The average person has 1.75 email accounts and receives upward of 120 emails per day. Emails are tricky — and if they’re there, we read them. As marketers, our job is to ensure that our emails stand out from others so that our target audiences pay close attention to what we have to say.
In a pool of email competition for a client’s attention, it all essentially boils down to how well we can engage target audiences in an exciting, creative manner.
How do we keep people from falling out of love with our emails?
Implementing video-in-email strategies is a great way to stand out and retain an audience’s attention. With the help of 60-to-90 second videos embedded in an email, you’re securing an instant attention grab and presenting your subscribers with something new and desirable.
But to start, you need to have reliable video technology to back any new strategy you implement.
EyeMail founder and Chief Executive Officer Lisa S. Jones took the MailCon stage at its most recent conference to break down the concept of video-in-email and the long-lasting growth opportunities that can stem from using it.
The Past, Present & Future
After uncovering a brief background of how “email” was coined and how emerging technologies have completely diversified and transformed email functionality through the decades, Jones explained why video-in-email makes all email messages more desired for consumption.
What is Video-in-Email?
The term “video-in-email” refers to the embedding of videos directly into the body of emails without attaching files or clicking on a hyperlink to play them. Video-in-email is beneficial to any marketer looking to elevate customer engagement in the inbox.
With video-in-email, mailers can increase the potential to reach larger and untapped audiences while also improving engagement with current customer bases.
As an emerging standard, video-in-email adds immediate value by delivering superior engaging experiences to audiences of all types and backgrounds.
The Benefits of Video-in-Email
Considering that nearly 430 million people worldwide have hearing impairments, video messages can elevate the touchpoints of even the most “unnoticed” audiences with closed captioning.
But that’s not all — videos in emails can also help the 7.8 billion people who have dyslexia and cannot read long-form written content. So essentially, by investing in a dimensional product like video-in-email technology, you’re also being inclusive of populations that seemingly have nothing to do with email marketing.
The Future of Video-in-Email
Did you know that by 2023, some 350 billion emails will be sent each day worldwide? That is an increase of 43 billion more emails in the next two years. What does this mean for marketers?
It always goes back to what we as marketers can do to stand out in how we communicate with clients and prospects via emails. It goes without saying that for every benefit video-in-email has, it has many challenges. Here are a few:
- Large video file sizes
- Email transmission size limitations
- Video doesn’t perform well on all email and mobile clients
And of course, there are the standard delivery formats in:
- Hyperlinks
- Play buttons on thumbnails
- 3-to-5 second GIFs
But what if you could do it better without size limitations and play buttons on thumbnails? Thanks to modern technology, you can send self-playing videos that get activated exactly when a customer opens an email on their mobile or desktop device.
And when it comes to proof, metrics tell the entire story of how video-in-email triumphs all other forms of email communication. With a click-through rate of about 60%, video brings in an additional 40% clicks compared to standard emails.
Then there’s the ultimate value proposition — customer relationships.
3 Ways Video-in-Email Improves Customer Relationships
What’s marketing technology good for if it doesn’t help improve customer touchpoints with your brand? With video-in-email technology, you get three significant benefits:
1. Immediate Attention Grab
- Captures attention within seconds
- The audience engages in the entire message
- Content is easily consumed and retained
2. Enables a Personalized Experience
- Subscribers hear and see an actual person speak
- Videos are more interesting than boxes of black and white text
- People hear excitement which increases the urgency to commit or buy your products
3. Elevated Digital Marketing
- Videos expand an audience base
- Prove a 360-degree brand consistency
- Stands out with an audio-visual experience
- Improves calls to action
- Strengthens brand loyalty
We can all be resistant to tech change — even if that can mean higher open rates, more customer engagement, and increased ROI, but video emails are here to stay. When considering whether you’d like to adopt such technology, keep in mind that viewers retain about 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in text.
Video ties all other marketing efforts together and brings email communications to life. Here are a few ways you can utilize video in your email campaigns:
Customer Communications:
- Product launches
- Sales and marketing
- Updates and notifications
Events:
- Conferences and summits
- Sales events
- Invitations and surveys
Employee Engagement:
- Education and training
- Executive communications
- Health and wellness
Suppose you’ve been impressed by the capabilities of video-in-email. In that case, you can start by establishing goals around video to capture attention, engage audiences, inspire action, and increase your company’s conversions.
If you implement video solutions into your email campaigns, don’t forget to always include a call-to-action and deliver memorable storytelling experiences beyond just selling your products or services.
Do you want to learn about the latest email and omnichannel marketing trends? Stay tuned and connected with MailCon for great content and industry insights.
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