Measuring the ROI of animated videos: what should you expect?

Let me draw you a little picture here. So, you finally decided to order an animated video. You found a studio with experience, told your preferences, and approved what an animation team offered to you. Everything is wonderful. However, at some point, you’re thinking about the outcome you will receive. Well, will you receive it?! We feel you.

When you’re focused only on the main purpose of your animated video, it’s super easy to overlook the extra goodies it can bring to the table. And you don’t want to miss out on all that goodness. The truth is, your awesome animation has the potential to create a bunch of additional marketing assets. These assets can be used in lots of different ways to keep your audience engaged and kickstart various communication initiatives. Pretty cool, right?

One objective doesn’t mean one result

Even if you are a little bit confused by this heading, well, don’t. Here’s the thing: when ordering an animated video you can count on many goals:

• Product promotion and brand awareness;
• Project launch
• Customer education
• Audience engagement
• Investor pitch
• Lead generation

And many more. However, even if you have only one goal in mind, we invite you to think… broader. Animation can be customized to meet other goals. It is rarely said, but that’s true.

Not to mention that if you are looking for customer education, you might get quite good audience engagement and PR. Just backfire.

Diversify your animation video

Yes, you don’t have to pursue just one goal with your video. You can do more and achieve other marketing objectives. Let’s take a look at a few examples. 

Short videos or loops: You can take small parts of your animation and make them into short videos that you can share online. They can be really quick, like 5 or 10 seconds long. Music and sounds: You can use the music or sounds from your animation to make them into separate things. For example, you can use them in advertisements or as background music for your website.

Character voices or catchphrases: If your characters talk in the animation, you can use their voices or catchphrases in other things too. This can help people recognize your brand. Different versions: You can make different versions of your animation that are different lengths, like 5 seconds, 15 seconds, or 30 seconds. This way, you can use them in different places, like on TV or social media.

Calculating ROI

The return on investment (ROI) is determined by subtracting the initial investment from the gained value and then dividing the result by the asset’s value. Let’s imagine you wanted to generate more potential customers. After posting your animation, the number of potential customers increased by 50 percent. This increase earned you an additional $100,000 compared to last year.

Now, if you had spent $30,000 on creating the video, you can calculate the return on investment (ROI) by subtracting the investment cost from the value gained ($100k – $30k = $70k). Then, you divide that by the investment cost ($70k / $30k = 233.33 percent). So, you achieved a 233.33 percent ROI, which means you turned your initial investment into more than twice its value.

In 2023, it has been observed that videos tend to have better ROI numbers compared to simple static images, with a significant majority of 74% supporting this trend. According to a report by Hubspot, 83% of video marketers have successfully generated leads using video content.

Additionally, Brightcove states that videos contribute to a substantial 157% increase in organic traffic from search engine results pages. These numbers include animation videos.

Summary

The ROI of animated videos can exceed expectations and provide numerous benefits beyond their initial purpose. While it’s important to define specific goals for your animated video, it’s also crucial to think beyond those goals and explore the additional marketing assets that can be derived from the animation. Whether it’s product promotion, brand awareness, customer education, or lead generation, animation can be customized to meet multiple objectives simultaneously.

In simple terms, investing in animated videos can give you a lot of value for your money and make your marketing campaigns more successful. Animated videos have extra benefits that you can use to promote your brand and engage with your audience in different ways. So, if you’re thinking about getting an animated video, don’t just focus on one goal. Think about all the other ways it can help your business and take advantage of its full potential.