6 Tips for Using Videos to Improve Email Marketing
Employ these tips when including videos in marketing emails to build stronger connections and get even better open and click-through rates.
Image via Brooke CagleHire
With the average person receiving more than 100 emails a day, your messages need to stand out. Incorporating video in your marketing emails is a great way to do this because it provides a unique, interactive experience for recipients, leaving stronger impressions than text and images alone.
In fact, video is the number one type of media in content-focused marketing because it amasses far more engagement and returns than any other medium. Simply including videos in your emails can increase click-through rates by 300% and improve opening rates by more than 200%.
Video content is appealing to us because, while being entertaining, we also receive information quickly and even retain it better. Whether you’re educating your recipient, offering a new product, or simply starting a conversation, videos can make these communications stronger. Additionally, incorporating video will also help develop better brand awareness and recall. Below we will discuss some of the best tips and practices to get the most out of video email marketing.
6 TIPS FOR USING VIDEOS TO IMPROVE EMAIL MARKETING:
ORGANIZE GOALS & TEST EMAILS
REFER TO A LANDING PAGE
CHOOSE A STRONG THUMBNAIL
KEEP VIDEOS SHORT
USE “VIDEO” IN EMAIL SUBJECT LINE
ADD VALUE & PERSONALIZE
1. ORGANIZE GOALS & TEST EMAILS
Image via @kaleidico
Much of how you present and deliver your videos will depend on the type of email campaign it’s apart of. Are you promoting a blog, advertising products, or lead nurturing? Always clarify the goals of the project and evaluate the response (or lack of) when producing any content for your brand or organization. It will help you to stay on track, be smart with your resources, and learn where to improve.
Furthermore, to get the clearest measure of your success with these video email campaigns, ensure everyone receiving your emails, regardless of their mail provider, have the same experience. Always preview and test your emails because the last thing you want is a recipient opening an email with disabled features. Unfortunately, not all email services support embedded videos, so in my opinion that specific method of including video is out. This is why I suggest this next tip, referring recipients to a landing page.
2. REFER TO A LANDING PAGE
As mentioned, video email marketing has been questioned by some because there are concerns about how seamless the delivery is across email providers. One way to solve this problem is to link the video to an image that refers the user to a landing page where it can be viewed.
This is a great option because you’re getting the recipient out of the inbox and interacting with your content. Not only does this drive more traffic to your site, increasing click-through rates, but it gives you the opportunity to make more impressions from that landing page.
Use good ethics here by sending your recipients directly to the video shown in your email. These campaigns are massively rewarding when you build trust with your viewers.
3. CHOOSE A STRONG THUMBNAIL
Don’t just include a link to the video landing page. You’ll want to customize a captivating thumbnail that includes a play button. The image should be a shining representation of the video content. And including a “play” icon tells the human brain that this is image is a video, which makes us more motivated to click on it. Like this sweet mini clip from a music video we produced — play buttons are alluring.
4. KEEP VIDEOS SHORT
We all have incredibly short attention spans and plenty of other content competing for our attention, so make sure your video does not waste a moment’s time. The exact length will obviously depend on the type of video, but I suggest working with shorter lengths in these email campaigns.
The context of a user’s inbox is much different than a platform like YouTube where people consume hours of content. You have to be aware of the user’s mindset. In most cases, videos created by businesses are less than 2 minutes long. However, this could obviously be subject to change depending on your business, target audience, and specific campaign. Just be aware that engagement drops drastically after two minutes. You can learn more about best practices in video production projects here.
5. USE “VIDEO” IN EMAIL SUBJECT LINE
If you are familiar with email marketing at all, you know subject lines are of HUGE importance to opening rates. Some marketers suggested that including the word “video” in the subject line of your emails will lead to more open rates, a reported 200% as aforementioned. Assumedly, this is because people love to consume video (when relevant) for all the reasons we listed in the introduction. Let the recipient know with friendly and casual language that there is a video waiting inside for them that offers value in some way.
6. ADD VALUE & PERSONALIZE
Image: Noble Bison Productions team on set.
Recipients will engage more if your content adds value or educates them in some way that is relevant to them. It’s important to know your audience to employ this. Contextualized outreach and a bit of personalization in each email will pay off, as personalized emails reportedly deliver 6 times higher transaction rates. Ultimately, you’re building trust and rapport with your recipients, and creating customizable content that has a benefit to your specific recipient will obviously garner more engagement and keep them opening your future messages. We get enough spam — add personalized value to your recipients’ inbox, and you’ll surely see greater engagement.
A FEW VIDEO CONCEPTS FOR EMAIL OUTREACH:
The possibilities are endless if you have a backlog of video content on your website, but consider these video ideas to get you started:
Welcome Videos: Welcome your new subscribers, members, donors, clients, etc.
Testimonials: Show prospects what past clients have to say.
Explainers: Explain a product, service, new feature., etc. Read our guide to explainers.
Introduction videos: If a client is assigned a project manager or something/someone of the sort, try using a video for their introduction.
Reminder/Follow up: This could be a lead follow up, or some businesses have success sending reminders to visitors who never finished a video on their website. Reminders are a good example of personalized connections. It shows the recipient that you are thinking specifically of them.
CONCLUSION
Email marketing is one of the many ways that businesses are pivoting during this time. It’s effective because it gives brands an opportunity to deliver highly personalized messages. But again, your emails need to stand out! Incorporating polished videos in your marketing emails can revive your messaging and outreach in a fresh and creative way.
While email seems a tad old school compared to social platforms, it continues to be a popular space to stay connected with people and our interests, both personal and professional. In 2018, Adobe conducted a survey examining consumers and their email interactions, and it showed that we engage with our inboxes more and more every year (17% YoY from 2017). What’s more, is they found that at least 50% of respondents said they prefer to communicate with brands by email. Get creative with your outreach, personalize your messages, and make stronger connections with your people today!
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Image: Noble Bison Productions on set.