A Match Made in Heaven: How to Use Video Marketing in Your Email Campaigns

More than likely, you’ve heard the statistics about the benefits of video marketing. And you don’t need to be told the countless benefits your business can reap from a well nurtured email list.

But did you know that email and video are even more powerful together? In fact, adding video to your email campaigns can actually triple your click-through rate… and reduce your unsubscribe rate by 75%.

Sounds like a no-brainer, right? But as with all things digital marketing, you’ve got to make sure you’re doing it right.

In this post we’ll guide you through the two most common questions that need to be answered before you can pull off a successful successful video marketing email campaign.

Question #1: Where Do I Put the Actual Video?

Should you directly embed video into your emails – or include a thumbnail with a link that drives traffic to your site or landing page?

At first, it may seem intuitive to embed the video directly in your email. It saves your audience a click and improves the likelihood that they’ll actually watch the video. But even though in-video email seems like the natural choice, there are actually some really compelling reasons why you should prefer the thumbnail approach.

The biggest one is this: If you’re sharing video content with your audience, odds are you want them to take some sort of action once they’ve watched it. Whether that’s downloading additional content, contacting you for a demo, or simply watching more of your videos – these things need to take place within the context of your site.

If you allow people to watch your videos without having to visit your site… they probably won’t visit your site. With that in mind, here’s the ideal practice for video use in emails:

Place a thumbnail image in your email that links to a landing page where the video lives.

There are exceptions to everything, but it’s always good to have someone on your site after a video has been viewed. Having viewers on your turf will be way better for conversions.

Question #2: What Kind of Video(s) Should We Send?

Short and Sweet Powerful

How many times have you said, “Send me a quick email about _____”?

Most forms of internet communication (especially email) have a natural relationship with being short and to the point. So if you think it’s a good idea to send out that 67-minute presentation your IT guy gave about coming improvements to your SaaS product, please stop.

The bottom line: People don’t care for long emails and probably won’t be fond of a lengthy business video before lunch, either.

If you’re planning to share a lot of video marketing content via email, over time you’re going to be asking your audience to commit a lot of their minutes to watching that content. So while it’s okay to share long-form video content every once in a while (think Rand Fishkin’s Whiteboard Fridays), most of the time you should plan to keep things short and to the point. :30 to :90 seconds is the sweet spot.

Don’t Be a One-Hit Wonder

If you’re going to introduce video marketing into your email efforts, why would you stop with just one? A series will help you gain trust and, if you seriously deliver on value, could land your brand in the coveted primary inbox.

Create a series of high-quality, useful videos for your email list, and you may just have an audience that can’t wait for the next installment.

The bottom line: You really can’t go wrong with a video series – and email is the perfect place to share them.

R-E-S-P-E-CTA

No matter what medium or method you choose, a call-to-action (CTA) can always be included when the content is valuable. Even if it’s just to share the email with colleagues, there should be a way for viewers to pay you back.

Without a way for your satisfied audience to give back, you are missing a huge opportunity. With a CTA you can:

Recognize that a lead is ready to talk with sales
Convince them to sign up for a free trial
Educate them further (e.g. download a whitepaper)
Convince them to buy (obvious but…)

The bottom line: A clear CTA will help you measure ROI and engage with your list in powerful ways.

Bonus Tip: Always measure your results. Keeping track of the conversions for your CTA will help you in future campaigns.

Quality Through and Through

It’s becoming a more common practice to weave quality video marketing and email together in beautiful harmony. To stand out (and not get deleted), your content has to be special. Something that hits right at the heart of a pain or behavioral trigger.

Sure, it takes time, effort, and some creative thinking. But with the chance to triple your CTR – there are few things you could do to crank up the impact of your email marketing.