| Learning how to create tutorial videos is one of the most effective ways to simplify complex topics and engage audiences. This tutorial video guide walks you through every step—planning your content, writing a clear script, recording with the right tools, and editing for maximum clarity and engagement. Well-made tutorial videos not only boost knowledge retention but also improve onboarding, reduce support costs, and drive stronger customer trust, making them a must-have in modern education and marketing strategies. |
In the digital world of today, video tutorials have emerged as a highly valuable method to gain knowledge and skills. The combination of visual components and verbal supports breaking down complex subjects, promotes retention, supports different forms of learning, and reduces barriers for learners in local and international audiences.
Video tutorials can be useful in many environments such as employee onboarding, product demonstrations, and the delivery of education to students or trainees. Video tutorials offer a solution to deliver information in an effective and efficient manner while providing the audience with a more relatable and enjoyable experience.
When you ensure proper planning, consider the audience needs, format (screencast, live or animated video), you can incorporate concise and actionable content to provide audiences with directly aligned learning outcomes. Video tutorials have the ability to equip the learner with practical guidance.
Video tutorials will be continuously applied and remain a flexible and permanent part of workplace training, online learning, and digital learning to provide rich learning experiences for everyone.
It is really important to identify your audience before you start creating any tutorial. To help ensure your content is meaningful to viewers, and will yield reusability, you want to tailor your content to the demographics, needs, skill levels, and interests of your viewers. Start with basic demographic information such as the age range of your audience, education level, professional background, and specific learning aspirations.
Some questions you can ask include:
Picture Credit: Freepik
The best tutorials are related to a single, clearly defined topic. If you are teaching complex topics, you should consider breaking the topic down into separate tutorials so that you can improve clarity and reduce the chances of providing too much information.
Generally, you want to select topics that depict common areas of inquiry, or discomfort.
When selecting a topic, you should try to focus on topics that you constantly get asked about, or that come up in Frequently Asked Questions, support tickets, or forums.
You can ask your audience to validate the relevance of the topic by sending out an audience survey, or conducting a quick poll.
Brainstorming is essential to identify a broad scope of relevant issues:
Use a mind map or diagram to record ideas, visualizing the connections of related sub-topics with the intention of finding parts (or segments) that, when sequenced together, can actually become a video.
Not all ideas necessarily call for a tutorial. Each needs to be reviewed considering:
It is important to prepare a good storyboard that will visualize the flow of your video and help you think through each scene, how they logically transit, and what visuals to capture.
Sketch each scene or use screenshots to note what will be shown and when.
Decide on the types of near viewing angles, what visuals to include, as well as sample screens and interface.
Run the ideas from beginning to conclusion and articulate each part in context as it integrates the introductory messages and conclusion.
Scripts allow for consistency and time savings in your recording across multiple efforts, and reduce making mistakes.
Your script should contain:
Animated training videos provide a flexible and scalable format for training teams, onboarding new users, or explaining complex topics in a clear and consistent way. With animated content you can control the visuals entirely, there are no constraints from the environment it is shot in, and it is a great way to meet the varied needs of learners.
Our guide aims to take you from concept to distribution, on how best to create effective animated training content. We will cover all the steps in the process of creating animated training content, including preparation, writing, and best practices. We will provide you examples along the way to inspire you to make your next project.
In contrast to live-action videos, animated training videos can only be created with completely digital methods, therefore offering greater flexibility and consistency. To create animated training videos, you will need access to animation software/agency. You’ll also need script-writing programs like Google Docs that organize your content, as well as voice-over software for recording your narration.
You can use storyboarding tools to plan out each scene before animating it. You will also need access to royalty-free music and sound effects that elevate the engagement with your training video. The digital format of animated training videos also allows you to eliminate the heavy task (e.g. cameras, lighting, sets, etc.), making them ideal if you want to create scalable, training content for your different teams and teams as your brand remains similar across many platforms.
All good animated training videos start with a clear, concise introduction, state the topic of the video, and what viewers should expect. Let them know what they will learn and why it matters! This establishes anticipation and allows the learner to mentally prepare.
After providing a brief introduction, clearly state the learning goals, what the viewer should be able to do or understand by the end of the video and be specific. For example, are you sharing how to use a feature of a software application? Are you explaining a workplace process? Are you sharing compliance guidelines?
In addition, it’s helpful to identify the intended skill level of the learner (beginner, intermediate, or advanced). This allows for realistic expectations and provides context so the viewer understands that the material is created for their background.
Also, be mindful to have an animated character or branded visual intro to develop familiarity and engagement within the first few seconds. Animated characters create a sense of humanity in your content and build rapport, even if it is an update in a corporate setting!
Example: An HR training video with an enthusiastic animated character.
says:“Hi! I’m Alex from HR and in under 5 minutes I’m going to walk you through our new performance review system!”
When the desired outcome has been established, and you’re ready for the audience to proceed through the content step-by-step, set them on their way. Make the content a manageable size for the viewer and cut your tutorial into small actions or ideas. Each detail or advance in a tutorial should represent one action or idea, to help limit cognitive overload and allow the audience to digest the content better.
Utilize visual storytelling elements to depict your tutorial. Visual metaphors, icons, animation, or other aids in your creation allow your audience to intuitively understand each tutorial step. Animated characters can facilitate scenarios and actions, and other elements facilitate engagement and excitement within the viewer.
In addition to on-screen text, provide a clear voice-over narration. All at once, and consider different learning styles. Don't move too quickly? You risk overwhelming your learner, and don't move too slowly, or they may lose interest.
As the content requires focused attention or big moments, utilize zoom-ins, screenshare highlights, arrows, or other visual cues to guide their attention and illustrate the action. With your thoughts and their learning cues, provide some contextual stimulus; something that will reinforce the actions that otherwise may be lost in narrative alone.
🎓 Example: Here’s an animated training video we created for Oncor that shows you more:
A major component of high-quality animated training videos is identifying the potential pitfalls beforehand, so learners do not make them. Think ahead about where learners will likely become confused or make mistakes you can illustrate through animation by showing both "wrong" and "right" ways to do something. This will improve understanding for learners and establish some confidence.
For example, animate making a common mistake, such as entering data incorrectly or forgetting to fill out a required field. Then, animate them with the proper action taken immediately after. Use pop-up warnings like, "Oops! Don't forget to click 'Save' before moving on." These will differentiate those actions, draw attention to the fact the character made a mistake, and highlight critical steps.
Visual indicators of errors, along with well-written narration, will help to remind, and deter learners from making the same mistake. You could also include quick ways suggested solutions or applicable alternate actions, they can implement in the event of an error to help them realize a problem in real time.
By proactively identifying what can and might go wrong and stating that, you are developing a more supportive and capable learner. Support builds retention, retention builds less frustration, and less frustration means they will likely not only finish the training but feel good about doing it.
To wrap up your animated training video, consider a summary that is clear and engaging. Not only does this reinforce learning, but it also makes retention easier, gives them a reference they can remember later and gives recap to the main take away from the training.
Visually present the recap using clean motion graphics and lists, demonstrate the step by step, or outline the highlights with icons. Using visuals is important for keeping your content fresh and it allows the learner to tie key points back to something visually memorable from the training. You can take it a step further by reinforcing your key points with memory aids like symbols or simplified process diagrams which will help the viewer recall complex information.
Make sure the tone is upbeat and conversational and don't let it linger like your typical summary. A summary should energise the viewer, not drag them back down, putting them back into a state. Keeping this section to ideally, under 2 minutes, will give your summary a natural conclusion and end the overall learning experience.
Example: A 90-second recap animation quickly revisits the 3 main steps of a training module using dynamic colorful motion graphics and icons is a nice way to reinforce the high points, while keeping the learner engaged, right to the end of your animated training video.
Picture Credit: Freepik
Finish your animated training video with a clear and actionable next step. A good call-to-action (CTA) lets the learner know where to go next, getting them back into motion and feeling good about engaging with your content. This may be a link to a downloadable resource, an invitation to complete a quiz, move to the next module, or simply explore related content.
If the video lives online, you can use clickable end screens or even embed buttons, so the viewer can act straight away. A visual CTA can mean having animated characters in your videos, pointing to the button, or indicating the next movement with some motion effects.
Keep the tone friendly and supportive; you want to invite-action, not direct action there's a big difference! Make your CTA feel like a suggestion and a solution!.
The most effective channels depend on your target audience, goals, and content type.
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Distribution Channel
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Best for
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Notes
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YouTube
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Broad consumer/public reach
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Enables monetization, analytics
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Internal LMS
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Employee/corporate training
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Secure, integrates with HR
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Company Website/Blog
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Customer support, brand-building
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Better SEO, owned presence
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Social Media
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Bite-sized tips, driving traffic back to sources
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Adapt format for each platform
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Email
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Updates, launches, ongoing series
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Personal, direct communication
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Product Help Centers
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Customer onboarding/support
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Embed videos next to guides
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By focusing on techniques that capture attention and support knowledge retention, creators can craft content that truly resonates with viewers. Taking this foundation a step further, creating effective video tutorials involves a deeper dive into the practical aspects such as structuring lessons, scripting with clarity and using tools that enhance both teaching and learning.
Instructional videos play a vital role in transforming traditional learning into an engaging, interactive experience. When combined, these approaches offer a complete roadmap for producing videos that are not only informative but also impactful and memorable. Following points can be followed to boost video tutorials.
Picture Credit: Freepik
Good tutorial videos require preparation and intention. First focus on one topic for a single video which will put the viewers at ease so they can access the information without confusion. Next be sure to avoid making long videos, don’t waste screen time with unimportant comments that will distract or deter viewers from the original topic.
Generally, remain engaged and focused on a narrative, and this helps maintain learners attention and engagement. When the learners are viewing your videos, the trust level will depend on all factors mentioned.
Your consistency across your tutorials, in terms of process and design, provides familiarity and professional credible imagery. With regard to technical quality, you want to have good audio, and in fact, audio quality is your most important technical quality because clarifying audio captures comprehension the most.
There is a positive relationship between how good the audio quality is and how satisfied viewers are. To the viewers, crisp audio is the most important thing to their satisfaction when viewing a video, even more than the quality of the video’s resolution. Authenticity is another important consideration.
Viewers are able to relate better to how relaxed and comfortable you come across on camera, rather than how practiced or scripted you sound. Being relaxed through framing and tone allows viewers to connect and engage. Lastly, videos can be further enhanced with authentic real-world examples, drawing abstract ideas to a more practical use, helping viewers to better identify uses for supporting practical opportunities.
Making effective video tutorial content is an iterative process combining knowing your audience, carefully organizing content, using the right tools, and continuously improving.
If the tutorial message is communicated clearly and effectively, the tutorials will be seen more than just one time, but rather a valuable resource that the user can go back to time and again; this creates ongoing access to resources, builds trust, and increases the brand value over time.
A tutorial strategy resonates when it provides clear instructions to provide factual information to useful knowledge while considering the viewer's challenges and providing alternative ways to help the learner overcome the challenge and retain skills more easily.
Distribution strategies meant to combine several channels, like an advertising strategy, increase reach & viewer interaction and the combined effect of multiple delivery channels further expand the impact of a video tutorial. Ultimately, these video tutorials provide users with immediate access to solutions and insights that can be done in their real-world situations.
Video tutorials support ongoing learning and provide a stigma of community around the content, creating long-term bonds with the audience. From a business perspective, this community creates testimonial, trust, brand loyalty, and engagement levels that increase lifetime value of content. In this time, investing time and effort into engaging and fluent tutorials can help establish meaningful connections with audience and success.