[Explained]: How to Embed Video in an Email

It is a well-known fact that email marketing can benefit businesses by pulling in more potential customers and increasing sales. While traditional emails can help, embedding videos in an email takes your marketing to the next level!

When you add videos📹 to the emails you send, your open as well as click-through rates are bound to boost manifold. Also, it can bring about more engagement with your customers. In this article, we will explain how you can embed a video in your emails. Read on to find out.  

Why Embed Videos in Emails

Studies indicate that video is among the best email campaign strategies out there, with nearly 70% of consumers in favor of getting to know about a product/service through videos. Also, embedding videos in emails can give you a click-through boost of over 100%⚡.

Adding videos to your campaign emails makes people feel a more personal connection. It acts as a viable alternative to face-to-face interactions if done right, something that is inconceivable with text-only emails. That is why a video as a part of your email marketing best practices can assist you in achieving more sales and generating more revenue.

However, if you fail to embed videos in your emails correctly, chances are that it may not play at all. So, it is important to do the procedure the right way.                

Benefits of Using Videos to Enhance Email Content

Embedding videos in your emails comes with several benefits: 

1. Adding a video to your email can have a positive impact on your open rates by giving it more than a 10% boost, as while a picture can say more than a thousand words, videos have the advantage of being both auditory and visually stimulating.  
2. It can help you fetch more revenue by persuading more potential customers to do business with you. 
3. By utilizing videos in your otherwise plain email, you can effectively connect with your audience. This, in turn, can bring more engagement to your website. 
4. It can assist you in improving your SEO. When more people start clicking on your videos, there are increased chances of them sharing your content on social media. This can increase the traffic to your website and help improve your SEO ranking.       

Why Some Clients Do Not Support Embedded Videos at All?

Although embedding videos in emails is possible, some email clients provide no support for embedded videos. Depending on the email provider you and your recipients are using, there may be restrictions regarding playing embedded videos directly in emails.

Most clients today cannot stream directly from video hosting platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, etc. One big reason behind this is that emails with embedded videos can become too heavy in size and hamper deliverability. Another limitation is that some email providers employ a security feature that prevents users from clicking on links. Some clients may even incorrectly flag emails with embedded videos as spam.    

Step-by-step guide to embed videos in marketing emails

Now that you know about the purpose and benefits of embedding videos in your emails, let us take a look at the steps to do so. Following these steps will ensure that email providers don’t flag your emails as spam and penalize you:

Make a Persuasive Thumbnail 

The first thing you need to do is to create a compelling thumbnail for your video. For your info, the thumbnail will also serve as a play button for your recipients. Here is how you can make some noise with your video thumbnail:

• Play your video and take a screenshot of the part which you want to use as a thumbnail. 
• Open a graphic creation app and add a play button over the screenshot. Thumbnails with a play button have better chances of convincing a recipient to click AS compared to a basic screenshot. This might be because they present a clearer visual view.

• Resize your thumbnail to match the platform where you have uploaded your video. For example, 1280×720 px for YouTube, 1240×1920 px for IGTV, etc. Also, most email providers have a size limit for images. So, make sure that file size does not exceed that prescribed limit. 

#1. Pro Tip

Never exaggerate your thumbnails to the point of making them unrealistic. Your thumbnails should be honest representations of what your videos are about. Stay away from creating clickbait thumbnails. Instead of boosting your click-through rates, they will make you unreliable in the eyes of your customers. So, always keep it genuine yet attractive.

#2. Pro Tip

You can make a thumbnail template for all your future emails with embedded videos. Not only will they ease things up, but they will also aid you in achieving consistency. A consistent thumbnail layout can help you stand out and be easily distinguishable in a market full of competitors.      

Obtain the URL of your video

Once your thumbnail is ready, do the following to copy your video URL. We are using YouTube, but the steps are more or less the same on other platforms as well: 

• Visit the hosting platform (in our case, YouTube) and search for the video.
• Click on the video to play it, and then click on the ‘Share’ button. 
• Click on ‘Copy’ to copy the video URL in your clipboard.

Insert your thumbnail and link it to your video 

Next, you have to insert the thumbnail into your email and link it to your video to make it clickable. Remember that the steps to create a clickable link can vary slightly depending on your email provider. Here, we are utilizing Gmail. But even if you are using another email provider, the steps are generally as follows:

• Start composing your email and insert the thumbnail into it by copy-pasting the image into the email. Please do not attach the thumbnail as an attachment, as it will defeat our purpose of embedding the video.

• Select the thumbnail image.

• Click on the ‘Insert link’ button and paste your video URL in the specified box. 

• Once the changes are saved, your clickable link is ready, and whenever your recipient clicks on the image, it will redirect them to your video.

Add some text to your email 

Although your embedded video is a powerful marketing tool itself, you can maximize your click-through rates by supporting your video with text. Briefly explaining to people why they should click on your thumbnail and adding a call to action (CTA) can compel your audience to watch your video: 

• Keep the text short and sweet so that it does not take the shine away from your video.
• Make sure to give your recipients a quick yet precise comprehension of what your video has in store. Do not overemphasize. Mention the benefits your audience will get from clicking on your thumbnail in a clear, non-spammy tone. Also, do not forget to add the word “video” in the email subject line to boost your open rates. 

Test out your email 

Before sending your email to actual customers, it is important to verify if the clickable link works properly. You can do that by sending yourself a test email:

• Simply navigate to the ‘To’ field and provide your own email address there. 
• Click the ‘Send’ button.  

Just sending that email is not enough; its deliverability rate, too, is important. Read more about email deliverability and tools.

Conclusion

As you can see, embedding videos in emails can enhance your open and click-through rates, website traffic, engagement, and more.

Ready to take your email marketing campaigns to the next level? Start employing this excellent marketing tool hereafter to get the most out of your marketing emails. Good luck!

Next up, the best AMP email tools to engage with your subscriber’s list.

• Samyak is an engineer, tech lover, and content writer. He has the eye to see certain nuances in everyday tech that most people simply ignore.

• Joy R Bhamre is a Google certified Digital Marketing Specialist, Content Writer & Editor as well as a Cambridge-certified English Language Trainer with over 14 years of corporate experience.

  She is an English Literature… read more