Video is taking the email marketing world by storm. With consumers all but demanding more video content from the brands they interact with, it’s not surprising that merely adding the word “video” to the subject line of your emails can boost open rates by as much as 6 percent.
Because of that, more companies are using video in email and utilizing powerful video hosting platforms that make the process easier. You can create, upload, and customize your videos in a wide variety of ways, ensuring a convenient experience for your subscribers and a significant increase in audience engagement.
In order to reap the most benefit from video, you must figure out the best way to use it in your email marketing campaigns; there are plenty of mistakes that could not only decrease your results but actually upset your audience in the process.
In this article, we’ll go over some of the most critical aspects of using videos in your emails to improve open rates, get people to be more engaged, and achieve the goals that you set out.
Set the Campaign Goals
Before you can get into the technical details of how to create an email newsletter using video, you need to sit down and figure out precisely what you want to achieve. Without a clear purpose, your video might end up being little more than a distraction that doesn’t offer any real value to your readers.
If you’re trying to drive people to a sales offer, having a video that demonstrates the product in action could be a great way to emphasize its benefits and get people to click through. You could also use videos of people sharing their experiences with your product, which will serve as incredibly powerful social proof that will break down objections and get people to trust you.
You may find that you already have a video that you want to share with your audience, which can work just as well. You just need to determine why you want your subscribers to see it, and what you want them to do once they watch your video.
When you begin by asking questions about your audience and the goals that you want to achieve, you’ll usually come up with much more organic approaches for using video in your emails, and they will be the main value-driving force instead of a forced addition.
Sometimes, you might find that you don’t need a long video at all. Having an interactive element is always a good idea, but if your main goal is to get people to go to your store as soon as possible, you might be better off using animation or a GIF to draw and direct attention to the call to action.
Creating Videos
Even though the process of setting up a video to appear in your emails can be relatively straightforward, you will need to create a high-quality and relevant video if you want the effort to be worth your time.
If you have a video ready to go, that’s great. But if you don’t, make sure that you think through what you need the video to include and how you want to shoot it to fit the purpose of the email, as well as your brand image.
Luckily, at least from a technical standpoint, the process doesn’t have to be complicated. Even complete beginners can shoot high-quality videos using little to no equipment that they don’t already have, at least as long as you understand the basic principles of video production and are thorough in your process.
Just grab your smartphone or a laptop with a good camera, record the footage in sequential order, and use a video editing tool for putting everything together.
Most of the time, videos that are designed for email will have a very specific purpose – they will either inform your readers about a subject, introduce a product, or serve as sales elements that help drive people to your landing page.
Therefore, you should try to make your videos focused and to the point, so that people actually watch them and want to learn more when they are finished.
How to Embed Videos
Many marketers are hesitant about including videos in their emails because they’re not exactly sure how to make that happen. And the truth is, some of the more technical options can be a bit tricky, especially when trying them for the first time.
However, even less tech-savvy marketers can take advantage of videos, or at least images that mimic the visual aspects of video, quickly and without much hassle.
But what are your options when you want to make videos a part of your email marketing efforts?
Well, the simplest and most straightforward solution is using a static image with a play button that is linked to your landing page. Now, this approach is a bit sneaky, because you’re tricking people into clicking through to your site, but if you reward them with the actual video and make sure that it’s worth their while, you won’t get too many complaints.
If you only need to use a short clip and don’t need sound, you could use a GIF to create motion and the appearance of a video, which will make your emails stand out and grab the attention of the reader.
For best results, you should consider linking to your landing page with the full video and adding a play button overlay over the GIF as well so that people are more likely to click through.
Now, it is technically possible to include actual full videos in an email. But only those that support HTML5 will be able to see them. However, even if people don’t see the video, they are still likely to see an image that looks like a video, which could be made clickable and funnel readers into a landing page.
Adding a Personal Touch
Creating effective videos is a challenging process, not just because of the various technical challenges, but also because you can’t just use a cookie-cutter solution and expect to achieve good results.
In fact, if you want your video to be successful, you must make sure that the videos you end up using in your emails are a reflection of what your brand and your product represent.
Your audience is likely accustomed to a certain voice and aesthetic when interacting with your brand, so while the content of the videos should still be the primary focus, you should consider how the videos will represent your brand as well.
If you’re speaking on the videos yourself, you should allow your personality to shine through, as that will make it easier for the viewers to connect with your message and trust you. It’s also important to use branding elements that will help drive home your points and will ensure that the videos form associations with what your company is all about.
Make Sure the Video Fits the Medium
There’s a wide variety of online platforms that are dedicated solely to hosting videos. Each of them has its own audience and even guidelines that the videos must adhere to if they want to have a chance of breaking through the clutter.
Therefore, it’s important to consider how your video will fit into the medium that you are using. When it comes to email, you should also consider how the video will look on different screens.
For instance, most B2B audiences tend to read emails and consume videos on a larger screen, which means that you should make sure that your videos have high quality. Meanwhile, B2C audiences are much more likely to read emails on their phone, which means that you should choose a platform that can accommodate their needs.
Use the Word ‘Video’ in the Subject Line
We already discussed the fact that just how big of an impact the word ‘video’ can have on the success of your email marketing campaigns.
People get excited about watching a video instead of reading through a long block of text, so you should make sure that you lead with the fact that the email contains a video.
Simply adding the word ‘video’ to your subject line can provide a significant boost to your open rates and increase the percentage of people that watch it.
Share it for More Impact
Your videos are an excellent addition to your emails, but to make sure that the effort you put into creating them pays off, make an effort to share the videos yourself as well.
If you have a following on social media platforms, share your video there to increase its exposure. You might find that it helps to increase the number of subscribers and customers without you needing to do almost anything else.
Videos are one of the most popular forms of content for a reason – people love watching and sharing them, so by merely getting your video in front of a targeted audience, you will be in a good position to get a lot of views.
A/B Test and Measure Your Results
When it comes to email marketing, you can only use the experiences of others as guidelines, since there are simply too many variables that are different between industries and audiences to guarantee consistent results.
The only way to ensure that your videos perform well in your emails is to continually perform A/B split tests and optimize your campaigns until you discover what your audience prefers.
Luckily, A/B testing emails don’t have to be a complicated process, as there are plenty of tools designed that can help automate a lot of the tasks involved.
Wrapping Up
Using videos in email marketing has become a trend that spans across industries – with consumers demanding more video content, it’s only natural that companies have found ways how to satisfy this demand for their subscribers as well.
Using the tips mentioned above, you will be well on your way to crafting powerful video email marketing campaigns of your own, increasing your open rates, and driving people to take action.
