"Videos for email marketing: A powerful tool added to your belt"

Email marketing is a powerful tool for businesses to connect with their customers and promote their products or services. It’s an inexpensive and effective way to reach a large audience and build relationships with your subscribers. And when it comes to increasing engagement and providing value to your customers, using videos in your email marketing campaigns can be one of the most effective tactics.

Why are videos in email marketing so effective?

1. Videos are more engaging than text alone - Let's face it, we live in a fast-paced world where people are bombarded with information every day. As a result, people are becoming more selective about the content they consume. By incorporating videos into your email marketing campaigns, you can capture your audience's attention and keep them engaged for longer periods of time. Videos are also more visually stimulating than text, and they can help you tell a story or explain a concept in a more compelling way.

2. Videos can convey more information in less time - According to a recent survey, 84% of people say they've been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand's video. That's because videos can provide a lot of information in a short amount of time. For example, if you're launching a new product, you can create a video that showcases its features and benefits, and how it solves a problem for your customers. This can be much more effective than a lengthy email that tries to explain the same thing.

3. Videos can help build trust and credibility - In today's world, trust and credibility are more important than ever. With so many scams and fake products out there, customers are looking for brands they can trust. By creating videos that showcase your products, introduce your team, or provide value to your customers, you can build trust and credibility with your audience. Videos help humanize your brand and create an emotional connection with your customers.

4. Videos Increase conversions - Email marketing is all about conversions. You want your subscribers to take action, whether that's making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or attending an event. Videos can be a powerful tool in driving conversions. For example, if you're promoting a sale or a limited-time offer, you can create a video that highlights the products on sale and provides a sense of urgency. This can be much more effective than a text-only email that simply lists the products on sale.

5. Easily share your videos - Finally, videos are highly shareable. If your subscribers find your video valuable or entertaining, they're more likely to share it with their friends and family. This can help you reach a wider audience and increase your brand awareness.

How to incorporate videos into your email marketing campaigns. Now that we've established why videos are so effective in email marketing, let's look at some tips when creating them.

1. Keep your videos short and sweet - People's attention spans are getting shorter and shorter, so it's important to keep your videos short and sweet. Ideally, your videos should be no longer than 2-3 minutes. This will ensure that your subscribers watch the entire video and don't lose interest.

2. Use a compelling thumbnail image - The thumbnail image or GIF is the first thing your subscribers will see when they receive your email. Make sure it's eye-catching and compelling, so your subscribers are more likely to click on the video and watch it.

3. Personalize your videos - Personalization is a powerful tool in email marketing. By personalizing your videos, you can make your subscribers feel like you're speaking directly to them. For example, you can include their name in the video or tailor the content to their interests or preferences.

3. Add a call-to-action - As with any email marketing campaigns, it's important to include a call-to-action (CTA) in your video. This could be as simple as asking your subscribers to visit your website, sign up for a newsletter, make a purchase, or simply one final note encouraging or reminding them why to contact you. Make sure your CTA is clear and easy to understand, so your subscribers know exactly what you want them to do.

4. Test, measure, and optimize - As with any marketing campaign, it's important to test and measure the effectiveness of your videos. You can use A/B testing to compare different versions of your videos and see which one performs better. You can also use analytics tools to measure the engagement and conversion rates of your videos. Based on these insights, you can optimize your videos to improve their performance.

Now that we know why and what, we really should cover the most confusing or tricky part for most businesses. The HOW. If you have a large enough company to have your own marketing department, surely they can streamline this process and get the results you are looking for, but what if you don't?? Adding videos to emails can be tricky as some email clients or PCs don't support high quality video playback, and most video files used these days can be too large to send via email. Here are a few different ways on how to add a video to your email.

1. Use a GIF - One of the more fun, attention grabbing ways is by using a GIF. A GIF is an animated image that plays in a loop, and it's supported by most email clients. You can create a GIF from a video using a tool like GIPHY, which allows you to upload a video and convert it to a GIF. Once you have your GIF, you can insert it into your email using an image block, then attach a link to your video.

2. Use a video link - Another way to add a video to an email is by including a video link. You can upload your video to a video hosting platform like YouTube or Vimeo, and then include a link to the video in your email. When someone clicks on the link, they'll be taken to the video on the hosting platform where they can watch it. This method is useful when you have a longer video that you don't want to embed directly in your email.

3. Use a landing page - One of the best ways to drive traffic to your website, and include a clean easy way to contact you is to create create a landing page where people can watch the video. A landing page is a standalone web page that's designed to convert visitors into leads or customers. You can create a landing page using a tool like Unbounce or your existing website provider should have tools built in to make one, and then include a link to the landing page in your email. This method allows you to include more information about your video and provides a better viewing experience for your audience.

4. Use an embedded video - Finally, you can embed a video directly in your email using HTML5 video. However, this method is not recommended as many email clients don't support video playback, and videos can make your email file size too large. Moreover, some email clients will automatically block the video from playing, or the email may end up in the spam folder. If you do decide to use this method, make sure to include a fallback image and a link to the video.

In conclusion, Using videos in email marketing is one of the most effective ways to convey critical, and or valuable information to your customers. Videos are more engaging than text alone, they can convey more information in less time, they can help build trust and credibility, they help to increase conversions, and they can be shared easily. By following best practices for incorporating videos into your email marketing campaigns, you can create a campaign that provides value and increases engagement.

So, if you're looking to provide a better viewing experience for your audience, and increase the chances of success for your email campaigns, now is the time to start with video email marketing campaigns. Contact our team at Volare Media to get started.