Posted by Modern consumers get bombarded with marketing material daily, leaving them with little time and short attention spans. This is why businesses need the power of videos to communicate complex ideas in a few seconds. Using videos is one of the most efficient ways to increase conversions. From social media to websites, the presence of a well-made video will give your digital content strategy a boost and get you the engagement you desire.
But what about your email campaigns? Video email marketing is on the rise, empowering brands to improve their email campaign performance and communicate their message effectively. In this article, we’ll explain three common ways to embed videos in your emails and share five amazing tips to step up your video email marketing game in a breeze.
Why Video Email Marketing?
It’s no secret that email marketing comes with an impressive ROI of $36 for every dollar you spend on it. Its popularity and accessibility make it the perfect ally to reach, nurture, and convert your leads. Nevertheless, a simple email alone can’t work miracles. For that, you need powerful CTAs, brilliant visuals, and an attention-grabbing video to seal the deal. Let’s see why.
Videos are easy to digest and share. Including videos in your emails increases engagement since users are more likely to interact with this type of visual content. Subscribers prefer videos because they get all the information they need instantly and without spending too much effort. Moreover, they are able to share it through the social media sharing buttons of your email with just a few clicks. This is an excellent way to increase your video’s visibility and reach a wider audience without even sweating about it.
To get started with video email marketing you first need an email marketing tool that supports video. Reliable and affordable newsletter email software features robust and intuitive email editors with drag-and-drop functionality that lets you add and customize videos and other email elements. And you get to do it in just a few clicks, even with little to no technical skills. You can even include your branding elements to stay loyal to your unique identity. Easy, right?
Well, it may be so, but there are a few things you need to know before you send your video marketing campaigns to your subscribers. Let’s find out all about it!
How to Embed Videos in Emails?
When it comes to adding video content to your emails, there are a few different ways to do it. We present you with the most common ones, along with their advantages and limitations.
1. Embed as an image
This is one of the most popular techniques to promote your video content through email. What you need is a thumbnail image that will function as a video preview. Just make sure that you have already uploaded your video to a video hosting site like Vimeo or YouTube. Then you only have to link it to your image and once recipients click on it, they’ll be redirected to your video.
If you want something fancier than a simple screenshot, you can always use a photo editing tool to create a new cool visual for your video. While this method is simple yet effective, you have to make sure that your linked video images stand out and that they are aligned with the video content. A bad-quality or irrelevant visual may result in fewer clicks and conversions.
2. Insert a video link
Adding a video link to your email can be a piece of cake. However, you can’t just throw a video URL in your email body and expect your audience to click on it. To make it more presentable, you can either take advantage of a URL shortener or use a good old-fashioned hyperlink with a relevant keyword as the anchor text.
While you can always attach a video as a file, doing so might increase the size of your email or even exceed it. Inserting a URL in your email is far more preferable and it will save you the trouble of reducing your video size and quality. We should note, though, that this method comes with downsides, too, seeing that your video will be displayed like any other email link. Therefore, it might not get the visibility it deserves.
3. Embed directly using HTML5
If you don’t want to redirect your subscribers to a new page, you can always put those coding skills into use and embed your video through HTML5. The perks of doing so are many. Embedding a video with HTML can minimize distractions and boost engagement since your subscribers can watch it directly in your email.
However, the process of embedding it is a little tricky. If you aren’t tech-savvy enough, you’ll need someone with technical knowledge to help you out. What’s more, it’s worth mentioning that not every email client supports embedded videos. So, first, you need to make sure that your subscribers will be able to watch your video content; otherwise, your embedding efforts will go in vain.
5 Effective Ways to Skyrocket Your Video Email Marketing Efforts
Now that you know how to add a video to your emails, it’s time to check out some amazing tips to take your video email campaigns to the next level.
1. Create personalized video content
Sending your subscribers generic content is a thing of the past. According to email marketing statistics, personalization can increase your open rate by 29%. Creating highly personalized video messages lets your audience know you appreciate them and makes them feel extra special. This type of personalization helps you build trusting relationships with your readers while making their email experience more memorable. Not only that, but personalized videos incentivize recipients to take action. This is translated into more clicks and views, as well as increased website traffic.
When personalizing your videos, you should take into account the recipient’s stage within your sales funnel. For instance, during the early stages, you’ll want to enhance brand awareness. You can create educational explainer videos that introduce your products or services or make company culture videos that highlight your identity or vision. But if they are at the action stage, video testimonials could prove to be particularly effective in pushing them to take action. No matter what you choose, including customized video experiences in your emails is key to driving more conversions.
2. Place your video below your message
Videos are a powerful method to convey your message and capture attention. However, there’s a thin line between that and distracting readers from key information. Videos are meant to complement your email message and make it more entertaining or educational. So, ensure you place your video below your message and use strong and actionable copy to introduce it. Let’s not forget that the combination of powerful copy and compelling video content offers recipients more engagement options with your emails.
Your subscribers always appreciate having additional context that allows them to decide if they want to invest time in your video content. This doesn’t mean you have to create long-form and complicated messages since they will probably have the opposite effect. Instead, stick to simple, concise, and compelling copy that explains what the video is all about.
Just like Bokksu did in their video email to introduce their new Snack Bites. The CTA directing readers to the video is placed below the email copy that explains what they’ll watch upon clicking. Combine that with the exciting stories of five snack makers across Japan and you can understand why this video email is destined for success.
3. Let your subscribers know you have a video for them
Modern consumers receive numerous emails daily. To grab their attention, you need a smart subject line that stands out in their inbox and invites them to open your email. Adding words like “Flash Sale” or “X% off” is a common sales practice to get more clicks. However, what happens with videos? In this case, the secret ingredient is the word itself.
It might sound a bit counter-intuitive, but your readers must know beforehand this isn’t yet another sales message. As visual creatures, your subscribers will be instantly drawn to something that doesn’t require reading. So, informing them in your email subject line that your email has a video will intrigue them to click even out of curiosity. Alternatively, consider including a corresponding emoji to grab their attention instantly.
For example, MAC Cosmetics knows exactly how to make their email pop. Not only does MAC insert the word “Exclusive” to boost its subject line, but it also adds a clear CTA to increase its performance. When subscribers click on it, they find themselves on MAC’s product page, where the video functions as a guide to choosing the right product.
4. Mind your email video length
Unfortunately enough, a large percentage of your email recipients will spend only a few seconds reading your emails. Your videos are no different. Yes, it might be easier to grab their attention with your video content but this doesn’t mean they won’t drop a 30-minute video as quickly as they hit the play button. So, when it comes to video email marketing, it’s crucial to pay attention to what you embed.
Subscribers can easily be distracted when they look through their inboxes. If you’re planning on using video as a sales tool, you need to limit its length to one or two minutes. Some marketers even argue in favor of keeping it shorter than 60 seconds. Creating short and focused videos can boost your engagement rate significantly compared to longer video content. But let’s back it up with some findings:
In the following example by MeUndies, the brand designed an email campaign to celebrate boldness and share stories that inspire people to get out of their comfort zones. To boost engagement, the company created a unique short video showing a skydiving instructor telling his story before he and his group jump in their favorite underwear. From the innovative idea to the video content and length, everything contributes to making a beautiful video to support the email and promote the brand’s products.
5. Test it all the way
Even if you follow all the right methods to incorporate videos in your emails, it doesn’t mean they’ll resonate with your target audience. Especially for video email marketing newbies, performing A/B tests is an integral part of optimizing your performance. It’s what will tell you whether or not your videos are effective and bring the desired results. More importantly, testing your video email campaigns ensures they render properly on different devices and email clients.
During these tests, you dispatch two email versions to different segments of your email list to check how they respond to each one. Does including the word “video” in your subject line work? Do emails with static images perform better than the ones with embedded videos? What is the ideal video length or placement within the email? These are the types of questions that A/B testing answers so that you understand your recipients’ preferences and send the email version that performs better in terms of open, click-through, and conversion rates.
Supercharging Your Emails with Video
Video content is one of the most efficient tools to market your brand and boost sales in a breeze. Fusing it into your email marketing strategy will not only help you increase recipient engagement but also promote yourself as a creative and fun brand. Whether you go with entertaining or informative videos, we guarantee you that your recipients will love receiving your email campaigns.
To get from video email marketing zero to video email marketing hero, though, you should consider following the above tips. Using clever video ideas that support your promotional efforts will get you closer to attracting new customers and retaining existing ones. Personalizing and testing your video content is also key to making a difference. So, go out there and supercharge your emails with amazing videos to stand out in your subscribers’ full inboxes.