Email has become a popular medium that allows marketers to better engage their audience, while encouraging deeper engagement with the company’s digital and print content.
But of greater importance these days is the use of video as a key tool in garnering the attention of consumers. And since businesses send marketing emails to consumers on a regular basis, why not ensure your biggest engagement medium—video—is also included in those emails?
The “why” Factor
Video hosting platform provider Wistia found that using video in email can result in a 300 per cent increase in click-through rates, versus emails without video. Just including the word “video” in your email subject line can boost open rates—by 19 per cent—and lower unsubscribes by 25 per cent (based on a 2021 WordStream blog).
Add to that, HubSpot writer Caroline Forsey said 86 per cent of businesses are now using video as a marketing tactic, and that “roughly two-thirds” of consumers prefer video over text “when learning about new products or services.”
Video remains the key tool for marketers, and particularly during a global pandemic, when trying to attract and hold the attention of consumers for a longer period of time—compared to emails with messages and/or images.
How to Add Video to Emails
Thumbnails
One of the easiest ways to add video to email is by creating a clickable thumbnail. As designers and illustrators will tell you, people often judge books by their covers—and the same can be said for videos and thumbnail images. It is also worth customizing your video thumbnails to increase click-through rates.
GIFs
An alternative to thumbnails are GIFs, which allows marketers to add it to an email, or link it to a blog post or a landing page. However, if you take the GIF route, it may be best to avoid the embed path.
To embed, or not to embed
The GIF route offers the option of embedding a GIF of your video with a call-to-action—or you can embed a still image of your video with the CTA (such as “Play”) so users can be re-routed to the video URL. You can also embed a video within the email using an HTML5 code, but the issue in general with embedding is that it may not be supported by every user.
According to HubSpot, embedded videos are not something major email clients such as Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook support, in which case users will not be able to watch the video within the email, or the email will end up in their spam folder.
Video series
A more interesting and creative approach may be the implementation of a video series that can be used as part of an email campaign. Think Netflix with all its suspense and drama, and then imagine that same feeling with marketing emails.
Marketers can also track the clicks to understand which videos were viewed, and how much of the video was viewed, to better understand which leads are more fruitful to the campaign.
“The goal is to create a story that consumers—your audience—will be intrigued enough to watch,” said Todd Phillips, Director of Innovation at Universus Media Group. “It needs to grab their attention quickly, and deliver on that promise once they click on it.”
Start Your Email Video Marketing Campaign Here
While marketers are well aware of the importance of video, email can sometimes be sidestepped or pushed aside, but experts in the field strongly advise not ignoring this area—or the path of video implementation that you may choose for your marketing campaigns.
Take the time to plan and strategize your approach so you can benefit from a deeper engagement with users and increased email click-through rates.
Want to learn more about utilizing video in your email marketing? Contact us here or call us at 833-399-0147 to make your digital marketing vision come to life.
Universus Media Group is a full-service creative agency. That means we do it all: social media, digital marketing, branding, design — and tons of video production.
