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How Can I Send Video Email Messages?


If you're interested in sending video email using a hosting service that has provided you with some HTML to embed, you can certainly include that in your HTML messages.

However, please note that video technologies are generally blocked by ISPs and email clients and so your video may not be playable within an email message.

As a result, it is not advisable to embed a video directly within an email message. Fortunately, there are two alternatives to consider, and either would provide better results:


Sending Video Email Using a Text Link


You can place a text link into your messages, linking to a page containing the actual video.

The link would be added just like any other text link, with hyperlinked keywords for HTML messages, and a full URL address for Plain-Text.

For example, you might describe the video in text, and then include a link using text like "Click to Play the Video".


Sending Video Email Using an Image Linking to a Page


Another alternative allows you to include something in your email that looks like a playable video, but what leads the subscriber to a page containing the actual playable video.

It will require a few more steps than including a text link but should not be difficult:
  1. Load the Video Page and Take a Screenshot

    In your web browser, open the page containing the video you'd like to include in your email.



    Scroll to a point on the page where you can clearly see your video. Then, take a screenshot of the page.
    How to Take a Screenshot

    A screenshot is just a freeze-frame of whatever is on your screen at the point where you hit specified keys on your keyboard.

    Using Windows? Hit the "Print Screen" button.

    Using a Mac? Hold the "Command" and "Shift" buttons and hit "3"
  2. Crop the Screenshot in an Image Editing Program

    After taking your screenshot, open a new file in your preferred image editing program. If you do not have image editing software on your computer, you can also make use of a free image editing website called Picnik. This is completely free to use, and requires no registration or installation.

    Once you've opened the site and the application has loaded, click Upload a Photo. Choose your screenshot to start editing it.

    Once it appears, click the Crop button and select the video:



    Hit Ok when you've selected it - your image should now consist of just a capture of the video itself:



    Under the "Save and Share" tab, click Save Photo. Save the file somewhere on your hard drive you'll be able to find easily in just a few minutes.
  3. Upload the Image to Your Website and Add to Email

    As you would any image you'd like to include in your email messages, upload the image file somewhere on your website or image hosting service and get it's URL address.

    Open your email message in AWeber, and scroll to the "HTML Message" portion of the page.

    Using the image tool, add the image to the message.
  4. Turn the Image into a Link

    The last thing you need to do is transform the image so that when it is clicked on, subscribers are sent to the page containing the video.

    Use the link tool to accomplish this. In the "Title" box enter some text like "Click to Play the Video" so that subscribers with images turned off by default still see an option to play the video.



Still Have Questions?

If after reading this article you still have questions, contact us for a personal response from our Customer Solutions team.

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