Here’s An Easy Way To Do Video Emails
Email Template Design - Justin Premick - January 30th, 2008 - PermalinkVideos are a great marketing tool — they get your prospects’ attention, they let you show (not just tell) about your products, and they get passed around (helping you to get more subscribers virally).
However, as many people have found out, creating “video emails” by embedding the video directly in an HTML email (like you would on a web page) doesn’t fly. It’s simply not reliable because most email programs disable or strip out the video.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of video’s appeal in your emails!
You just have to get a bit creative…
Easily Send “Video Emails” Using Image Links
In a recent addition to our Knowledge Base, we’ve shown step-by-step how to drive your email subscribers to watch videos that you’ve posted to your site or video hosting sites like YouTube.
A Couple Pointers
I recommend using an image to link to your video — you can use text, too, but the image will naturally draw the eye and increase your response.
That said, not all of your subscribers will have images enabled in their email programs.
So, remember to put appropriate ALT text for your image, so that if they have images turned off, they know there’s a video to click to.
Example:
Have You Used This Tactic?
Has linking to videos this way worked well for you? Have you learned anything along the way that you think our readers could benefit from when creating their own video emails?
Share your thoughts below!
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Email Template Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment response, trackback from your own site, or permalink.
January 30th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Personally, I think I’ll still stick to text e-mails and if I have a video for my reader to watch, I’ll entice them to click on the link to go view it by leading into that with persuasive copy.
You just can’t go wrong with a text e-mail. It’s "The Smartest Thing To Do".
January 30th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
I have used this technique of using an image to link to an email.
Think about creating an image that will get lots of clicks.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:52 am
Another good suggestion there. Using ALT tag to ensure that people click through in case they have their images turned off. I never thought about that — this type of useful tip keeps on bringing me back to this blog.
January 31st, 2008 at 3:22 am
Wow, this is a great tip! I only used a link in the e-mails that drove the subscribers to the website where I had an embedded video. But I reckon the images might be more appealing to the subscribers.
As Takura suggested above I would come back to this blog more often to learn more tricks and tips.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:03 am
Mitch,
A lot of people do use text, no doubt about it. But there’s nothing inherently wrong with HTML - it’s all about creating a compelling and readable message, no matter which format you choose. Some people find HTML more effective at driving response.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:48 am
This is a great idea. Never thought of it and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone use it.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I like the idea of using an image and text link to cater for different readers. I have a few videos on Web 2.0 that I plan to share so this could be a great way to do it. Thanks for the tip - very helpful as always!
January 31st, 2008 at 1:39 pm
That is exactly what I am using to build my "Tips, Tricks & Other Good Stuff" website. For 20 years I’ve been coaching people on fixing their computers, maintaining their computers and running their software. With a $20,000 investment in software and a massive library of Lynda.com video tutorials I have picked up a few things over the years.
Now I offer bite sized video instruction to my clients. No one the past 20 years has every read a book or manual that I gave them. It just sits on their desks. People will accept bite sized 8 minute video clips on how to do stuff. So.. I am providing this to them. And I am taking orders. How do I create a newsletter in Word? No problem.. click here.
How do I create a Logo in Xara Extreme? Easy.. .click here….. I want to create a spreadsheet that will manage my specialized data… ok… click here. I need special formulas…. Fine… click here.
I’m just in the process of moving this to Aweber for automation. Where were you before this? Thanks to Frank Kern… I found you.
Great stuff guys.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Prior to moving over to aweber, we had been trying different tactics for getting open rate up and click through rates us.
Telling people in the title that a "Bob, Watch this video … " got a huge open rate and click through. In the (light) html email we put one picture with a link back to the site. The embedded picture was a screenshot of the video player so it looked like it was built into the email.
Worked for us, we are thinking though of just going back to plain text to increase delivery rates.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Great idea. As soon as I read your blog post, I thought of an image of a video window ready to play. The viewer has to click on a video "play" button to make it play anyway. Out of habit, they will click play and go to the page with your video on it. I like it!
January 31st, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Thanks for this great tip.
I’ve discovered the hard way that embedding videos and even certain images in my newsletters can be problematic. We have to remember that our subscribers do not all own the latest and most up to date computers and software. The more we can give options that allow all levels of tech users to enjoy our content, the better.
January 31st, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I actually use viditalk which lets me embed video right into an email via aweber. the best part is it is completely hosted on their server and the viewing experience is not dependant on the end user’s computer. Dial up people have the same viewing experience as everyone else which is key in my market. Don’t ask me tech questions about how that works - I just know that it does and my subscribers love it and my open rates reflect that (80% and higher)!
P.S. Viditalk isn’t free like YouTube, but it is worth it for my clientbase.
February 2nd, 2008 at 3:01 am
Just a thought about Videos in general. As someone pointed out, we do not all have access to all the resources required to view Videos and even if we do, in some countries, it comes at a price not affordable to many people. As I am one of them, I unfortunately immediatly delete any message that says, "click here to watch video" - Sorry!
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:12 am
I have the same concern as Eleanor. But i think sometimes a video or audio would do better than "just" text.
Sarah mentioned Viditalk. I lloked up there website, but there is no register or order info there to be found. How to uses theire service? Can anybody help me out on this?
February 3rd, 2008 at 10:56 am
PLEASE, you told us what to do but not how to do it (??)
How do you put an image in the email that clicks to the video?
Where can I get an image of a video screen with a play button?
Do I save it to my computer and then import it as a regular graphic whenever I want to use it in my email?
How do I write alt code? Where should the alt code go to when they click it, the You Tube site where my video will play? (I use You Tube.)
If you can respond, I would REALLY appreciate it!
February 4th, 2008 at 9:40 am
Anita,
For step-by-step instructions, check out the Knowledge Base article linked in the article above. For more detailed information on using "ALT" text, take a look at the article describing why you should always include alternative text for images in your email messages.
February 4th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
People comprehend video 60 times better than they comprehend the written word. If your video is short and to the point, it will get your message across in a much more effective way than the same information presented as text only.
It is simple to include an article with the video for those who do not have the ability to watch video on the Internet.
By including persuasive page copy along with your image and ALT text which links to the video, you will have the best of all worlds.
February 6th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
RE: Attaching videos to emails.
You asked for comments on the idea. OK, here’s mine, for what it’s worth.
I generally dislike videos and audios. I can read the info off a web page faster than the vid/aud can play. Plus, it’s silent, so it doesn’t disturb anyone around me. Plus, those things usually take far more time to load than a simple web page. I have absolutely no patience for sitting and waiting five or ten (or twenty!) minutes for a video to load so some guy I never heard of can make his sales pitch at me for something I am not already interested in. I have too much to do as it is. I have stuff pitched at me all day, every day. My attitude is: if you want my attention, make it fast, short and sweet, and let me get on with the next dozen things demanding my attention. Try to grab too much of my time and you’re history. Don’t bother me.
If I read about something in an email or on a website, like it, and really want to see a video, then I welcome a button or link to click on — at my convenience (which is often later) — to see it. Usually, though, I won’t even bother. If I am interested enough from the written material to care about the video, I usually just buy the product without wasting time sitting and waiting on that video.
One thing I really hate is emails and web pages that launch audios or videos immediately on loading. I really resent that! I might be checking emails in a quiet place, like a meeting or a library. Or at night while others are trying to sleep. To have some stupid email launch a noisy audio automatically is the height of self-centered rudeness! The very few times I have encountered those things I close them immediately and never, ever have anything to do with the sender again.
So there. That’s one view from the receiver’s end.
February 6th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Hi Erick,
Thanks for sharing your opinion on video/audio!
You bring up a good point: not everyone responds to video, and for some audiences, text may be the way to go (of course, each of us should test this to see what our subscribers prefer).
I am a bit puzzled by some of your comments, such as the one regarding watching videos from “some guy I never heard of” promoting “something I am not already interested in.”
Since on this blog we discuss permission-based email marketing, we’re making an implicit assumption that the people our users are emailing have requested information directly from them (so they should certainly know who they are) about a particular product/service/business (indicating they are interested in it).
Certainly the relevancy of an email plays a part, but that’s not really unique to video ones — any email campaign needs to be relevant and valuable.
As for the time it takes to load a video, that’s going to vary based on the length of the video and the viewer’s Internet connection - two things that are definitely worth keeping in mind. That said, I can’t imagine many videos taking 20 minutes to load, as you suggest (even if the content was so long, a portion of the video would load and begin to play well before then).
February 6th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Hello higherspa,
don’t know if this was what you were looking for. This is a graphic of a blank video player, and your designer can overlay any image into the screen so it looks like it is a video player ready to go. You would have to work with aweber on how to insert images into the body of the email and make it a link back to your site, where the actual video is hosted.
http://www.ExtraordinaryCustomerService.com/public/blank_video_player.png
February 10th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
The easy way I have found to send video is through UTBE. Yopu place the video on UTUBE and get the exact URL for that video clip.
Then you can embed it into your web page and they click on the video and pl;ays on your page. It is transparent to the consumer that the file is playing from the utube site.
For an email I send the clickble link in text based email. Thye click the link or cut & paste it in their browser and the video plays from utube.
I just started doing this so I have no sample space to detrmine how good it works.
February 12th, 2008 at 8:46 am
I like shuan’s idea of geting a picture of a player, and inserting that into the email.
I would take it one step further and take a snapshot of youtube’s player with my video in it, and insert that into my email. Makes it look like you can play the video from your email.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I read a couple of days back, 20% use AOL. How will this work with your AOL subscribers. Will they still be able to view the video using
their AOL email client. If not, would it be worth losing those subscribers. It seems to me it is better to let all your subscribers click a link and go to a video hosting service.
February 19th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Hi Delton,
What we’re advocating here is not putting the video itself in your email, but rather onto a web page, and then linking to that web page/video from the email.
When someone clicks on the link in the email, they go to the web page/video in their web browser. The email client they use really shouldn’t matter as long as they can click links in it.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Hi all;
Here we go again with the "Battle of the Century"…
In this episode, TEXT-based emails tries to foil its nemesis HTML-based emails, by playing the "better delivery" card!
As with all things marketing related (in fact, as with all things business and life related) it is important to TEST, TEST, TEST what works for you and your subscriber base.
The three most dangerous words are: "I Know That"
While you may know what works for you, and while generally speaking certain "norms" do apply across the board, it is ALWAYS worth testing your assumptions just to make sure you "Still Know That".
February 19th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I made a loading graphic that looks a lot like video from YouTube, and you’re all welcome to use it:
http://www.crsolutionsgroup.com/blog/archives/40-Making-The-Most-of-Social-Media.html
February 27th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
I transcribe for a lot of information marketers and real estate professionals and all of them are discussing this technology and how they use it or will use it in their future marketing campaigns. I think it’s going to be as powerful for business owners as having a web presence was a few years ago.