Before I jump into the blog post update I thought I should introduce myself as I have just taken over updating this blog. My name is Jill Bastian and I am the new Education and Training Manager here at VerticalResponse. The position may be new for me but I am not new to the company, I've been working here for 5 years in the Support team, so I have lots of experience with our product to draw on.
Recently some of my colleagues attended the 2010 Marketing Sherpa Email Summit and brought back some great information on using video in emails that I thought should be shared.
Video may seem like a daunting task, you need a camera and place to host the videos, and once you have that set up, how do you make it work in email? Video doesn’t have to be scary though, there are some tricks that you can use to make it easier on yourself and help increase clickthrough rates in your emails. Other articles you might want to check out? How To Use Video in Email Marketing Campaigns, and Website Videos - How Important Can They Be To Your Business?
Since this is a link in your email, we will still be tracking the clicks. You will know how many times the videos are being watched by your email recipients with this reporting. And be sure to include a forward-to-a-friend link in your email, your recipients may enjoy your videos so much that they want to share with others.
Keep it short:
You don’t want to lose your customers part of the way through the video. Keep it around 3-4 minutes and you’ll be able to get your message across and keep your customers attention.
Use quality content:
Give your customers information they want. A good percentage of viewers will do what you ask if you have information they can use.
Think long-term conversation:
Try making your videos episodic — hook your customers on a continuing story with multiple short videos. Keep them coming back for more of the story, and reading your emails.
Include a call-to-action:
We often mention to include a call-to-action in your emails, but it also applies here. Give your customers something to do from your video. You might want them to visit your website to see more about the topic you filmed, to sign up for a newsletter or contest you may be running, or maybe check out specials you may be running.
Still not sure about using video? Here are a couple of facts that may entice you to get started.
Recently some of my colleagues attended the 2010 Marketing Sherpa Email Summit and brought back some great information on using video in emails that I thought should be shared.
Video may seem like a daunting task, you need a camera and place to host the videos, and once you have that set up, how do you make it work in email? Video doesn’t have to be scary though, there are some tricks that you can use to make it easier on yourself and help increase clickthrough rates in your emails. Other articles you might want to check out? How To Use Video in Email Marketing Campaigns, and Website Videos - How Important Can They Be To Your Business?
Make it easy:
Instead of hosting videos on your website use one of the free services out there like YouTube or Blip.tv. They give you the tools and space for hosting without all the headaches. Once you’ve got your video online you don’t need to embed it in an email. Instead, take a screenshot of the video, add that image (help with images) to the email and make it clickable with the link to where the video is hosted. I’ve included a sample here of how this will work.
Since this is a link in your email, we will still be tracking the clicks. You will know how many times the videos are being watched by your email recipients with this reporting. And be sure to include a forward-to-a-friend link in your email, your recipients may enjoy your videos so much that they want to share with others.
Keep it short:
You don’t want to lose your customers part of the way through the video. Keep it around 3-4 minutes and you’ll be able to get your message across and keep your customers attention.
Use quality content:
Give your customers information they want. A good percentage of viewers will do what you ask if you have information they can use.
Think long-term conversation:
Try making your videos episodic — hook your customers on a continuing story with multiple short videos. Keep them coming back for more of the story, and reading your emails.
Include a call-to-action:
We often mention to include a call-to-action in your emails, but it also applies here. Give your customers something to do from your video. You might want them to visit your website to see more about the topic you filmed, to sign up for a newsletter or contest you may be running, or maybe check out specials you may be running.
Still not sure about using video? Here are a couple of facts that may entice you to get started.
- 39 billion video clips were viewed in 2009
- You are 53 times more likely to show up in an online search if you have videos posted to an online site
Good information but I would add that "videos" can also be recorded from PowerPoint (or Keynote) presentations. Using a screen recording tool like Camtasia or Screenflow enables the author to include video of their narration as part of the presentation. These tools can also upload directly to YouTube or export in the formats necessary for a private server.
Posted by: David Shepherd | February 17, 2010 at 08:43 AM