Male Or Female Voice Over Talent? 3 Factors You Should Consider

You have decided that you need an explainer video or a commercial ad to promote your services.

The script is ready and all you need is to find the perfect voice over that will represent your company in front of your audience.

That is not that difficult or is it? Although it seems to be an easy and straightforward process, things might get complicated when you are not sure what you are after male or female voice over talent?

1. Think of your audience

One of the most important factors to consider when deciding between a male and a female voice over talent is your audience.

Does your audience consist mostly of men or women? Once you have answered this question you can make a decision.

If you sell makeup products, for example, you would probably want to use a female voice over talent for your video.

The same principle applies for cars or motorbikes – male voice overs are preferred. Ultimately, the voice artist has to match your audience.

What if the answer is not that straightforward? What would you do if your audience consists of about the same number of women and men? Would you choose a male or a female voice over talent?

2. Product or service type

Essentially, the second factor listed in this post is strictly connected with the first one – your audience. Let’s say you are selling cosmetics.

Usually, cosmetics are addressed to women, so you would use a female voice over talent for your videos.

What happens if the product type does not lead you towards an easy decision?!

At this point, you would probably have to take into consideration aspects such as the emotions you would like to transmit to your clients which leads me to the next factor.

3. What feelings do you want to transmit?

When the above 2 factors are not definitive you have to do a list of all the emotions you would like to communicate through your video.

For instance, you are interested in communicating your audience authority or seriousness. This can be delivered by both a male and a female voice over talent.

However, based on your audience profile and the type of your product you will be able to decide who to go with.

Let’s say, your product should make your clients feel emotions such as calmness, comfort or compassion. I would recommend you to contact a female voice over talent.

Male or female voice over talent? What does research say?

Research undertaken by ConversionXL wanted to find out how “trustworthy” and “attractive” male and female voices were perceived as being in explainer videos.

There were tested four types of voiceovers: professional and nonprofessional male and female voices.

The results have shown that female voiceovers were more trusted by people in comparison with male voices. Professionalism didn’t matter.

With regards to attractiveness, the professional male voiceover was rated as the least attractive.