:00	End card: Tandem logo, “tandem.example”, a single button	”Stop chasing replies across four apps. Go to tandem.example and book your first meeting in under a minute.”

Notice what the script does not do. It never narrates what is already on the screen. It names the product a single time. And the closing line points to one concrete action instead of a vague “learn more.”

Writing for the ear

People do not read an explainer script. They hear it. So write the way you talk. Use contractions. Keep sentences short enough to say in one breath. Cut any word your voice artist would trip over.

A few habits earn their keep here. Read every draft out loud, because your ear catches the clunk your eye skims past. Put one idea in each line. And front-load the point of each line, since the viewer decides in real time whether to keep listening. If you want the mechanics beyond explainers, our general guide to writing a video script goes wider.

Making the script visual-first

An explainer earns its keep by showing, not by describing. That is why the two-column format matters so much: it forces you to name a picture for every line. When you catch yourself writing “our dashboard is easy to use,” stop and write the shot instead: a cursor clicking one button and the report appearing. Let the visual make the claim.

Two working rules. First, if the visual already says it, the voiceover should not repeat it; use those seconds to add something the picture cannot. Second, sometimes you write the visuals first, especially for a product demo, then narrate to the footage you know you will have. The words serve the screen, not the other way around.

Mistakes that flatten an explainer script

• Burying the hook. A five-second logo animation before the first word is five seconds of people leaving.
• Narrating the obvious. “Here you can see our app.” We can see it. Say something else.
• Two videos in one. Every explainer answers one question. If you have two questions, make two scripts.
• Feature dumping. A list of features with no benefit reads like a menu. Give each capability a reason to matter to the viewer.
• The mushy CTA. “Learn more” asks for nothing. “Book your first meeting in under a minute” asks for something real.
• No timer. Scripts always read shorter in your head than they play. Time it before you send it, every single time.

Clear these out and most explainer scripts tighten themselves.

Where a team fits

If you would rather not write and produce this in-house, Moonb works as an embedded creative team: a dedicated creative director who writes the script and produces the finished explainer, so the process above is simply how we would approach yours. Hire that out or keep it internal, the same rule holds either way. Get the script right first, and everything downstream gets easier.