Brands are finding it difficult to reach customers’ inboxes as 21% of legitimate emails are ending up in spam folders.

Other companies have difficulty crafting Emails that will engage the reader. If customers aren’t engaged, then the company’s email marketing stats will drop.

In this blog post, we will explain how you can make your email content more engaging by using video email marketing strategies, benefits and techniques.

This article will teach you how to add videos to your emails (using the correct encoding language and format), as well as offer tips on how to make the most out of video content in your email marketing campaigns. Finally, we’ll provide some examples of great video email content.

Video in Email Marketing

More people are choosing to watch videos on demand, rather than on television.

This phenomenon where businesses are creating videos is not just limited to famous shows or the newest Netflix series.

As of 2018, 81% of businesses have been using video, which is an 18% increase from 2017.

The reason why videos are more effective than text and static images is because they are more attractive and engaging. You are also able to convey more information in a shorter amount of time.

Video is processed by the brain 60,000 times faster than text, making it more memorable and effective.

Embedding Video in Email Marketing Steps

We have compiled a FAQ regarding the various ways to integrate video into your email marketing campaigns, as well as how to avoid any potential issues or technical difficulties.

This series of questions and answers will help you learn how to effectively include video in your email marketing.

1. Campaign Planning

Before you begin your campaign, it is essential to have a solid understanding of its goals.

It will be easier to reach your goals for your campaign once you know the reasoning behind it. Plan your campaign while taking these points into consideration.

  1. Prepare an outline of your campaign with specific marketing strategies.
  2. Make sure to research extensively. Also, get an insight into what your competitors are doing.
  3. Find your target audience base.
  4. Prepare a marketing budget and stick to it.
  5. Come with your to-do list and go step by step.
2. Shoot High-Quality Videos

The quality and resolution of the videos you shoot are important. To get great results, you need to use high-quality recording equipment.

A DSLR camera with good image quality, speed, manual controls, and quality optics is what you need. You can also use one of the many video recording apps available.

3. Keep it Clear and Precise

It is important to keep your videos short and to the point when using email marketing, as this will help ensure that your audience receives your message quickly and clearly. Videos that are too long are unlikely to be watched by potential customers.

It is not recommended to include large videos in email marketing as people are likely to lose interest after a minute or two.

It is also important to keep your video emails short, relevant, and interesting in order to be successful in video email marketing.

There are a few ways to make your video size smaller by using different compression tools.

4. Increase its Visibility

It is important that you make your video visible to as many people as possible by sharing it on platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo. These platforms are not only free to use, but they can also be very effective in terms of generating leads, driving traffic, and promoting your brand.

5. Test it

After you finish creating your video, it is important to test it before you share it with a larger audience. A good way to do this is to share it with your friends or with a group of people whose opinion you trust, and ask for their feedback.

The feedback you receive from them will be honest and helpful in making any needed corrections.

6. Preview

When you add a video to your email, check that it works on multiple devices before sending it to your customers.

This will allow you to identify any mistakes in your video and fix them before your customer sees it.

Now that you know the professional tips on getting started with video email marketing, the next step is to learn about ways to make your video email effective in the long run of business.

The Best Language for Embedding Videos into Email

After producing and editing your video, you should “encode” it to be compatible with different email requirements. This process is called “video encoding.”

The best language to use when embedding videos in emails is HTML5, which is used by 78.3% of websites, according to the study conducted by w3techs.com in July 2019.

Here is why HTML5 is the best language for video email marketing:

  • Mobile Friendly
  • Cross-Browser Compatibility and responsive behavior, unlike Flash, which is not supported on every browser
  • No need for plugins or external tools to play HTML5 videos, contrary to Flash

Email Clients that Support Videos in Email

There are only 5 email clients that support HTML5 encoded videos in emails:

  • Apple Mail
  • Outlook for Mac
  • iOC 10+, Native Client
  • Samsung Galaxy, Native Client
  • Thunderbird

If an email client does not support HTML5 videos, GIFs or static images are displayed instead.

It is important to use a GIF as a fallback for HTML5 videos in email so that it can appear in email clients that do not support videos.

An animated GIF is an image file that contains several images or frames in a single file and is played in a sequence. The advantage of an animated GIF over other video formats is that they require less bandwidth and can be played automatically on web pages without the need for special player software. And to have an image to fall back on for the few email clients that don’t support animated GIFs.

The email from Soapbox included a video that could be played without leaving the email due to the use of HTML5.

This is a single tap in video email.

Soapbox’s video email design is uncluttered and makes the video the focal point.

The email design focusing on the video draws the subscriber’s attention to it, letting them know that it should be played. The accompanying description and call to action are both brief and to the point.

The Best Video Format for Email

Only three video formats are supported by HTML5: MP4, WebM, and OGG.

Although there are many video formats, MP4 is the best to use when emailing since it is compatible with the majority of portable devices and doesn’t sacrifice quality.

Although MP4 is not the only video format that can be used in email marketing, it is the most reliable choice because Apple only supports MP4 in their email clients due to intellectual property issues.

Putting GIFs in Emails

Animated GIFs and PNGs are commonly used in video email marketing, since most email clients support simple GIF animation.

Although GIF and PNG videos don’t have sound, they are more interesting to watch than static images.

Adding a Video To My Email Signature

You can add a video to your email signature by using a trick.

Here’s how you can add a video to your email signature:

  1. Create a video thumbnail image
  2. Add a play button on your static thumbnail image to make it look more like a video
  3. Resize your image to fit in your email signature (scale it down)
  4. Go to the “Settings” section in your email account
  5. Access to the “Signature” section
  6. Add your thumbnail image
  7. Link your image to the hosted video
  8. Test your new email signature

Adding a video to your email signature is a great way to make your emails stand out.Email signature applications that allow you to add videos are easy to find and use.

Benefits of Embedding Video in Email Marketing

1. Grabs Attention Easily

Although great copywriting is essential, sometimes it is not enough on its own. Videos are key to your email marketing plan because they are more likely to capture attention than other visual elements used in emails.

Videos in emails help catch the customer’s attention and also move things along more quickly. In other words, people who get emails with videos embedded in them are more likely to be interested than those who just get plain text emails.

Including video in your email campaigns is a great way to make a lasting impression on your customers.

2. Saves Time

When you include a video in an email, it saves time for both you and the person you’re sending it to.

The text is saying that not only does it take less time to deliver information about a product, but the information is also easier to understand.

3. Impeccable Marketing Tool

Videos are very effective in delivering messages and promoting products. Customers usually respond positively to a product after watching its video.

A video builds confidence and facilitates the decision-making process.

4. Enhanced Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

If your video is good, creative, and relevant, it will go viral and your business will be very successful.

An online video becoming popular can lead to a major boost in Google search ranking and search engine optimization.

This is why marketers who use video content in their marketing strategy grow revenue 49% faster than those who don’t.

If you want to increase your revenue and have an advantage over your competitors, here is all the information you need to start using video email marketing.

Video in Email Marketing do’s and dont’s

Go for a video series

A long video can be broken into a series of smaller videos to make it more interesting for subscribers.

This will keep subscribers excited and curious about what’s next.

Try using the word video in the subject line

The subject line is an important factor in the success of an email marketing campaign. Therefore, adding the word “video” to your subject line can make your video more appealing to customers.

This means that more users will open and click on your email.

Include a strong call-to-action (CTA)

The CTA, or call to action, is an important aspect of video email marketing. It encourages your viewers to take action and to share the video with their friends and peer group.

It is imperative that your CTA (call-to-action) is clear and actionable, or your message might be less effective. Here are some features that your CTA should have:

  1. As it encourages a viewer to act, you should use it clearly and precisely. 
  2. Including a social button or contact form at the end of the video is another great way of making your CTA worthwhile.
  3. Sense of urgency always works. Leverage on people’s mentality of FOMO (fear of missing out) and go for CTAs such as “hurry up”, “limited seats”, etc.
  4. Make sure you always follow up with your customers. 
  5. Extract all the contact information of your viewers.

Conclusion

Email and video can be used together to create more effective marketing campaigns.

Email marketing campaigns that include video are more effective than those that don’t.

Know what email design and video production tips will help you appeal to your audience and plan your content accordingly. Keep track of your metrics so you can gauge what is and isn’t working well.

In no time you will be creating content that your readers will find engaging and want to see more of.

Say ‘No’ to Autoplay

Some viewers do not appreciate it when the video starts playing automatically as soon as they open the email. To avoid complaints, make sure that your video is not set to autoplay. This will give viewers the choice to click on the video themselves instead of having it play automatically.

Opt for a Single Tap Feature

Single-tapping is always preferred over double-tapping when including a video because it helps viewers avoid having to open a new browser and then having to tap a second time to play the video.

Include Customer Testimonials and Interviews

One way to increase customer interest is by including testimonials and interviews with existing customers in your video. Genuine feedback from customers will not only attract new customers, but also increase loyalty and customer base.

Add a Personal Touch

If you want to convince customers, it helps to add a personal touch. Instead of talking about your brand directly in the video, try to tap into people’s emotions. This will make them more likely to engage with your brand on a deeper level.

Technical Matters

After reading the text, it is clear that video email marketing is a good way to connect with customers on a personal level. It is also a good way to promote a product. The text goes on to explain how to embed a video into an email.

  • Though email applications such as iOS client, Apple Mail, and Outlook.com will allow recipients to play your video within the email, other platforms like Gmail and the Android devices will end up displaying a fallback image. So, before you embed videos in your email, you must know that not all emails support playing videos within the inbox. Further, it is also important to know which of your subscribers use which platform. If a large chunk of your subscribers uses Apple Mail, Outlook.com, you can go ahead and embed a video in your email.
  • You can embed a video by making use of HTML 5. It is not only robust but offers more options too. Though the support for HTML is limited, according to Email on Acid, 62% of clients in the marketer do support it. 
About the Author Brian Richards

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