If your plain marketing emails lack their usual tangy zip, it’s probably time to spice them up with a dollop of video. Video email marketing is an effective way of engaging customers both old and new. It can deepen relationships, promote events, and show new products and services.
So, don’t shy away from using video. Instead, make it your main ingredient. For a quick and easy recipe, check out our guide on how to use video in your email marketing campaign.
The Benefits of Video Email Marketing
The Storyboard Media blog has discussed the importance of video in everything from employer branding to internal communications to B2B sales. So, it should be everyone’s natural inclination to bring the practice of video to email marketing, too.
Of course, data is key here, and a recent survey of professional marketers and consumers found that video marketing should be a tool in everyone’s toolbox:
- 94% of marketers say videos have helped increase user understanding of their product or service, up from 80% in 2015.
- 87% say video gives them a positive ROI, up from 33% in 2015.
- 86% say video has been effective for generating leads, up from 81% in 2019.
- 81% say video has had a direct, positive impact on sales, up from 64% in 2016.
With marketers having so many positive things to say about video, it naturally begs the question: why wouldn’t you incorporate it into direct email marketing?
Indeed, using video in email marketing can deepen your relationship with current and potential customers.
For example, a video tutorial can help clients better understand how to use the product or service they purchased or are considering purchasing. Or a year-end, personalized video can let your customers know how much they mean to you. And an inside look at your company culture, complete with employee interviews, can help position your brand in unique ways.
How to Make Your Video Email Marketing Effective
Not all video is good video. A droning talking head that bores will likely invite stop-button mashing instead of buy-here clicking. That said, you also don’t need to hire the cast and crew of Better Call Saul to craft a series of mosaic montages set to classic pop songs whose lyrics now carry a different context.
Instead, just try being engaging and valuable. Record your screen and voice while navigating new software or an updated feature. Cut together high-quality footage from your latest conference and throw a jazzy score behind it. Repurpose social media content or longer videos to create a little taste of what the recipient will see if they click that link.
Of course, for video marketing via email to be effective, it has to strive towards some measurable goal. For example, you can drive traffic to your website or a specific webpage by making a video thumbnail a clickable link.
Email marketing platforms have different ways of setting up animated embeds, thumbnails, and direct links. So, if you’re not sure exactly how, you should be able to find the information on their website — and I bet once you’re there, you’ll see a video that helps walk you through it.
As of this writing, most email platforms, like Gmail and Yahoo, do not support direct embeds of video into your email. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to leverage video to increase open rates, click-throughs, and conversions.
Video Email Marketing Best Practices and Tips
There are some general rules of thumb regarding effective video email marketing. They can help guide you when you feel lost amid the YouTube thumbnails and Vimeo links.
So, before launching head first without a moment’s preparation, take a moment to read through some best practices and tips:
- Start with a plan: Video is a practice, and for it to be an effective tool in your email marketing campaigns, it needs to work towards some measurable goal. Think about who your target audience is, what they respond to, and what you want them to do.
- Use your subject line: The importance of a subject line should not be understated. It is the first preview of your email and the content therein, and a generic subject line will leave your email unopened and your video content unwatched. Using [Video] or [Watch] in the subject line can let your audience know there’s a video inside that they should [watch].
- Know your target audience (and use email segmentation): You don’t have to send the same video to everyone on your marketing contact list. By building out segments, you can deliver more personalized content that speaks directly to the recipient’s needs.
- Produce high-quality video content: Again, this doesn’t mean that your production has to be expensive, but it has to reach a level of quality that makes people want to watch and continue watching. Sometimes your laptop’s built-in webcam is sufficient, but if you’re trying to wow with pizzaz, consider upping the production values (and then repurposing the content to boost its ROI.)
Using Video in Your Email Marketing Can Engage, Inform, and Delight
When you incorporate the practice of video into your email marketing campaigns, you’re building deeper relationships with current and future customers and positioning your brand to best meet their needs.
If you want to fold in some zip with your email marketing campaigns, reach out to Storyboard Media today. Our spatulas are standing by.