http://www.crsolutionsgroup.com/blog/archives/40-Making-The-Most-of-Social-Media.html

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".

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.

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.

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.

http://www.ExtraordinaryCustomerService.com/public/blank_video_player.png

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).

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.