People are always looking for the next great thing in
email marketing, and these days much of the talk involves social-networking (hey, check
our Facebook group, btw) and even social-media integration. But there is one other technology—video, yes, old-good videos... This was a taboo in email marketing—that can be integrated into your campaigns.
These 4 Myths now can be laid to rest and the taboo broken. Let's discuss these email marketing and video sharing myths!
1. Video emails will bounce most of the time
As long as an email follows the general best-practices of email marketing, a video email is not likely to bounce. Email clients and Internet service providers blocked videos during email marketing's infancy, but adding videos the proper way will prevent your email from landing in recipients' spam folders.
2. Email-marketing companies won't embed video in your emails
By hanging on to this old trope as an excuse not to use video, you could be holding back your campaigns a great deal. Most email service providers (ESPs) have developed solid ways to integrate video into email marketing campaigns. Some ESPs simply use a screenshot with a play button to link to the actual video, some will open a mirror image of an email in a Web browser so the video can play, and others will play an animated graphic interface format, or GIF, instead of the actual video.
3. Email videos do not work because no one watches them
Whaat? Really?. That myth almost reads like a joke these days. YouTube is the second-largest search engine and the third most-visited website. Online video is booming. With video cameras on cell phones and mini high-definition video cameras, the popularity of Web videos is at an all time high. Video emails have even become something that people look forward to on a slow workday. An enticing video email is often more memorable and exciting than a standard email, so what's holding you back?
4. A promotional commercial is the only type of video email worth sending
The opportunities for video in email are vast and untapped. Instead of being fixated on producing a straight commercial, remember that customer testimonials in video form can be powerful and effective marketing tools. The best part of using testimonials is that thanks to the prevalence of webcams you can easily get your customers to record and send in testimonials via email. The bottom line: You can successfully integrate video into your
email campaigns in countless ways that will have a positive, as well as immediate, effect.
Written by:
Paul Shuteyev
