There are more than 4 billion email users as of 2023. This number is predicted to reach 4.5 billion by 2025. In today’s competitive market, a basic text-based email might not be enough to grab your audience’s attention. But incorporating videos in your email campaigns can make a difference.
This captivating form of media can elevate your email marketing efforts with improved engagement and increased user interest. According to Campaign Monitor research, videos increase email open rate by 19% and CTR by more than 60%.
But incorporating a video might not be enough, as 64% of users decide to open or delete emails based on the subject line. Therefore, it’s vital to showcase the most important part of your message in the subject line. If you send a video, mention it as well. This simple action can boost open rates by 10%.
Source: Rachael Kay Albers
The Vidyard study says that video reduces inbox fatigue and helps recipients retain more min read email rate compared to text messages. The same research says that 46% of users remember details from text emails, but 59% remember details from videos.
It’s safe to say that video files are a vital part of email campaigns. However, most email service providers limit the size of attached files.
We’ve prepared this guide to help you send videos through email by yourself and with built-in mailing provider services. We split this article into two parts to ease the topic understanding. In the first block, we will show how to send videos through email in the newsletters. In the second part, we provide instructions on how to email a video to a single person or small group with the built-in mailing service tools.
Read on to learn more.
Limits You May Face When Sending Video To Email
While Gmail allows you to send less than 25 MB files, in Outlook it’s 20 MB. If the video size exceeds that limit, it will be sent as the regular file attachment from the service’s cloud.
In some cases, this type of attachment can ruin the whole idea of the letter. Especially, when it comes to business emails, when you want to show the advantages of your new product in a large video.
Sending a Video by Email to Your Newsletter Subscribers
The easiest way to send video emails to a broad audience is to upload them to YouTube and enable a link in your email. In this case, subscribers don’t need to download the video and, therefore, are more likely to open and watch it. Users can copy the link and share email videos with friends, simultaneously expanding your audience reach.
But wait…was there life before streaming?
Source: HULU
Today, you don’t need to worry about how to send a video via email that is too big. You only need to make sure your content is entertaining so users will perform a desired action that fits your goals and key performance indicators in the email marketing funnel.
So, without further ado, let’s examine how to send large video files via email in more detail.
1. Upload the Video on YouTube or Another Streaming Service
Instead of struggling to email a video that is too large, you can upload it to any streaming platform like YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, etc. These platforms have similar interfaces when it comes to uploading and sharing, so you can use this YouTube instruction:
- Log in to YouTube.
- Go to the top right and click on the icon with a camera.
- Upload the content on the platform and change the video name.
- Pick a suitable thumbnail or download a custom one. We encourage you to create a custom one. There you can set an intriguing image with text. Catchy thumbnails can improve subscriber engagement by up to 41%.
- Set the visibility to the Unlisted, so only people with the link access can see this video. If you want it to be accessible to everyone, set Public visibility.
Once you upload the video to the streaming service, open the mailing client to embed the content. It’s the next step in the manual on how to email long videos to your clients.
2. Go to Your Email and Write a Letter With an Intriguing Subject
You need to encourage users to open your emails and watch the video. The more users interact with your mail, the better the sender’s reputation you can achieve. This reputation directly impacts email deliverability, which measures the likelihood of your letters reaching the destination folder.
Write a catchy subject line that prompts users (potential or active customers) to open the letter. Emails with no subject have an open rate of 8%. Most emails in marketing campaigns have a 20% open rate, so neglecting the importance of a catchy subject line will drastically cut your open rate.
Do your best to make it as short as possible since each mailing provider has its optimal subject length limit. Gmail has a 70-character limit, Outlook shows approximately 60-70 signs in the title, while Yahoo limits subject lines to 40-50 symbols. If you can’t keep your subject line within the limit, at least put essential info within 20-40 characters.
Then, write your newsletter copy – it should be bald and short. Make sure it encourages users to perform specific actions. But bear in mind that you shouldn’t scatter user attention with unnecessary details. Keep your copy short, simple, and clear. It will increase the chances that readers will perform the desired action.
Pro tip: Using responsive templates can help you achieve your email marketing goals.
Last but not least, add a thumbnail featuring an intriguing moment from the video. Make sure it’s appealing and emphasizes the copy. Besides drawing prospects’ attention, this approach will help you yield higher conversion rates.
3. Make the Image Clickable
Once you’ve added a thumbnail to the email, make it clickable. When users click or tap it, it will redirect them to the video you’ve uploaded to YouTube.
You don’t need to install a third-party app for this. Why is that? This approach helps you boost digital hygiene since you don’t need to share data with third-party services.
You can send videos through email in your favorite mailing app. We will show you how to make clickable images in Gmail:
- Write the letter and insert the picture by clicking the Insert Photo button that looks like a Polaroid shot.
- Click the mouse right before the picture, hold the left button, and drag across the image until it becomes selected. It turns blue.
1. Click on the Insert Link button or use the Ctrl+K shortcut.
2. Paste the link and click OK to implement changes.
Once you are done, test the message to ensure everything works properly.
4. Send Out a Test Email
After completing the preparation steps on how to email a large video, we recommend you test it. Send it to an email that you have direct access to. It can be your personal or work mail, a colleague’s email, or a dedicated test mail.
Open the letter and double-click on the picture to ensure it redirects you to YouTube. If everything works as intended, you can send videos by email in the company’s newsletter.
You can use this guide to send a video by email with Yahoo, Outlook, and other mailing clients. Item names may vary slightly, but general instructions remain unchanged.
How To Send a Video Through Email to One or Several Recipients
If you want to send a letter to your friends or colleagues (and they can download the attached file), you don’t need to upload a video to YouTube.
Here are short instructions to help you attach the video to an email using Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo:
How To Email Video Files Using Gmail
This instruction explains how to email videos regardless of the device you use. While this isn’t the best option to email a large video file, it’s up to you to decide what option works best for you.
In this case, you need to upload files to the cloud. The recipient will have to download those large video files to watch the content. If you are OK with it, stick to these guidelines:
- Log into your Google account.
- Click on the Compose button.
- You will see the New Message window. Click on the Attach Files.
- Pick and send the video as an email attachment. If its size exceeds 25 Mb, it will be automatically sent as a Google Drive document.
How To Send Large Videos via Email as a Google Drive Attachment
If you want to send a video in Gmail that is already in your Google Cloud, the instructions will slightly differ:
- Log in to your Google account and click the Compose button to open a New Message window.
- Click on the Insert Using Google Drive button. It looks like a triangle.
- Pick the video file to send and choose how to insert it: as a Drive link or an attachment.
- Click on the Upload button.
How To Send a Video Using Yahoo Mail
Yahoo provides you the identical size limit as Google: just 25 Mb. If you are looking at how to send a long video through email with this mailing service provider, you need to use some tricks. Here is how to send video emails that fit in the size limit:
- Log into your Yahoo account.
- Click on the Compose button.
- Click on the Attach files icon that looks like a paperclip.
- Pick the Attach from a computer and select as many videos as you need. Ensure that the single clip meets the size limit.
If you are looking for ways to send a long video through email on Yahoo, we must warn you that Yahoo doesn’t have cloud storage. Stick to the email video size limit or use any third-party cloud service. Ensure that they have enough space to store and email a large video.
If you need to share a large clip, upload it to any preferred cloud and share a link in the message. That’s the only way to send large video files via Yahoo email.
How To Email Large Video Files With Outlook
It’s a mailing client made by the Microsoft team. You can use it as an app for your computer, mobile, or on their website. Instructions on how to send video in email stay the same as with other services:
- Log into your Outlook account and click on the New Message.
- Click on the Attach if the video size is less than 20 Mb. Pick Browse this device to find and add the video to the email.
- Click Upload and Share if a file is larger than 20 Mb. Choose the file and pick the location in the OneDrive cloud. The maximum file size in the OneDrive cloud is 250 Gb.
- Fill in the rest of the fields and click Send.
It is user-friendly instructions on how to send a large video through email via Outlook service.
It’s a mailing client created by the Microsoft team. You can use it as an app for your computer or mobile device. Follow these instructions to email large video files with Outlook:
- Log into your Outlook account and click on the New Message.
- Click on the Attach if the video size is less than 20 Mb. Pick Browse this device to find and add the video to the email.
- Click Upload and Share if a file is larger than 20 Mb. Choose the file and pick the location in the OneDrive cloud. The maximum file size in the OneDrive cloud is 250 GB.
- Fill in the rest of the fields and click Send.
Other Tips on Sending Videos Through Email
If you want to email a large video that is slightly bigger than the size limit of the mailing service, compress it. If you’re a MacOS user, you can do it in the built-in QuickTime video player. For other systems, you should use third-party services. If the video quality doesn’t matter, you can compress it to a 480p file. Use any video space calculator to find out the approximate size of the future file.
Besides, you can compress the video into a zip file. The recipient can download it and unpack it on their computer. This method allows to compress up to 25-30% of the file size making it an efficient way to email a long video.
Create Emails With Your Audience in Mind
When sending videos, keep your intended audience in mind. Consider the types of videos your target audience might like watching and the genres your clients or coworkers could find engaging. For example, if your target audience is primarily young adults, include videos that reference pop culture. If you have a vast and diversified audience, incorporate a video that is simple for a wide range of people to grasp.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I send a video to my clients in a mailing?
Many people are scared to open the attached document even from trustworthy businesses. They are afraid of computer viruses. Thus, the safest way to email a video to a big audience will be to upload it on YouTube and insert a link into the letter. Otherwise, you may face a high bounce rate.
How can I send a large video file?
It depends on whom you want to send the video email. If it’s newsletter mailing, upload it to YouTube and insert the link in the message. If you send emails to colleagues or in the internal corporate newsletter mailing, compress the video, archive it, or upload it to the cloud and send a video link in the message.
How to send videos by email as a document
Ensure that the video size fits the mail provider’s limit. In Google and Yahoo, it’s 25 MB per document, while in Outlook it’s just 20 MB. If the video file is too big to email, compress the video until it fits into this range. In Google and Outlook, you can send a video that is too large if you have enough space on your Google Drive and OneDrive.
