Video Email Marketing - How to Do It and Why You Need It

Email marketing is one of the most important components of digital marketing nowadays and probably the most cost-effective, seeing as its ROI is easily measurable and it's actually pretty great, according to the stats:

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Now, email marketing might be great, but there's another component that most people don't think of and has a great impact when it comes to conversion and reaching goals, no matter what those are, and it's video marketing.

So, imagine combining those two marketing techniques.
It should be very fruitful, right?

YES & NO.

You may find the best email marketing and marketing automation platform for video email marketing, like Moosend, one of the best free email marketing services, you may know all there is to know about video SEO, but… Do you really know how and why you need to embed video in your email marketing campaigns?

What is more, do you know how to do it without using HTML5?
Let's see a thing or two.

What Is Video Email Marketing?

Video marketing is one of the best ways to reach your targets and get better results conversion-wise. Why, you may ask.

Videos can engage way better than text or an ad. It's better for prospects to watch and digest small bits and pieces of content and information, rather than reading blocks and blocks of text.

This is the reason why video marketing-and, by extension, the field we're looking at today, i.e. video email marketing-has more potential to reach your target audience than simple marketing or email marketing, in our case.

It's easier to commit to a moving picture, after all. We all know it and we all do it.

Why Video Email Marketing?

Apart from making pieces of information more digestible, videos can give the illusion that one will actually learn faster just by looking at the screen-especially if the video is short enough to match your niche.

Videos can either be sped up or showcase things as they happen, making the watcher able to estimate the length and actual energy they have to put into the task described by the videos. For example, I love watching makeup tutorials. I know right off the bat that when a tutorial is longer than 30 minutes, I just don't need it.

Now, since I know what the real-time value of these 30 minutes really is, I know what the conversation this video will create will be like. More or less, at least. This means that I know what I'm clicking to see.

Now imagine what this can do for an email's Click-Through Rate (CTR).

Let's assume, for example, that you partner up with one of your prospects' favorite social media influencers and you put the word "Video" in your email subject line and then the name of the influencer.

The CTR is going to be amazing, trust me on that one.

And let's assume that by clicking on the video image, the prospect gets redirected to a landing page-more on that in a second-where they can see their favorite influencer. That kind of social proof will work wonders for your overall conversion rate.

And of course I can't stress the importance of having your SEO endeavors meet some goals you've set for your business!

Video Email Marketing: The Data

The first things to do when planning your video email campaign is to think, study and segment. Videos may work, but do you need your campaign and product to go viral at this point in time?

Does your overall strategy support video email marketing? What about the elements that you're going to use?

Being concise when it comes to your brand's tone and message is the most important thing you can do when faced with decisions like the one I'm referring to. You don't want to be a victim of simply too many videos, as nobody is going to click on something they've already seen you do a million times.

But the more important thing to take into consideration is the user's intent: Does video cut it? Will the users be satisfied with you using video to give out information on yourself and your business? Will it prevent customer churn, if that's your end goal?

Study your competitors and your data and you'll have your answers on the way your videos need to be made, the length of your videos and the reasons your prospects and/or customers like to watch or love to hate them.

How Are You Going to Do It?

As I mentioned above, not every email client supports HTML5 and there are some fundamental issues with that one.

So, in order for marketers to actually use video in their email marketing campaigns and make the most out of this golden opportunity, email marketing and marketing automation platforms and marketers alike have come up with a trick or two, not letting technical difficulties stop them.

Static Images

The oldest trick in a marketer's book, static images with a play button that link to the actual video is one of the simplest ways to create a video email marketing campaign.

It can help with your click-through rates-who wouldn't be curious enough to click on that image after all? As well as your lead-gen game, your conversion, pretty much anything!

Combine that static image with a fancy landing page, actionable verbs and a CTA that stands out, you're guaranteed to reach your goals, lead-gen or conversion-wise, and don't forget you can easily create static images with PixTeller.

Use GIFs

I know this is far from using actual video and perhaps the static image plan seemed closer to that, but it's a pretty good all-around solution.

GIFs are a pretty fun and playful way to convey a marketing message. Use PixTeller GIF creator and just make sure to put all the information you may need to show, on the first frame of your GIF. Some email clients-luckily not too many of them-don't support GIFs, sadly.

The Actual Video Embed

Of course, there are some email clients that play well with your HTML5, or maybe, just maybe, you know how to make it work all on your own. In that case, please do go ahead and embed the actual video in your email.

Just make sure that most of your prospects use the email clients that will allow them to actually see your video, otherwise it's all going to go to waste. But all that isn't about enough, seeing as you may know what to do and how to do it, but how are you going to be sure that you're doing everything right?

Some Best Practices

Apart from using the word "video" in your email subject line, that can increase your open rates, there are some more best practices that are much too good and useful for you not to know. So, let's go see what those are!

Autoplay Who?

Autoplay is one of the things that actually don't work and can be quite annoying. You see, users haven't specifically asked to watch your video, so why should it play instantly? Right?

Not exactly. Autoplay can be bothersome, but users have already clicked play on a static image. It doesn't actually seem right for them to have to click again.

Your best and safest bet would be to enable users to click play once and keep the sound off. That way, you'll make sure that nobody will be bothered by the sound and that people will actually watch your videos.

And since the videos will need to have their sound off by default, use captions. That way, your openers will have no excuse and those even slightly interested will watch your video.

Placement

Make sure to write your copy and make it understandable and to-the-point. Don't bother with giving out too much information-that's for your video to do.

You need verbs that are actionable and have a very specific meaning, questions that can be answered with a small "Yes" that will lead the user to clicking onto the static image or GIF that will lead them to the video and a CTA button to match.

Just don't fall into the trap of being too unclear when it comes to the copy you're going to use. Entice and be just as cryptic as needed be, without giving half-truths about what your video is going to entail.

Optimize

Don't create videos that will be larger than the screen they're going to be viewed on. Here's what I mean by that: If most of your prospects open their emails using their phones-your data will be the what's going to determine what's what in that case-then think mobile-first.

So, the device should be the first thing to consider, as nobody wants to view a video that will be too narrow or too wide when it comes to its frame. If you decide to use captions, make sure that the letters are big and bold enough for anyone to be able to read.

Takeaway

You can do billions of things when it comes to video in email marketing. You can use it to promote a local event that will be beneficial to your niche, you can use it to boost your instagram marketing efforts, draw more people onto your landing page...

Customer testimonials can boost sales and explainer videos will make your brand awareness score reach new heights. If you're still not convinced, just keep one thing in mind: No plain text post has ever gone viral as quickly and easily as videos have.

Until next time, Be creative! - Pix'sTory made by Téa Liarokapi

Téa is a content writer working for email marketing software company Moosend and an obsessive writer in general. In her free time, she tries to find new ways to stuff more books in her bookcase and content ideas-and cats-to play with.