Video email marketing is simple, it’s just including a video in your marketing emails. But this simple change can drastically increase both your open rate and your click-through rate – which is exactly what you want for your marketing emails.
We all get tons of emails every single day, with the majority of them being advertisements from brands. But do you ever actually read or open them in the first place? What if you saw “video” in the subject line?
The word “video” increases email opens by 19%. Video thumbnails can increase clicks by 50%. Video in email also helps SEO by increasing site traffic and clicks – video users get 41% more search traffic.
Videos are intriguing. They capture people’s attention and they’re a convenient way to gather new information – watching a video is much easier (and way more interesting) than reading a block of text. So why not add them to your emails? They’re a rich media format that makes your emails hard to resist.
Video Adds Value to Your Emails
Video is a complement to email. It’s a value add-on that viewers love. You can also use it in pretty much any kind of email you want. Chances are, you probably already have a video that you could easily incorporate into your marketing emails. Here are some examples:
- Use video as bonus content to surprise and delight your subscribers
- Announce an event, new product, or launch with a video
- Provide how-to instructions to go with a recently purchased product
- Incorporate them as a part of your regular newsletters
- Move leads along their customer journey
- Add personalization to your emails with video
- Show company culture
However you decide to use it, always make sure to include “video” in your email subject line.
How to Add Video to Your Emails
Unfortunately, video can’t just be dropped into an email and expected to auto-play once someone opens it. However, there are a few easy options for adding video to your marketing emails.
Use a static image with a play button
This is the easiest option and is most supported across email clients. To do this, simply create a version of your video thumbnail with a play button overlay, add it to your email, and link the image to wherever your video is hosted.
Use a GIF of your video
This is our favorite method and we’ve used it in many of our email newsletters. GIFs are well-supported and pretty popular. They act as a little preview of what’s to come in your video.
Pro tip: We personally like to include a play button overlay on GIFs, as well. This encourages subscribers to click on the GIF (and through to the video). Just make sure you link your video to the GIF just like if you used a static image.
Embed video into your email
If you’re comfortable with HTML5, you can embed your videos directly in your emails. This will be the most natural option, but keep in mind, only about 65% of email clients support HTML5 video. You also can’t easily track clicks (or video views) with this option.
Video Email Marketing Best Practices
Regardless of what method you choose to add video into your marketing emails, here are some best practices to keep in mind:
- Use the word “video” in the subject line
- Place your video below the body of your email
- Enable autoplay with sound off on your videos
- Make sure your video includes captions
- Reduce your thumbnail file size
- Use personalized video content when possible