Digital marketers who embed videos into their email marketing campaigns are able to reap countless benefits from this modernized approach. Video marketing is a great way to try to increase conversions, brand awareness or help educate customers and clients. According to eMarketer, approximately half of the marketers who used video in email campaigns saw increased click-through rates, increased time spent reading the email, and increased sharing.
If you haven’t included video in your marketing emails yet, check out the tips below to get started.
USE EMAIL TEMPLATES
One mistake that is often made is ignoring different display options. Email can display differently in numerous email programs, and some email programs will even automatically block images. This is why it’s valuable to use an email template and insert content, rather than uploading an image.
Another tip for ensuring the email can be viewed as intended, is to add a “View as webpage” link to the top of the email. This helps those who have issues displaying the content view the full email the way it was designed.
EMBED VIDEOS WITH HTML5
HTML5 is the latest trend for embedding videos into emails. HTML5 creates great interaction with the user with qualities like the video-playing feature within web pages and improved functionality. While iOS devices do not support Flash, Apple Mail 4, 5, or 6, iPhone Mail, iPad Mail, and Outlook support HTML5 videos. This is crucial because content is now viewed more often on mobile devices, rather than your typical desktop computer.
DON’T USE AUTOPLAY
Many viewers don’t enjoy when a video immediately starts playing, especially if there’s a little bit of text to read first. They could also be in a public place where they don’t want a loud video blaring from their phone, tablet or laptop and this could result in them exiting out of the email completely out of frustration, without returning to it at a later time. When you don’t use autoplay, you allow them to take their time and click on it when they’re ready to view it.
KEEP VIDEOS SHORT
Large videos that go on and on will lose the viewers attention. It’s important to keep them short and interesting around about one to two minutes long. Another way to make the email more interactive and stimulating for viewers is to break up one video into a series of short clips with short text in between. This technique builds excitement and anticipation for what’s next.
TEST IT OUT
Always test emails in which you embed videos or images before the final send off to targeted audiences. To do this, simply send a tester to your co-workers and get feedback on how everything loaded and worked to catch any glitches. This is a good way to also get last minute genuine feedback to make further improvements. The last thing you would want is to plan and put hard work into a campaign that doesn’t end up working.
It’s also a good idea to test using the word “video” in your subject line. This could be a way to attract more click-rates and views, but certain words can be indicated as spam and will never end up in an inbox.
CALL TO ACTION
Make sure to include a call to action at the end of the video that either guides the audience to more content they might like, or encourages them to share the video with their co-workers and friends. Including a call to action can be as simple as prompting a contact form at the end of a video. While you clearly already have their email address, a form can collect even more details to push into your marketing automation or CRM contact records for future lead nurturing and segmentation.
Are there any other tips or tricks your company has used to embed videos that you noticed really worked, or didn’t work? Let us know in the comments section below!
