Embedding Video in Email

[Anonymous]

Is anyone directly embedding video inside their emails? We are trying to see if it's a viable option for us, and I wanted to gather some info on best cases for it, if it's viable for email marketing, will it get our emails blocked more often, and how we would go about implementing it. Any input would be much appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Also, would anyone have any experience working with the companies Covideo and BombBomb?

[Anonymous]

Alec Hill​ Hi Alec: Personally, I don't think enough people use video in email, but others will have to jump in and share their thoughts on click thrus, etc. Note:

• Any kind of interactivity in an email gets people attention, but make sure you remember many people open emails on their SmartPhones
• It's important to keep the file small (and the video short) since many people access the web via (other people's wifis) when reading email (I am at Starbucks using their wifi as I write this)
• Consider Progressive Playback so the file doesn't have to download on their phone.

A few years back, Esperian showed these results for video in Email:

• 55% higher revenue per email delivered (online retail A/B test)
• 50% higher clicks compared to prior emails featuring non-embedded video
• Over 1MM incremental video views (online media, A/B test)
• 7.5X more clicks compared to static image player image (A/B test)

Source: Embedded video in email: Best practices Q&A, webinar - Marketing Forward

[Ravi_Ansal2]

Hi Alec Hill,

I completely agree with Scott K. Wilder​ that we should not use videos in the emails. As many of the platforms will not support it specially mobile OS (Windows). What i can suggest you is to replace the video with a GIF and you can have the same experience.

Email will not only load quickly to any end user but also it is now supported by numerous mail clients.

I would ask you a favor as well to try a AB testing with Video vs GIF and share you results.

[Scott_Daily]

We embedded video directly in one of our weekly newsletters a while back, but had to stop once we switched to Marketo (because it was no longer supported). We understood there were many pros and cons, but overall determined it was worth it because our goal was to allow readers to easily consume content. And we didn't have a specific performance goal we needed to achieve.

That said, now that we haven't been able to, we're definitely getting smarter about how we use video. Yes, we may have had a drop-off from those who used to be able to view it within the email itself, but we could never really know because we couldn't track it.

We're using Wistia for videos and have loved it! They just released an integration with Marketo if you're an enterprise user.

Last thing - Litmus is a great resource for stuff like there. Here's a similar discussion we referenced when navigating pros and cons: Should you embed video in email? > Litmus

[Ashish_Desrala1]

A simple workaround is to create a graphic with play icon and link it with the actual video path. Smart Phone will ask you to open it with the appropriate app installed on your device.

[Alex_Venus]

I'd be curious to hear what your findings were? With Marketo's latest updates, this is something I'm looking into.