Videos in Email Newsletter Campaigns | Marketing Videos

Are you asking yourself, "Should I use videos in my email newsletters?" The answer is yes. Your logical next question might be "How do I embed videos in my email newsletters?" That question is a little harder to answer. Let's get into the details.

Why Should My Email Newsletters Include Video?

Video is one of the best ways to connect with a customer. More and more marketers are beginning to realize just how powerful video campaigns can be. Studies have been done which show a steady increase over the last few years of video inclusion in emails. The exact numbers will vary on which study you look at, as wildly as 25% through 60%, but every study reports an increase.

One can certainly argue that, since everyone else is starting to do it, you want to do it too- you'd hate to be on the trailing end of this new marketing strategy, and be the last business sending out plain, dry, old-fashioned emails without videos to your customers. That argument is true, but it lacks a more convincing proof. So, are there any more convincing arguments that explain why videos in email newsletters or ads are so important all of a sudden?

Why Video is So Important

Yes, in fact, there are. A study by the Relevancy Group- the study that found only 25% of companies are using videos in email- went in-depth in their analysis of these companies' reasons and results. This study found that, from the companies that don't already use video in email marketing, 26% were very likely to use it in the future, and over half were at least somewhat likely to. Furthermore, emails that included videos showed the following benefits:

• Increased rate of clicking through to the website (by 55%)
• Increased time spent reading the email (by 44%)
• Increased forwarding and sharing the email (by 41%)
• Increased conversion rate (by 24%)
• Increased generated revenue (by 20%)
• Increased ads sales (by 15%)
• Increased average size of sales orders (by 14%)

We mentioned another finding from this study in a past blog post about ROI- using video boosts monthly revenue by forty percent. What other marketing strategies are you using that show these kinds of amazing gains?

So why isn't everyone doing it already? As it turns out, there are a few technical snags.

How Do I Embed Videos into Email Campaigns?

Unfortunately, actually putting a video file- whether it's on your computer or on YouTube- into an email, isn't all that easy. Emails can display text and images just fine, but anything more advanced than that gets complicated. HTML5, the new standard of coding that allows easier video embedding, isn't supported yet by most email clients. And still other email clients block out the older HTML tags and code that would normally work on webpages.

One workaround is to include an image that looks like a video screen- including the progress bar and play buttons at the bottom and a big play button in the middle. When the user clicks on it, thinking it's a video, it instead links them to a landing page on your website that has the video ready to play. This is far from a perfect solution, however.

These video standards are being worked on, so in the future, this will become less and less of an issue. Currently, it probably depends on what service you're using to manage and send your newsletters. Many of the major ones have better technical workarounds available than you'd be able to find on your own. You'll have to look at your provider's website or call their support line for more information, because at this early stage, there's still no one singular way it's done.

What Videos Work Best in Email Marketing?

You've seen these benefits, and seen that it's possible for you to start this, without delay. So what video do you send your subscribers? Not just any video will work- you need something professional, something finished, and something that reinforces your brand's message.

Studio B Films is a creative agency that focuses on creating these exact sorts of productions. We partner with you to determine your core values, and find the best possible way to get your message across in video. Your company knows what it's doing in your own field- Studio B can help you master video so even more people know it.

Contact Studio B today to talk about how we can work with your business.