How to Use Video in Email Marketing: Tips for Success
Using video in email marketing can significantly enhance engagement and conversion rates. Videos capture attention quickly and convey messages more effectively than text alone. This makes them ideal for demonstrating product features or sharing testimonials. Including a video in an email can increase click-through rates by up to 300%.
Video in Email Marketing: Benefits and Tips
To maximize the impact, ensure your videos are concise, relevant, and mobile-friendly. Personalizing video content and adding a compelling thumbnail can further boost engagement. Additionally, consider embedding the video directly in the email to provide a seamless viewing experience for recipients.
If you’d like to learn more, keep reading this guide to using video in email marketing, the benefits and tips. Cover photo by Solen Feyissa.
Benefits of Using Video in Email Marketing
Incorporating videos into email marketing offers a dynamic way to engage recipients and convey your message more vividly. Videos can boost click-through rates, increase conversion, and provide a more immersive experience, making them a powerful tool for capturing attention and driving action. Let’s take a look at some more benefits you can expect if you choose to use videos as part of your email marketing campaigns.
Increased Open Rate, Click-Through Rate, And ROI
When consumers receive an email, they’re often overwhelmed by big blocks of text. You can make it much easier for them by including a video that does all the work for the viewer.
The recipient will feel more receptive to clicking through and consuming content. In fact, a convincing factor for 88% of individuals to purchase a product or service is watching a video produced by the brand. It follows that once subscribers open the email, they tend to dwell longer to watch an animated GIF version of the video or click through to enjoy the full version.
More Personalized Communication With Customers
While the average consumer is bowled over when you address them by name, there’s so much more you can do when you’re using videos in your emails. You can tailor content with video based on your audience’s needs and preferences, for example.
Video also adds a personal touch when used in mass email campaigns. Subscribers get to look behind the curtain and see and hear the people behind the business. Such a personal touch could be the difference between them choosing to buy from your brand or a competitor.
Incorporating videos can also help in improving ecommerce for manufacturers, as it showcases products and services in a more engaging way, potentially increasing conversion rates.
Increased Social Media Reach (Videos Easily Go Viral)
Including videos in your marketing emails can significantly impact your social media because social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube heavily favor video content. By encouraging subscribers to share video content from your emails on social media, you can reach new potential viewers and followers beyond your email list.
These platforms also make it very easy for a video to go viral. It can also be beneficial if you embed Twitter feed or any other social media feed on the website, encouraging more conversions on your social accounts.
Better Email Deliverability
The success of any email marketing campaign relies heavily on its deliverability. If your emails don’t reach inboxes, all your efforts are wasted. The good news is that there are some great email deliverability tools on the market, and besides them – including a video in your emails can also help. This is because the big email providers, such as Gmail and Outlook, use complex algorithms that filter out spam and unwanted emails.
High engagement rates and low spam complaint rates make your emails more likely to land in your subscribers’ inboxes. Video content provides valuable and engaging content that helps boost engagement rates and reduce spam complaints.
Including a video thumbnail or an animated GIF in your emails helps capture the attention of your subscribers and encourages them to open and engage with your email. This signals to email providers that your email is relevant and valuable, which increases the likelihood of it being delivered.
Enhanced Accessibility with Real-Time Transcription
To further improve engagement, consider adding real-time transcription to your videos. This feature provides a text version of the spoken content in your videos, making it accessible to viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing and those who prefer reading over watching.
Real-time transcription also allows viewers to search for specific content within the video, which can be especially useful in educational or tutorial videos. Integrating this feature ensures that your content reaches a broader audience and caters to diverse preferences.
More Attention and Increased Time on Emails
A video grabs attention, and on average, it retains close to half of its viewers until the end. If the video is shorter, typically under 90 seconds, that number can increase to more than 50%. Video captivates users, keeping them immersed in your content for longer, which ultimately leads to improved conversion rates.
Ways to Use Video in Email Marketing
Exploring various methods of integrating video into email marketing can greatly enhance your communication strategy. From product demos to personalized messages, discover creative ways to use video to captivate your audience and deliver compelling content directly to their inbox.
Announce An Event
Announcing an event using video in email marketing can be a powerful way to engage your audience. Some effective strategies to consider include:
- Event Teasers: Create a short video snippet that highlights key topics or speakers for the upcoming event. Use this teaser in your email to generate excitement and encourage subscribers to learn more about the event.
- Recap: After the event, share a recap video with your email subscribers. Summarize the highlights, key takeaways, and memorable moments. This entices recipients to watch the full event video and stay connected with your brand.
- Venue and Details: In your event-based email campaign, include a video that covers essential details such as venue information, speaker previews, sneak peeks, and travel/accommodation details, if applicable.
Announce A Product Update Or A New Product
Young woman blogger recording video on camera
Source: Freepik
A product launch is always going to be exciting for your business, but it can also be exciting for subscribers too. Invite them to participate in the celebration with a product launch video.
In your product launch video, showcase the product in action and highlight the features, benefits, and unique selling points. Remember to include a clear call to action in the video snippet or email that tells your customers what to do next. It might be visiting a landing page, pre-ordering the product, or signing up for updates.
Whether you’re announcing a product launch, asking for customer reviews, or providing educational content, videos can make your emails more impactful and memorable.
Send Out Newsletters With Video
There are various ways you can include videos with your newsletter, and if you’re not using at least one of them, you’re seriously missing out.
Newsletter video embeds will allow subscribers to catch up on content they might have missed. This is especially important if your subscribers prefer to watch rather than read. A common demographic to which this applies is Gen Z or Millennials.
Another useful and popular way to include videos is to include a round-up of popular videos in your industry. This would be useful if your business doesn’t do many videos.
Include Video In Email Subject Lines
Let your readers know there’s a video to watch in an email by using the word “video” in the subject line. Such an approach will capture more attention and help you create effective video marketing strategies.
Here’s a quick example of a subject line you could use:
Increase your blog traffic (How-to video)
Product/Service Tutorials, Case Studies
If your company sells a product or service, use short crisp videos explaining the different features on offer or use them as product demos. Teaching is one of the best ways to sell because it puts your product or service in front of your target audience and provides value to viewers, so it doesn’t feel like marketing.
Tips For Including Videos in Emails
Including videos in your emails can significantly boost engagement, but it’s crucial to implement them effectively. Here are some practical tips to ensure your video content not only grabs attention but also enhances the overall impact of your email campaigns.
Utilize Captivating Headlines and Eye-Catching Thumbnails
A well-designed thumbnail and thoughtfully crafted headline act as visual hooks, enticing viewers to click and watch the video. They act as a snapshot of the video’s content, whether it’s a tutorial, product review, or vlog. Also, make sure the thumbnail is optimized for different platforms and devices. What looks great on a desktop might lose its charm on a mobile screen.
Additionally, consider using website feedback tools to gather viewer insights on thumbnail effectiveness, which can significantly impact click-through rates.
Keep The Video Short and Choose the Right Video Type
Unless there’s a valid reason for including a longer video in your email, try to keep the video short. Your target audience most likely doesn’t have the time to watch a lengthy video and will be watching it while they work or complete other tasks.
Keep the video length to less than one minute, and then encourage the user to learn more by clicking on a link or going to your site.
Use a Clear Call-To-Action
One of the most important parts of a video in email marketing is the call to action. Aim to make it actionable, clear, and concise.
Think about what you want your viewers to do after watching your video. Do you want them to share the content online, sign up for an event, make a purchase, or something else? No matter the action, make sure to tell the viewer to click through your email and where they can do it.
For the best results, make your CTA simple and prominent. Underneath your video or at the bottom of the email are ideal locations.
Optimize the Video for Mobile
Not all email recipients are going to open your emails from their desktops. With a large percentage of people regularly using smartphones to check inboxes, it makes sense to optimize video for mobile.
Images and videos often slow down email loading time and consume data but you can avoid these problems by compressing them to reduce their file size. Use the correct format and dimensions for different devices. Also, use alt text and captions in case your videos don’t load properly or your subscribers have disabled them.
Pay Attention to Your Subject Line
People Teamwork Laptop Technology Working Email Concept
A compelling subject line is vital, and it’s one of the easiest ways to encourage users to open your emails. The most effective way is to tell them what’s waiting for them inside.
Create a compelling subject line and it’ll boost the number of open rates and ultimately lead to more conversions. The best subject line is descriptive or personal.
Think about your target audience, what they care about, and what benefit they’ll get from interacting with your email.
Wrapping Up
Incorporating video into your email marketing strategy can significantly boost engagement and conversion rates. By offering dynamic and personalized content, videos capture attention, convey messages more effectively, and increase the chances of action from your audience.
Remember to optimize videos for mobile, use compelling thumbnails, and include clear calls to action. Start experimenting with video in your email campaigns today to see the difference it can make in your marketing efforts.
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