It’s practically a human reflex now to click ‘play’ when it looks like there is a video to watch. The most reliable solution to all these issues and complications is to use your email campaign as a teaser to drive recipients to a campaign micro site where they can click to view your video clip, at their own leisure.īy including a ‘play video clip’ button in your email you can have can a powerful call to action. In a quiet office with the Boss hovering, who really wants to be seen watching videos at their desk? Remember when using animations to have your key message or call to action on the first frame – however briefly it is shown – as Outlook 2007 will display this as the static image.īeware too, the potential intrusiveness of video in email – particularly when sending to B2B lists where your recipients are at work. For example, Outlook 2007 won’t support animated gifs. There may be developments where it becomes possible to insert java script into emails enabling video to play.īut, this is likely to be specific to certain ISPs and not supported by all – so the need to test will remain paramount.Īnimations in emails can also cause rendering problems. If your testing works well and you know clearly which domains will support your video and which won’t, you could then filter your campaign send by domain name to control its successful delivery.īut what about email-forwards, often the desired action when sending a video? You can’t control forwarded emails by domain, so the valuable viral element of your campaign could be lost, simply because of the unreliability of video.Īs ever in digital marketing, the opportunities and developments are dynamic and exciting. Only by testing your creative in all relevant email clients can you get a clear picture of how effectively your campaign will be delivered. Some Microsoft email clients, for example, use HTML tags that allow video to be played in emails.īut others don’t. It won’t work for all your recipients, and those it does work for, may well not be happy it did.Įxtensive inbox testing is essential if you are embedding video.
The website visiting public can’t get enough of streaming video so it’s no surprise that email marketers are keen to get in on the online video revolution.īut video in email is not reliable in the way that website based video is.
Indeed, the internet audience itself grew by just 14% across the same period*. This represents a 70% growth in audience numbers since December 2006 and highlights how well the online video sector is doing.
The 30 leading video and TV streaming websites attracted almost 13 million Britons in December – nearly 40% of the UK internet population.
The use of video in email campaigns is an area email marketers should be wary of.