Most people have an email address, even if you don’t use it on a regular basis. Whether you check your email daily, weekly, or monthly, if your inbox is anything like ours, it’s full of all kinds of offers, newsletters, and communications from businesses trying to entice you to become a customer. If you own a business, having an email list is a must, but how do you make your messages stand out in an increasingly crowded inbox? According to data compiled by Insivia.com, adding a video to an introductory email increased click-through rates by as much as 96 percent.
Just putting a video in your email isn’t enough. Other businesses and marketing teams are aware of these trends and are adding videos to their messages as well. You have to find a way to distinguish yourself from the pack.
Bryant Consultants has compiled this list of four tips to follow when adding eye-catching video content to your email marketing campaign:
- Consider animated GIFs – Not only should you incorporate video into your email marketing campaign, but you also need to make it clear and tempting for users to click to watch that video. Adding a hyperlink with text such as “watch this” or “click here to see this video” is one option, but those are humdrum ideas, and may even be seen as scams. After all, if you were paying for billboard space, would you want an eye-catching image or just plain text? Clearly, the former is more appealing. An animated GIF is a great way to attract the attention of the people on your email list. We recommended adding a fake “play button” to make it as obvious as possible that you have a video you’d like your audience to watch.
- Route users to your landing page – This may seem self-explanatory, but many times, when a business or organization adds a video to the email, it directs them to an associated YouTube account, rather than the landing page of that business or organization. Sending users to YouTube instead deprives your web site of traffic, as well as potential sales. Before directing people to your landing page, you have to make sure the video is there, available, and easy to watch. Make the video the star of the landing page.
- Autoplay is OK – How often does this happen to you? You go to a website or YouTube, and a video advertisement starts playing from the second the page loads. Frustrating, right? Most people will be trying to end, mute, or skip the video as soon as this happens. However, in the case where people on your email list are clicking a link to watch your video, it’s fine—even recommended—to set the video to auto play. Yes, you read that correctly. Consider that these individuals already had enough interest in your business to sign up for your email list. Then, they were intrigued by the specific email corresponding to this video to click and watch. By setting your video to auto play, you’re just making it easier for these users to watch a video they already are interested in seeing.
- Be diligent in tracking results – Data is crucial to any type of marketing strategy. After all, you want to make sure that your money, time, and resources are being allocated the right way. Track the results of your new video, or any significant addition to your existing marketing campaign. This way, you can continue to emphasize what works, always streamlining your strategy to maximize your reach and future potential revenue.
There’s a lot of work that goes into running a great marketing campaign. The professionals at Bryant Consultants are here to help. We now offer email and video marketing among our range of services.
Our services can help you redefine your vision, establish goals, and set processes in place to evolve your business. Contact us by calling (877) 768-4799. We provide consultation, training, and coaching to help improve the operations of your business so that you can provide exceptional results to your customers. No office is out of reach for us; we will even come to you!