Photo courtesy: from Pexels Andrea Piacquadio Emails have been used for so long to start conversations, share ideas, exchange information, or witty banter. They work well for all kinds of purposes. The best part, it suits everyone. Look around you, an entrepreneur, marketer, artist, or student must have a registered email address. And, a lot of them will have an active email account. Despite so many options available for communication, email has still kept its place firm in the market. Moreover, The future of email looks very promising too. As per , the number of global email users will reach 4.6 billion by 2025. Statista The numbers might appear to be startling, but they’re believable. The Internet is reaching more people than ever, and a registered email address is like their doorway into the vastness of the World Wide Web. With all these possibilities, one thing is for sure, more emails will be sent and received around the world. This means more opportunities for marketers to use email marketing for reaching new people and building relationships with customers. However, there is a challenge here. If so many people start getting emails the scope of grabbing their attention will diminish too. It will become a busier market, and with time it will demand innovation and creativity at your end to gain more traction in your campaigns. To counter this, there is a good opportunity that is already used by many marketers and has been very successful for them. But, it’s still a not-so-explored area and has more possibilities to offer. It’s called . video email marketing In the subsequent sections let’s explore how it benefits your marketing strategy and the different types of videos you can use in emails. What is video email marketing? Video email marketing is a strategy of using videos in your email communication. It’s like taking the best of both worlds and putting them together to get the foremost results. There’s more to it, but before that let’s first answer one of the most frequently asked questions — Is email marketing effective? YES, it is. is still a very sought-after way of getting more leads and improving your conversion rate. of marketers have agreed that it’s their most effective marketing channel. Email marketing 47% So there is no way you can call it quits; if it has not been giving the desired results, then videos can help to make your content a lot more interesting. You need to have reasonable expectations when you start using videos in emails. It’s not a magic spell that will make things turn around in an abracadabra way. You have to work hard, produce consistent videos, and target them to the right users so that they can gain some value from it. The best way of looking at videos is to think of them as a window in your email. So far, you have relied on using words, and maybe a few smileys and GIFs too. They’re good for adding humor, turning up the friendliness of your content, but videos do a lot more than that. They tell the readers (and viewers too) what your brand is about. You can show more, instead of telling them because it’s becoming boring, and they might start ignoring your emails. Videos stand out and build a perfect podium for you to tell stories. With this let’s move to the next part and understand more about how videos benefit your email in marketing. 5 Benefits of using videos in email Videos bring more creativity and a new breath of innovation to your campaigns. Of course, like any other marketing material you produce, you have to go the extra mile to keep the video quality top-notch. Here’s looking at the benefits that videos add to your emails to make them more persuasive Adds more personality People love personal approaches. It makes them feel more privileged, respected, and cherished. It’s also an important factor for continuing with a product or service. In a survey, it was found that more than of US customers have dumped a company due to the lack of personalization. 40% Videos can help you not be in this 40% category. In a traditional email, other than the salutation and greetings there is not enough scope for personalization. Videos, however, open a huge arena for trying out new ideas for making your content more personal with the audience. For starters, your audience can see you in your emails. It’s not just paragraphs of text, there is a humanness to it. So a simple written “hi” can be transformed into a “hi with a smiling face and waving hands.” It’s not difficult to guess which one will be more appealing for your audience. This will work brilliantly when you’re sending to your prospects. Videos will be very helpful for breaking the ice. cold emails High scope for storytelling Your emails represent your brand. The way you construct your content tells your audience how much you care about their needs. But, there is a drawback with emails. You cannot be gung-ho about how you value your customers in emails because this will make the email content very lengthy. And, when it comes to the length, it is best to . keep it short To keep your emails to the point, and not miss the opportunity of telling your brand story, use videos in your emails. Videos can help you tell more about what encouraged you to start your business, what drives your team, what difference you want to make with your product or service. When you’re recording all of it, it doesn’t feel like you’re going overboard. It is also a way of learning about your business. Overall it’s a win-win strategy for you and your team. more preferable Builds more trust A customer builds more trust in your brand when you show more, tell less. There is a lot of difference in saying — Our customers are the happiest, and showing them what makes your customers happy. A customer video testimonial embedded in your email can do great wonders for improving the engagement with your customers. Videos make things more believable. It builds more trust in the process which is again good news for your brand. When your prospects hear from your customers how they have overcome a challenge after using a product, they will connect with their story immediately. This is not the only way where videos can be effective for building trust. Creating industry information videos, sharing the latest trends or announcements on product updates help too. It sends a very powerful message that you’re not here only to make money, but you sincerely care about your customers. This is a huge factor in the success of your brand. When you continue this strategy for a long time, your customers will eventually become the spokesperson for your company. Improve email open rates Using videos in emails has a strong correlation with email open rates. Many statistics support this claim — Videos in emails can improve the open rate by 19% Adding the word video in the email can also improve the open rate by 6% You can boost the open rates of welcome email by 96% with the help of videos Videos fire up the curiosity and compel users to act. For a marketer, this is a wonderful opportunity to attract them with the right information and keep them engaged. A good way of capitalizing on this opportunity is by using video content that is relevant to the user’s buyer funnel stage. This will further increase the engagement, and make the reader stay in the email for a long time. Strengthen conversion rate It all comes down to this. So far, we have been covering the different areas where videos benefit your brand. But, we were just touching the periphery; the core of video email marketing is having better conversions from your campaigns. A video has the power of transforming a prospect into a customer single-handedly. Right from welcoming emails when the users sign up for product demo, videos have active participation. Videos keep the entire process relevant, nimble, and very effective. A new user gets the same feeling as talking to an actual human. Besides, emails can be difficult to understand as words can be comprehended in different ways. This is probably the reason why videos do very well on landing pages too. Despite all the other details, adding a video increases the chances of conversion by . 80% But, when you’re using videos in the email there are certain tips that you can follow to further boost the chances of getting higher conversions. Here are a few of them - Use video GIFs as a thumbnail to give a sneak peek of the video Record the video in high quality; if you don’t have many equipments use a screen recorder Keep the total length of the video short, so that the audience is engaged till the end Have a script for the video so that you don’t take too many “em” or “uh” pauses Add a CTA in the video for the user to take action There are different ideas you can try, but these are some of the best that have proven to be effective for a long time. Final words Email marketing is alive and kicking. There is no scope of it vanishing into thin air anytime soon. Having said that, it is getting crowded, and brands are feeling claustrophobic more than ever. Videos are one tactic that can give more breathing space to companies. Videos add a different charm to your emails. Starting with, it gives a face to your emails. Instead of sounding like run-of-the-mill email content, it becomes more personal with videos. Personalization opens the door for storytelling, as you can now tell your prospects a lot more about your brand. With this, customers start trusting your brand as they can see more value in associating with your brand. All of this together has a direct impact on your email open rates and conversion. If you have solid video content to share with your prospects and customers, you will start seeing a positive change in your email campaign very soon.
