You're right. There isn't a great way to embed video in email. This is because all email providers distribute and display videos differently. But there is a way to "fake" embed a video in your email and increase website traffic at the same time. Chances are you use email every day. You reach out to customer prospects with email, follow up with projects through email, or communicate internally with email. From a marketing perspective, one way to stand out in a crowded email box is to include video in your emails when appropriate. A few ways your business can start to implement video in your email marketing strategy include DIY webcam followup videos in your emails, include a branding video or about us video in your email signature, or include more professional sales videos at the bottom of your email that helps walk your customers through the next steps.
Email Video Thumbnails and Linking to Your Video
Before you get started with adding video to your email marketing, you need to master the art of the "fake" embed or creating a compelling thumbnail that persuades your email recipient to click to view the video. The trick to making a good thumbnail is to include a relevant screenshot from the video you are forwarding and make sure the thumbnail has a play button on it. Between YouTube and other platforms, we have been conditioned to notice play buttons which indicate the image is a thumbnail for a video. Other video marketing platforms like Wistia allows you to embed a thumbnail that looks identical to your video player. Once you have a great thumbnail, the next thing is to embed and link it to your video. Most email platforms allow you to insert an image into the body of the email and then by highlighting the image, you're able to add a link. Where your thumbnail links to is important as well. Instead of linking directly to a video host site like YouTube or Vimeo, we recommend embedding the video on a specific page on your website. If you're sending a Branding Video or About Us Video, you should have those videos embedded on appropriate pages. This will help boost traffic to your site, keep your customer from getting distracted from other videos, and allow you to put a form to capture contact info if needed.
DIY Follow Up Videos
The first type of video we recommend for businesses to use in email is the DIY follow up video. In this do-it-yourself video, you can use a webcam to record yourself talking directly to the customer. Here you can thank them for their time or purchase, follow-up with a video voicemail if you tried calling and left a message, or if you haven't met in-person, you can simply introduce yourself and allow them to put a face to a name. There are countless ways to create a DIY email video, but the main objective is to let your personality shine through and be as authentic as possible.
Branding Videos and About Us Videos in Email
The second type of video that is popular among email video users is the Branding Video or About Us video. When you first create your Branding Video, we recommend making it a big deal and release it to as many of your contacts as possible. On this initial release, you should embed a medium to larger size thumbnail in the email and make the email all about the video. Once the initial wave of distributing your video through email dies down, we then recommend utilizing the video in your email signature. You can make a smaller and wider image that has more of a call-to-action like "Watch our video to learn more about us" with an element from your video thumbnail within that image. Including your video in your email signature will help differentiate you from other emails and give your customers a simple step to learning more about your brand or company.
Targeted Sales Videos
The third way to utilize video in your email marketing is to be more targeted with professional videos that help you better communicate to customers along the buyer's journey or sales funnel. These can range from attention grabbing commercials in the awareness stage to testimonials in the consideration stage. The goal here is to be consistent. These emails can be automated or more personal. We recommend you still have written text in these emails so that a viewer can read if they don't feel like watching the video. By having a video and text, you'll allow your email recipient flexibility in the way that they wish to consume the information. Read more about sales videos here.
Although video in email marketing has been growing, most businesses are still behind on using this technique. The reasons could be due to not knowing where to start or being worried that it'll hurt their email marketing efforts rather than help. According to SuperOffice, the word "Video" in your subject line can increase open rates by 6%. Even without the word "Video" in your subject line, Campaign Monitor says that video can increase open rates by 19% and click rates by 65% while reducing unsubscribe rates by 26%. If you are not using video in your email marketing campaigns, you might be missing out on more website traffic and ultimately more sales.
Does some of this seem overwhelming? We can help. Captivated Content specializes in video marketing campaigns from creative to production to strategy on how to best implement your videos in your overall marketing efforts. We can help create those custom thumbnails and help coach how to embed them into your email. Simply contact us to get get the conversation started.
