Video Email Marketing: 6 Ways to Get You Started

Email marketing has been around for years helping brands establish solid relationships with their audiences. 

However, sometimes new marketers consider email to be an old practice and they neglect to develop a solid strategy for their brand. 

While email is one of the oldest digital marketing channels, it still is one of the most cost-effective tools driving the best ROI. That is $55 for every $1 you spend on it.

Email marketing has proven itself to be efficient. However, you need to find the best elements to make it perform. 

If you want to boost your business development, you need to come up with dynamic campaigns to engage your audience.

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Video email marketing, in this case, has enabled marketers to create stunning campaigns with better open and click-through rates. If you want to step up your email marketing game, then it’s time to learn how to combine those powerful marketing tools for better results.

Why is video email marketing effective?

Emails are simple, accessible and almost everyone uses them daily to communicate with their peers and receive updates.

To be more specific, the Radicati Group has predicted that by 2023 the number of emails sent and received per day will be more than 347 billion. This number shows that email marketing will only keep growing. 

As visual creatures with short attention spans, you can also see why video is a popular channel. 

Creating and adding video content on your website can power up your marketing activities. 

However, not everyone is going to notice it and your conversion endeavors might go in vain despite the quality of your content. 

In a study, Wistia discovered that sending emails featuring video content gave them a 300% increase in their click-through rate.

As you can see, videos and emails are a match made in heaven. So, to enjoy the perks of video email selling, make sure your email marketing software allows you to combine their forces. 

If you still haven’t found the right tools, you can always choose one of the available free email marketing services to test them and find the one that suits you best.

How to Use Video In Your Email Marketing Campaigns

1. Come up with a compelling video idea

To get started with video email marketing, you need a compelling idea that will turn into an irresistible piece of content.

From showcasing a new product to sending a thank-you message to your customers, videos can boost the performance of every marketing campaign.

Whatever you choose to create, you always have to keep in mind that your video and your emails should always align.

For instance, sending a random email with a video might seem off to your subscribers. 

However, if you create a promotional video about a new product you’ve teased, your subscribers will know what to expect.

Apart from promotional content, you can also create a variety of other videos such as:

• A welcome video to greet your new subscribers
• An explainer video to show your potential customers what your products/services are about
• A series of how-to videos with valuable tips and tricks
• A product review video to boost your brand credibility and legitimacy

Finding the perfect idea is of paramount importance for a successful video marketing strategy.

Delivering it at the right time with the right email, though, is what will boost your open rates and convert your subscribers.

2. Insert the word “video” in your subject line 

The first thing you need to pay attention to when you start with video email marketing is your subject lines. 

A great subject line is your secret weapon to maximize your conversion rates. This is important because your subscriber’s inbox is going to be full of promotional emails, even from your competitors.

So, how can you turn the tables? As we saw, a video will give you better click-through rates that will lead to conversion. 

However, if you don’t show your subscribers that your email includes a video, then your content will get lost in the clutter.

Adding the word “video” in your subject line is the easiest way to pique your audience’s interest and incentivize them to click. 

As statistics show, showing your audience that you have an amazing video for them can boost your open rate from 7% to 13%. 

Here’s an example from MAC. As you can see, the brand not only uses the word “video” but it also amplifies the message using the word “exclusive.”

3. Embed your videos into your emails

Embedding videos into your emails can happen directly or indirectly. 

When it comes to embedding a video indirectly, your subscribers will have to go to another page to watch it. 

This tactic can help you direct your subscribers to dedicated landing pages where you can convert them.

While this can help you boost your landing page performance, embedding your video directly into your email will save your subscribers the trouble of an extra step.

Allowing your audience to watch the video in their inbox will minimize interruptions and increase their experience. 

Along with an irresistible call-to-action, your email marketing campaign can be a powerful conversion tool to meet your goals.

Here’s how Awesome Merch leverages this tactic to convert their new subscribers into customers:

Just keep in mind that a video directly embedded in your email should follow the maximum email size limits. This way, you’ll avoid spam filters and poor rendering speed.

4. Create an amazing thumbnail

Embedding your videos into your emails is the first step to get started with video email marketing. 

However, just adding them to your email won’t guarantee the success of your campaign. 

To achieve higher viewership, you need to ensure that when your subscribers open your email, they’ll be interested in watching the video.

Since your thumbnail is the first thing they’ll see, you have to invest in an irresistible design that will encourage them to act.

While you might think that creating thumbnails is easy, visual content marketing statistics show that 22% of content marketers considered great design their biggest struggle.

Leaving the play button in a grey background image isn’t going to be appealing. Instead, try to use a thumbnail image that will give a sneak peek of your content.

Here’s an example from Patagonia’s email campaign. See how the brand uses a beautiful shot to excite its audience and give them a hint about its content?

5. Pay attention to video length

While your audio, visuals, and story will capture their attention, your videos should have the appropriate length to avoid tiring your audience.

After all, if your viewer is checking your video through their phone, they are more likely to get distracted by a text or a phone call.

Thus, your mobile-user might not ever reach your CTA and fail to convert. To avoid that, you need to find the perfect length for your video.

According to a study, videos that are 30 seconds or less are more likely to perform better, achieving higher engagement and conversion rates.

While you might want to tell your entire story, opting for a shorter, more focused video will help you convert them easier. 

So, if you manage to grab their attention with a 30-second clip, you can create a CTA to lead them to your website or landing page with your full-length video.

6. Leverage the power of GIFs

GIFs are pretty much everywhere these days. And why shouldn’t they? 

These short sequences are the perfect way to make a video more interesting, adding motion and offering your audience the chance to take a break.

When you make a GIF and insert it into your emails, you can give your subscribers a whole new experience. 

If you think that GIFs are only good for humor, then you are really missing out on the opportunity to convey ideas in a more engaging and entertaining way.

A sequence that supports your email copy will help you boost your brand image and distinguish you from all those “boring” emails.

Brands like Burberry have leveraged this selling tactic to promote their new products, giving their subscribers a fresh approach.

Creating engaging content for your emails will help you boost your customer lifecycle marketing efforts. 

So, if you are still hesitant about incorporating full videos into your email marketing campaigns, start with a few GIFs to see how they perform.

Takeaway

Combining videos and email marketing will help you engage with your potential customers better and show them the value of your brand. 

That’s why you need to find the best tactics to get started with video email marketing as soon as possible. 

After reading this article, we hope that you will have the knowledge to create an effective strategy to rock your business. 

And while there are more ways to use videos in email, learning the basics will help you get started in video email marketing and give you amazing results.

Now it’s your turn! We’d love to hear your thoughts about video email marketing so feel free to leave us a comment in the section below!