How to Use Video Email Marketing to Boost Your Brand and Sales

Video email marketing is a powerful strategy that can help you increase your brand awareness, engagement, and conversions.

Video email marketing is simply the practice of including videos in your email campaigns, either by embedding them directly or by linking to them from a thumbnail or a GIF.

In this article, we will show you some of the benefits, best practices, and examples of video email marketing, and how you can use it to grow your business.

An image illustration of Video Email Marketing — How to Use Video Email Marketing to Boost Your Brand and Sales.
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Table of Contents

What is video email marketing?

Video email marketing is a great way for businesses to make their emails more interesting.

Instead of just writing in the email, they can include a video.

Sometimes, the email has a link to a webpage where you can watch the video.

Videos are more exciting for customers than just reading text.

They can learn about a product or service in a fun way that text can’t always do. Videos can be used to teach, promote, or entertain.

How to use video in email marketing

1. Use video as bonus content to entertain your audience

To get more people to subscribe to your emails, you can offer them a special video when they sign up.

This bonus video not only makes customers interested but also makes them like your company or brand more.

If you’re a consultant or coach, you could share a video with extra tips that people can’t find on your website.

You might also ask a client or student to make a video talking about how your services helped them.

If you’re promoting an event, a video with behind-the-scenes footage can make more people want to attend or buy tickets.

Educational bonus videos can also attract customers.

You could make a video about your company’s history or future goals.

Or you could focus on something your customers want to learn more about.

2. Send out your video in newsletters

Sending newsletters with a lot of text can be dull, especially if you do it often. To make your content more interesting, think about adding videos along with your written updates.

Instead of writing a long message, share what’s new through an informative video. This way, your users can quickly get important info (and not miss anything crucial).

A video update every week or month can be more interesting for your subscribers.

You can also use videos to showcase specific things, like promotions, behind-the-scenes glimpses, or educational stuff.

3. Add an image that redirects to a video

Adding a video directly into an email can get quick views.

However, it’s important to know that some email services, like Gmail and Outlook, don’t support embedded videos.

If most of your subscribers use these services, it’s better to include a still image that leads to the video.

An effective way to do this is by creating an image that looks like a video, with a screenshot and a pretend play button.

Clicking it will take users to YouTube or wherever the video is.

This is a trick for better user experience that can get more clicks and views.

You can also hide the video link behind a design-focused graphic.

Just make sure the image is interesting, and include a message telling the reader to click on the link.

4. Thank users for their purchase

Once you’ve gained a user, keeping them is crucial.

Thank-you videos can enhance your “recent purchase” email and demonstrate appreciation for their loyalty.

This not only shows customers that you value them but also increases the chances of them opening an email they might usually ignore.

While a straightforward thank-you is sufficient, you can also share more details about their purchase.

This might include a behind-the-scenes video of your office or factory, instructions on caring for the item, or even a discount for their next purchase.

5. Embed your video in your team’s email signature

Many people don’t realize they can use their email signature to boost user interaction—an essentially free promotional space visible to anyone receiving an email from you. To incorporate a video, create a small static image (thumbnail size) with a play button indicating it’s a video.

Include a link in your signature with an enticing button prompting clicks. For instance, use phrases like “Learn more about our company!” or “Watch a 2-minute demo of our product.” Clicking the link will direct users to the video or homepage for content access.

Personalized videos, such as an introduction or interesting facts about yourself, are effective. This is especially beneficial for sales, support, or any role involving customer service.

6. Use a GIF

You don’t need a lengthy video to connect with your user base.

A simple animated thumbnail or GIF can achieve the same impact.

These small, entertaining animations grab attention and boost engagement with your content.

While using ready-made GIFs is okay, it’s better to create your own visual content.

This ensures your users see something unique, not a commonly used image from the internet.

For instance, retailers could use a short GIF featuring a model in an outfit. E-commerce companies might showcase rotating product images through animation.

Another choice is to include blinking or flashing text to emphasize different sections of your newsletter.

7. Send holiday greetings

Maintaining relevance is crucial for your brand’s image.

Even if you lack new updates, sending an email expressing gratitude can be impactful.

This is especially beneficial during holidays. Consider having your CEO record a festive greeting or creating a video featuring unique winter-themed products.

It’s a small gesture that helps you stay in your user’s thoughts.

Similarly, sending birthday emails, if you have personal data, can include a video wishing them a happy birthday, adding a personal touch.

Apart from enhancing brand awareness and customer loyalty, these “checking in” emails can prompt users to revisit your site and make a purchase.

Benefits of Video Email Marketing

Why should you use video email marketing in the first place?

Here are some of the reasons why video email marketing can be beneficial for your marketing goals:

Video email marketing can improve your email open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. According to a study by Wistia, adding the word “video” to your email subject line can boost your open rates by 19%, and including a video thumbnail can increase your click-through rates by 65%. Moreover, a study by Campaign Monitor found that using videos in email marketing can increase conversions by 21%.
Video email marketing can create trust and credibility with your audience. Videos can help you showcase your brand personality, values, and culture, as well as your products or services. Videos can also help you provide testimonials, reviews, or case studies from your customers, which can build social proof and influence your prospects’ buying decisions.
Video email marketing can enhance your email content and make it more engaging and memorable. Videos can help you deliver your message in a more visual, dynamic, and emotional way, which can capture your audience’s attention and interest. Videos can also help you explain complex or technical topics in a simpler and more understandable way, which can increase your audience’s comprehension and retention.

Best Practices for Video Email Marketing

How can you use video email marketing effectively and efficiently? Here are some of the best practices that you should follow when using video email marketing:

Keep your videos short and relevant. Your videos should be concise and focused on your main goal or message. Ideally, your videos should be less than three minutes long, as longer videos may lose your audience’s attention or cause technical issues. Your videos should also be relevant to your audience’s needs, interests, and preferences, and match the tone and style of your email content.
Track your video and email metrics. You should measure the performance of your video email marketing campaigns by tracking both your video and email metrics. Some of the video metrics that you should monitor include views, watch time, engagement, and retention. Some of the email metrics that you should track include open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and conversion rates. These metrics can help you evaluate the effectiveness of your video email marketing strategy and optimize it accordingly.
Have a clear call to action. Your videos should have a clear and compelling call to action that tells your audience what you want them to do next. Your call to action can be a button, a link, or a verbal prompt that directs your audience to your website, landing page, product page, or any other desired action. Your call to action should be visible, easy to access, and aligned with your email goal and video content.
Test different types of email/video combinations. You should experiment with different types of email/video combinations to find out what works best for your audience and your objectives. For example, you can try different formats of embedding or linking your videos, such as HTML5, GIFs, or third-party tools. You can also try different types of video content, such as explainer videos, announcement videos, personalized videos, or testimonial videos. You can use A/B testing or split testing to compare the results of different email/video combinations and choose the most effective one.

Examples of Video Email Marketing

To inspire you and give you some ideas, here are some examples of video email marketing from different brands and industries:

Explainer video: Dropbox. Dropbox used an explainer video to introduce its new feature, Dropbox Spaces, to its users. The video was embedded in the email using HTML5, and it showed how the feature works and how it can benefit the users. The video was short, clear, and engaging, and it was followed by a call to action button that invited the users to try Dropbox Spaces for free.
Announcement video: Netflix. Netflix used an announcement video to promote its new original series, The Witcher, to its subscribers. The video was linked from a thumbnail image that featured the main character and the logo of the series. The video was a teaser trailer that showed some scenes from the series and created excitement and curiosity among the viewers.
Personalized video: Vidyard. Vidyard used a personalized video to welcome its new users and guide them through the onboarding process. The video was linked from a GIF image that showed the name of the user and a play button. The video was a first-person video footage that featured a Vidyard employee who greeted the user by name and explained how to use the Vidyard platform.
Testimonial video: Shopify. Shopify used a testimonial video to showcase the success story of one of its customers, a jewelry brand called Mejuri. The video was linked from a thumbnail image that showed the founder of Mejuri and some of her products. The video was a short documentary that told the story of how Mejuri started, how it grew, and how it used Shopify to run its online store.

Video email marketing FAQs

Q: How impactful are video emails?
A: Studies indicate that incorporating videos into your emails can result in a substantial 200-300% increase in click-through rates. Moreover, including the term “video” in your email subject lines or body can elevate open rates by 19% and lead to a 26% decrease in unsubscribes. These statistics underscore the significant effectiveness of video emails as a potent marketing tool.

Q: Can you provide an illustration of video email marketing?
A: An excellent instance of video email marketing is seen in newsletters or updates featuring product demonstration videos. Often, showing proves more effective than just telling. Other noteworthy examples include customer success video emails (boosting conversions), behind-the-scenes video emails (educating, entertaining, and showcasing your brand), “Thank you for your purchase” video emails (demonstrating care), and holiday greetings video emails (reinforcing your presence and expressing gratitude).

Q: How can I make a video autoplay in an email?
A: Achieving video autoplay in an email depends on your email client. For instance, Gmail doesn’t support embedded videos but allows links to videos hosted on platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion. To embed autoplay videos in Gmail emails, you’ll need to utilize a third-party tool or extension.

Conclusion

Video email marketing is a great way to enhance your email campaigns and achieve your marketing goals.

By using video email marketing, you can increase your brand awareness, engagement, and conversions, as well as create trust and credibility with your audience.

To use video email marketing effectively, you should follow some best practices, such as keeping your videos short and relevant, tracking your video and email metrics, having a clear call to action, and testing different types of email/video combinations.

You can also get inspired by some examples of video email marketing from different brands and industries, and use them to create your own video email marketing campaigns.