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Did you know there’s a tool floating around out there that will increase your email click-through rate by up to 300 percent and reduce your unsubscribe rate by 75 percent? It’s not an enterprise software system that comes with a big price tag and a lengthy service agreement; it’s something you interact with every single day.
It’s video.
Forrester Research and email marketing company Eloqua have each found that embedded video drastically improves the performance of email marketing materials, with B2B and B2C audiences showing the most engagement.
But using video effectively means completely rethinking how you do your email marketing. Just slapping a video into the emails you’re already sending won’t get you the bang for your buck that you’re looking for.
Video is multisensory, so you should use it to address multisensory topics such as product demonstrations and subjects that your buyers are likely to have a lot of questions about — such as service demonstrations.
Video uses color, motion, and sound to connect with viewers’ emotions. That’s what makes it so memorable, and that’s why it’s the premium platform for those who want their messages to resonate with potential buyers.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, an informative 60-second video is worth 1.8 million words, according to Forrester. With the competition for buyers’ attention so fierce, that’s too much value to ignore.
Knowing when to use video will only get you halfway there, though. You still have to execute quality content to make it work.
Video isn’t a panacea — bad content in video form is still bad content. Here are five things to keep in mind when creating your video marketing materials:
1. Be brief. Keep videos under 90 seconds for top-of-funnel campaigns. You want to present your product or service quickly and effectively before you lose viewers’ attention.
2. Prompt action. Your videos absolutely need a call to action at the end that drives viewers to the next step of your marketing campaign. Otherwise, they’ll watch it and have no idea how to proceed.
3. Include a link. While most email clients support fully embedded video in email, there are still a fair number that don’t. To make your video playable for as many prospects as possible, include a hyperlinked thumbnail in your email that directs viewers to an external landing page.
4. Don’t bury it. If you put your video toward the bottom of your email, you run the risk of your prospects not scrolling down far enough and missing out on it. Make sure it’s prominently positioned at the top of your email. That way, it’s a can’t-miss.
5. Say the magic word. The research is simple: Putting the word “video” in the subject line of an email increases open rates by 19 percent, increases click-through rates by 65 percent, and decreases unsubscribes by 26 percent.
There’s a reason YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world: When modern consumers seek information, they’re turning to video. Adding it to your email marketing efforts caters to your audience’s preferences.
Your content is your bait, and if you find yourself struggling to reel in conversions though email, video holds the keys to reversing that trend.
Have you used video in your email marketing campaigns? What other tactics have you used to make your email marketing videos successful?
Brandon Houston is the CEO of Switch Video, a video animation company that produces simple videos that “explain what you do” in an engaging and compelling format. Switch Video works with companies of all sizes and has produced more than 450 videos for clients, including Facebook, IBM, HP, Bayer, and American Express, in 15 countries and 10 different languages. Brandon is passionate about helping clients explain their businesses through the use of video and leveraging online technology. He welcomes anyone to reach out to him on Twitter.
