When you hear the term email marketing, what comes to mind? Let me guess, the thousands of old unopened emails currently residing in your junk folder? Or those generic campaigns dropping in every few minutes trying to convince you that you need whatever it is they’re trying to sell? Yep. Thought so.

That being said, email campaigns are still one of the top tactics many marketing teams use for engaging with target audiences. This truly does make you wonder; how can brands benefit from email marketing? Is it simply a numbers game in the hope that the more you throw at it something will stick?

Email Marketing Campaigns

Although many seem to be giving up on email marketing, due in part to the new general data protection regulations (GDPR), the medium is still very much alive and kicking. This is because email marketing has many benefits that make it worth the effort, not least how affordable it is. Implemented correctly this is a great way to inform customers and build brand loyalty.

Given that it is completely electronic and simple to produce with software such as Mail Chimp or Zoho, it won’t consume your annual ad budget like other more expensive advertising techniques. Using a cloud-based email solution also lets you access free or inexpensive analytics, so you can see the direct impact of your campaign.

It is important to follow best practices to ensure maximum gain from your email marketing campaign, for example, following a good design process and using an organic database of subscribers for your mailing list. These are simply things you must do in order to create a successful campaign but to add even more power to your email, we believe you should be looking at adding video, and here’s how you can.

How to Implement Video

We already know that video content dominates the social media marketing scene, but studies have shown that using video in your email marketing campaigns can increase your open rates by almost one fifth, as well as increasing your click-through-rates (CTR) by 300%. You may be wondering if it is even possible to include video in email campaigns? Well, the answer is yes, let me explain how.

Contrary to popular belief, you can now embed video straight into your email campaign. This is a much more interesting alternative to your typical “click the link to watch” situation. However, it does require HTML5 to be visible through the recipients’ email server. Studies suggest that an average 70-75% of users have HTML5 enabled. Therefore, depending on which technique you use, it is possible that entire mail groups will not see your video.

But don’t panic just yet – there are ways to get around this. First of all, you can send test emails to find out which servers are compatible then segment your mailing list accordingly. This is one option although you may find it a little laborious.

Another option would be to add a ‘fallback’ to your emails. This means that should the recipients server fail to show your video; you can set a specific image to take its place. For example, an image featuring a visualised play button linking to the full video.

If you’re not ready for full motion video in your emails, you could utilise GIFs or cinemographs. A GIF is a series of images which plays on a loop to mimic video. Cinemographs are simply 1-3 second loops of actual video footage. These are a great way to simulate video without the challenge of HTML5 or the hassle of using fallbacks. Many well-known brands use animated GIFs in their campaigns. For example, Dell, when using an animated GIF campaign, saw an amazing 109% lift in revenue.

HERE AT THE MARKETING CAFÉ, WE ARE ALWAYS LOOKING AT NEW WAYS TO HELP OUR CLIENTS UTILISE VIDEO IN THEIR MARKETING STRATEGIES. PLEASE DON’T HESITATE TO GET IN TOUCH.