What are Video Emails? Use Cases and Tips on How to send them.
Written by Lidia Vijga
Table of Contents
What is a video email?
Video email definition
Video email refers to the use of video in emails. Video is added to an email via a video link or embedded in the email body. Video helps engage the audience, create a more personalized experience and make emails less text-heavy. Video email is used in video email marketing campaigns, sales, and internal communication.
In the age of accelerated video adoption and remote work, video emails offer a unique and visually stimulating way to share information. Instead of relying solely on text-heavy email content, a video email allows for a more engaging and dynamic experience for both the sender and receiver. Video emails also offer the opportunity to showcase nonverbal communication such as body language and facial expressions, giving the message a more personal touch.
There are many times when sending a video email is the best way to communicate. Companies can use video in email communication to reach out to new customers, engage existing clients or share information and short video messages with colleagues or new employees.
Video emails are heavily used by inside sales teams.
Learn more about inside sales in our article.
What are the benefits of video emails?
There are 6 main benefits of using video emails:
Video emails increase Click-Through Rates
In the past few years, video communication has become more popular than ever before. No wonder a video email provides a significant boost to Click-Through Rate.
Did you know that video emails have been proven to increase CTR by as much as 300% (according to Forester report on video email marketing)?
That’s right, adding video to your email can dramatically increase the likelihood of a recipient engaging with your message.
Video in the subject line increases email open rates
In the age of video streaming and social media platforms, video content has become a mainstay in our daily lives. So it comes as no surprise that including the word video in the subject line can lead to increased open rates.
This can be attributed to human curiosity – we instinctively want to know what kind of video may be waiting for us in our inbox.
So if you add video content to your emails don’t forget to mention that in the email subject lines.
Video emails help build trust and connect with the audience
Adding videos to emails offers a unique and personal way to connect with clients and colleagues and build long term loyalty. The added personal touch of seeing someone’s face and hearing their voice helps establish a deeper level of connection, appeals to people’s emotions, and makes the message feel more genuine and authentic.
In addition, video email allows you to go beyond words on a screen and use body language and tone to convey emotion, making your message more impactful and memorable.
Using video in email makes it easier to consume complex information
Video emails offer a convenient and efficient way to consume information. Unlike traditional text-heavy email content, video email eliminates the need for recipients to read through large blocks of text. With video email, important information can be quickly presented in a more visual way.
Video narration can be a valuable tool for conveying complex visual information, as Scott Berinato shows in his Harvard Business Review article.
Video emails can help reduce the number of in-person meetings
Video emails can save time by allowing team members to quickly respond to client inquiries or give updates on projects without the need for an in-person meeting. This not only saves valuable time but also allows for more efficient communication and collaboration.
Video email also has the added benefit of creating a personal touch, allowing clients and colleagues to see the person behind the message.
Video emails allow tracking engagement better
Gone are the days of relying solely on email open rate and email Click-Through Rate to measure engagement. By using video email, senders can gather much more granular engagement data, such as how many viewers watch the video all the way through, what point they drop off at, and even how many times they replay certain sections. This level of detail allows for a deeper understanding of what is resonating with viewers and what may need to be adjusted in future video emails.
Learn more about the benefits of using video email for sales.
When to use video emails?
Many people think of video emails as a video email marketing tool. While they can certainly be utilized in video email marketing campaigns, they offer a lot more versatility than that.
Here’s a list of the most popular video email use cases:
Use video emails for prospecting to engage new customers
In business, communication is key. It can be difficult for business development representatives to stand out in the highly competitive marketplace, capture the attention of potential clients and generate leads. Video email offers a unique solution for increasing sales engagement. Compared to traditional text emails, a video email offers a more personal touch and can convey emotion in a way that written words cannot.
In addition, video emails have been shown to have higher open rates and higher sales engagement compared to sharing static documents and presentations, resulting in an increased likelihood of conversion. Using video for sales emails can give an edge to savvy business development representatives looking to stand out from the crowd.
Be sure to read our Top 10 video prospecting tips.
Use video emails for sales to increase sales engagement
Video emails help sales representatives and account executives share important information more effectively with existing and potential clients.
In fact, according to a Forrester report on using video in email marketing efforts, buyers are 1.8 times more likely to view a video than read an email.
With video emails, sales representatives and account executives can share video-narrated proposals and sales collateral. This can help grab the attention of prospective and existing clients and make the information easier to digest.
Video emails are perfect for sharing information with product champions and decision-makers. By sharing a video email, sales representatives and account executives can be sure that their pitch and message won’t get lost in translation.
In addition, video emails also provide the opportunity for sales representatives and account executives to include visual aids and product videos that may not be able to be conveyed through traditional text emails. Video content can also add a personal touch, allowing sales representatives and account executives to connect with clients on a personal level, foster stronger relationships and long term loyalty.
As technology continues to advance, video emails are becoming more accessible and easy to use for sales representatives and account executives. Using video emails can not only increase efficiency and strengthen relationships with clients, but it can also give a sales team the edge to increase sales in today’s competitive market.
Learn 15 ways how to use video emails for sales to crush sales targets and quotas.
Use video in email marketing to increase email open rate and engagement
The traditional written marketing email has become outdated in today’s digital world, making it difficult for email marketers to capture the attention of their audience and email subscribers. Video email campaigns offer a fresh and dynamic way to engage with potential customers.
By incorporating video email marketing campaigns in their email marketing strategy, email marketers can significantly increase email open rate and subscriber engagement. Furthermore, video emails allow an email marketer to convey information in a much more visually appealing and captivating way than traditional text-heavy marketing emails.
Whether it be showcasing a new product, delivering company updates, providing educational content or a case study, incorporating video in email marketing has a positive impact on the effectiveness of email marketing. In today’s competitive market, standing out from the vast sea of text-heavy marketing emails is crucial for email marketing success.
Use video emails for internal communication
Sending video emails is a simple way to share information with colleagues and onboard new employees. Unlike traditional text emails, video emails allow you to include visual or audio elements to enhance understanding and increase engagement.
Video emails also allow people watch certain portions of the video, pause, and rewind if needed. Additionally, video emails can save time by replacing the need for physical meetings or conference calls.
In today’s increasingly remote work environment, video emails offer a convenient and interactive way to communicate with colleagues and new hires.
How to send video emails
Share the video via a Vimeo or YouTube link
Copy and paste a video link into your email, don’t forget to add the word “video” in the email subject line and you’re good to go! Often this is the go-to method for video email marketing campaigns. However, email marketers need to remember two things when adding video to emails using this method:
- This method doesn’t guarantee traffic to your website. Instead, recipients who click on the video’s URL will be redirected to the YouTube or Vimeo page where they might explore your video content more but it won’t guarantee that they will visit your website unless you include a CTA button in the video driving them to your website or a landing page.
- Engagement analytics is very limited. You’re practically limited to the number of views and won’t be able to see which recipient engaged with your video and for how long.
Embed videos directly in the email body using HTML code
This method will take a few coding skills but it is doable. Below is the HTML code for adding video to emails. Replace placeholders with the link to your video file and thumbnail.
<video width=”600″ height=”300″ controls poster=”https://website-example.com/thumbnail.jpg” src=”https://website-example.com/video.mp4″ > <!–video fallback–> <a rel=”noopener” target=”_blank” href=”https://website-example.com/” ><img src=”https://website-example.com/thumbnail.jpg” width=”600″ height=”300 /></a> </video>
Support for HTML-embedded videos in emails varies greatly and depends on the combination of the email service providers and recipients devices. Generally, this method gives very inconsistent results due to compatibility issues.
Attach an MP4 file to an email
Simply attach your video file to an email. The video will appear as a downloadable attachment for the recipients. There’re a few downsides to this method:
- Sharing lengthy video files can get problematic due to the large file size.
- There will be no preview thumbnail.
- You won’t be able to track viewer engagement.
- Large files coming from unknown emails can trigger spam filters
Add videos to email using DeckLinks
DeckLinks is a video platform that makes creating video emails pretty simple. Simply upload a video file or a PDF document (which you can video narrate right inside the platform) and add a trackable link to your video email. The video deck link comes with a preview thumbnail that will attract the attention of your audience. And you’ll get access to granular engagement analytics. This valuable data will allow you to see exactly how individual recipients are engaging with your video content.
Conclusion
Video emails are a great way to share information, creative content or video messages with colleagues and onboard new employees.
Using video in email marketing helps email marketers engage their audiences, email subscribers and drive traffic to their websites.
Using video for sales helps sales representatives and account executives to ensure that their product champions have all the information needed to share with decision-makers. Video email allows recipients to pause and rewatch certain portions if needed.
Additionally, video emails can save time by reducing the number of live video calls that people have to take.
So if you’re looking to communicate better in today’s remote work environment, you need to start adding video to your emails.
If you don’t feel comfortable with video, be sure to read our article on video presentation tips and tricks.
Share engaging video emails
Start using video emails for sales, email marketing, and internal communication today to increase engagement and win loyal customers!
New to using video emails? Want to brainstorm some video email ideas with our team?
Hop on a virtual coffee with us! Let’s make a video email together and take your emails to the next level!
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