YouTube may have helped usher in the era, but the video phenomenon is thriving far beyond everyone’s favorite video-sharing site. From traditional websites to blogs, this powerful medium continues to propagate its way across the web as one of the most engaging tools the digital channel has to offer. With marketers constantly seeking ways to get the subscriber’s attention and boost conversions, it is not surprising to see video being coupled with campaigns in the email channel.
Video email offers an attractive way to share a brand message, promote a product, or educate an audience. And when you consider how easy and cheap it is these days to put together a quality production on limited funds and skills, the reasons to finally start putting this tool to use are more compelling than ever. However, when it comes to video email, there is much more than meets the eye.
Want to get the most from your video email efforts? You’re in the right place, because the following tips will help you produce satisfactory results.
If you want video email to be a problematic experience, then go ahead and directly embed or attach videos to your message. It’s not a matter of your ESP having the technology and tools you need to get the job done. It’s about your subscribers not being able to support it in those ways. File size, delivery issues, and the probability of the content being stripped from the message are all factors that could prevent your video from showing up as you intended.
Instead of taking a risk with these unreliable methods, host your video on a website and set up a landing page specially made for subscribers who arrive there to view it. Whether it’s your company site or a third-party destination like YouTube, a website will usually be better equipped to handle this type of content. Until developers start creating mail clients with video email in mind, this is your best bet.
Video email shouldn’t be viewed as an invitation to try to wow your subscribers with a feature-length presentation. You have to keep in mind that the average person has a short attention span and very little time to spend on a given piece of content — no matter how valuable you think it is. The visual component makes video engaging by nature, but it can work against you when you make your content longer and more complex than it needs to be.
While video email can be considered a more advanced form of marketing, the most effective videos are made with simplicity in mind. You want to keep your content short and as to point as possible. Instead of trying to knock one out of the park with special effects and other complex elements, aim for a super-focused message with a strong call to action that grabs the viewer before they grow bored and get the urge to bail.
This is why you should aim to keep your video short and to the point. You might get lucky, but anything that runs over three minutes runs a risk of losing the viewer.
Test Your Campaigns and Measure Your Results
Video is just another leg of an email marketing strategy. Realizing this, you should approach it as you would any other crucial element by making a commitment to testing. Before rolling out a campaign to your entire list, run a test with a small segment. The response you get from your most loyal subscribers could give you an idea of how others might react to your video-based approach.
After you deploy a campaign, refer to your reports to check out the results. Are subscribers opening your messages and clicking through to watch your video? What are they doing afterwards? A combination of your email and web analytics tools can give you the answers to these questions and others. More importantly, they can help you make consistent improvements and create video content that produces good results more often than not.
One day, video email may be as common as the text and image-laced messages that fill the inbox today. For now, it is an immature method that still has a few kinks that need to be worked out. But the immaturity aspect doesn’t make it any less promising. Video email has a lot to offer as is, and can deliver huge benefits to those who know how to make the most it.
Video email offers an attractive way to share a brand message, promote a product, or educate an audience. And when you consider how easy and cheap it is these days to put together a quality production on limited funds and skills, the reasons to finally start putting this tool to use are more compelling than ever. However, when it comes to video email, there is much more than meets the eye.
Want to get the most from your video email efforts? You’re in the right place, because the following tips will help you produce satisfactory results.
1. Don’t Embed or Attach
If you want video email to be a problematic experience, then go ahead and directly embed or attach videos to your message. It’s not a matter of your ESP having the technology and tools you need to get the job done. It’s about your subscribers not being able to support it in those ways. File size, delivery issues, and the probability of the content being stripped from the message are all factors that could prevent your video from showing up as you intended.
Instead of taking a risk with these unreliable methods, host your video on a website and set up a landing page specially made for subscribers who arrive there to view it. Whether it’s your company site or a third-party destination like YouTube, a website will usually be better equipped to handle this type of content. Until developers start creating mail clients with video email in mind, this is your best bet.
2. Keep it Short and Simple
Video email shouldn’t be viewed as an invitation to try to wow your subscribers with a feature-length presentation. You have to keep in mind that the average person has a short attention span and very little time to spend on a given piece of content — no matter how valuable you think it is. The visual component makes video engaging by nature, but it can work against you when you make your content longer and more complex than it needs to be.
While video email can be considered a more advanced form of marketing, the most effective videos are made with simplicity in mind. You want to keep your content short and as to point as possible. Instead of trying to knock one out of the park with special effects and other complex elements, aim for a super-focused message with a strong call to action that grabs the viewer before they grow bored and get the urge to bail.
This is why you should aim to keep your video short and to the point. You might get lucky, but anything that runs over three minutes runs a risk of losing the viewer.
Test Your Campaigns and Measure Your Results
Video is just another leg of an email marketing strategy. Realizing this, you should approach it as you would any other crucial element by making a commitment to testing. Before rolling out a campaign to your entire list, run a test with a small segment. The response you get from your most loyal subscribers could give you an idea of how others might react to your video-based approach.
After you deploy a campaign, refer to your reports to check out the results. Are subscribers opening your messages and clicking through to watch your video? What are they doing afterwards? A combination of your email and web analytics tools can give you the answers to these questions and others. More importantly, they can help you make consistent improvements and create video content that produces good results more often than not.
Conclusion
One day, video email may be as common as the text and image-laced messages that fill the inbox today. For now, it is an immature method that still has a few kinks that need to be worked out. But the immaturity aspect doesn’t make it any less promising. Video email has a lot to offer as is, and can deliver huge benefits to those who know how to make the most it.
