Ramp up your email marketing with video

Some people claim that email marketing is dead, but the numbers show otherwise. According to the 2015 State of Marketing report from Salesforce, email is still on top when it comes to marketing tactics. Not only do almost 70 percent of U.S. customers say that email is their preferred method of communication from businesses, but 73 percent of companies say that email is a cornerstone of their overall marketing efforts.

Despite this, many companies still struggle with seeing ROI on email. They report that the open, click through, and conversion rates are still lower than they‘d like. Now there is a growing trend of including another marketing tactic in their email marketing: video.

Video: the new frontier of marketing

Video has been an important part of most marketing campaigns for years; after all, we’ve been watching commercials on TV since the 1940s. Online videos are becoming one of the most popular types of content. More than 100 million users watch online videos every day, and about half of all users watch at least one online video per month.

Video has a number of advantages over other forms of marketing. Research shows that most people only retain about 10 percent of what they read; when they watch the same information presented in a video, the retention rate soars to 95 percent. Other advantages of video include the chance to be more creative, tell a story, humanize your brand, and provide a visual explanation of complex concepts.

Most marketing videos are shared on company websites, or video hosting sites like YouTube, and shared on social media. These methods can be very effective, but consider your own social media feeds. Do you watch every video that your friends post? It’s easy to get lost in the shuffle, which makes email an attractive option for including video in your business’ marketing plan.

Why video in email works

So how does video effect email marketing?

• Emails with video has an ROI 280 percent higher than that of traditional email
• Emails are forwarded and shared more often when they contain video
• Recipients spend more time reading emails that contain video
• Click through rates increase by more than half when the email contains video
• Conversion rates on video emails increase by almost 25 percent

In short, video gets attention. So what’re you waiting for?

How to do email video right

Effectively using video in email marketing requires more than just embedding a random talking head video of your CEO into your next email campaign and expecting great results. Video/email marketing must be done strategically, and follow a few best practices, in order to get results.

Create a quality video

The better your equipment, the better your videos will look. If you aren’t experienced in making videos, or don’t have the tools you need, hire a professional team to help you.

Keep it short and sweet

Studies show that most people stop watching videos around the one-minute mark. Therefore, your videos should run between 1 to 2 minutes, tops. If you have more to say, consider breaking a longer video down into smaller chunks, or using the email video as a teaser, with a link to the full-length video on another platform.

Set up and close

Even if you’re including video in your email, you still need to write some copy. Set up the video by sharing why you included it, a hint of what viewers can expect, or another enticement to click. And don’t forget a call to action!

Reconsider embedding

It’s tempting to embed your video in the email, but not all email clients (including Yahoo and Gmail) can support embedded video. Try using a GIF or a screenshot with a link instead; it can be just as effective as an embedded video.

Remember email marketing 101

The same rules that apply to email marketing without video still apply when you have one. Avoid using words like “Click here,” that tend to get message sent right to spam filters. In fact, when multiple people in the same company receive the same message with a video, there is a good chance that it will be trapped in the spam firewall, so choose your recipients carefully.

Including video in your email marketing helps get your message out more effectively, and increases response rates. If you do it well, it will be well worth the time and effort.