Success with Video in Email Part Three

This is a three part series regarding video in email.

Part One helps determine if this is right for your audience and objectives.
Part Two lists products and services available.

We would like to address some questions you may have related to execution.

What about bandwidth? If we have a video in email, will there be problems with delivering the content?

Choosing the right content provider is key here. Are the emails going to a large audience? Even if they go to a smaller audience or are one to one messaging, considering the viral nature of video, they will be played over and over again up to a month after the message has delivered.

What about the lead time? Doesn’t it take more time to create an email with video?

Yes, but it may be time well spent. Jeanniey Mullen and David Daniels in Email Marketing: An Hour a Day have this advice on the layers (versions) of email to create to support this.

1. A flat HTML version
2. A version with animated GIFs but no sound
3. A version with animated GIFs and sound
4. A Flash or video version without sound
5. A Flash or video version with sound

What about the ISP or domains that will block video?
These are the same questions about ISPs or domains that will block images. With different layers available based on the customer’s domain, email client or browser, you can ensure the best possible experience given the limitations. Having a partner that has a relationship with an ISP can help but

That's all for now!
In summary, with the right strategy, a message that lends itself well to video and an audience that is predisposed to view videos online, you can be successful with email in video.

For more information, read the following:
Email Marketing: An Hour a Day. Mullen, Jeanniey and David Daniels. Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, IN 2009

Success with Video in Email Part Two

This is the second in a three part series about video in email.

In Part One, we help you determine if video in email is right for you.

You have your audience, your strategy so what services should you consider to realize your objectives?

Unless you have resources in house, you will need a way to create video, host it, manage it and deliver it to your audience.

• Goodmail http://www.goodmailsystems.com/
Provides the CertifiedVideo service which allows video to play in email. Currently this is limited to AOL’s webmail service. It is not currently support in the AOL desktop client software.
In addition, the sender is responsible for hosting the video contents. Goodmail does not host videos for customers.
Their focus is on maintaining the relation with the ISP.

• FLIMP http://www.flimp.net/
This company has a solution that allows you to easily create a flash video landing page, with built in analytics. They can be used as sales collateral or as landing pages for a variety of communications.
Their focus is on hosting and managing video content.
 
• Vismail http://www.vismail.com/
Based in England, with an office in the States, and recently expanded into Australia, Vismail offers an email marketing platform which they say can deliver video and its player within the email itself without the use of ActiveX or executable attachments. Unable to tell how scalable the solution is.

I requested examples, which arrived in my Outlook inbox with a .wmv file attached.
 
When I clicked the image in the email to play the video, my browser opened to play the video.

There was a link on the browser allowing me to download something to make Outlook play the video in my email.

After running the ActiveX control, the video played.

This seems like a hurdle for customers.

• Liveclicker http://www.liveclicker.com/
A video hosting and image management service, whose clients include eBags (former Yesmail client) and Drugstore.com

• Veodia http://veodia.com/
An enterprise video host service which offers live streaming as well as on-demand video.
Their focus is on Business Professionals, IT professionals and Educator / Trainers.

• Brightcove http://www.brightcove.com/
An on-demand online video platform designed for use with professional websites. It provides everything you need to publish and distribute online.
Their focus is on creation, hosting and publishing.

• Google Video for business http://www.blogger.com/www.google.com/apps/business
This service allows you to share video with co-workers without sharing with the whole world.
This is useful for B2B or internal communications.
Their focus is on hosting and managing.

If you have the coin then you probably afford a service that meets most of your needs, otherwise you will have to coordinate two or three to meet your objectives.

In Part Three, we address common questions about execution.

Success with Video in Email Part One

This is the first of a three part series regarding video in email.

Video isn’t just for the TV set anymore.

Audiences can use a multitude of devices such as computers, mobile phones, portable media players to watch content produced not only by TV networks and movie studios, but also independents, amateurs and individuals. James L. McQuivey of Forrester Research predicts that people will watch an average of 5 hours per day in 2013, a full hour more than the average in 2008.

Therefore, many online marketers are investigating their options regarding video in email. Done well, it can reap many rewards. Done poorly, it can annoy customers and drive away business.

It is important to decide if video in email is right for your audience, determine if you are successful and choose the services that best suit your needs.

Is video in email right for your audience?

Jeanniey Mullen and David Daniels put forth the following questions in Email Marketing: An Hour a Day when deciding to use audio or video in email.

1. Can you communicate your key message in 20 seconds or less?
2. Will audio or video help explain your offering than photos with text?
3. Does your business/service thrive from referrals (from colleagues / businesses)?
4. Will the recipients of your emails be connected with broadband?
5. Will the recipients of your emails have sound cards on their computers?
6. Will the recipients of your emails have access to the Internet?
7. Do you have access to preshot content?
   
   If you can answer yes to at least five, then you may have a good reason to explore its use in your email campaigns.

How do you determine you are successful?

This depends on what your objective is.

If you want to increase your brand awareness, promote forward to a friend. Track the number of times the email or video is forwarded.

To improve up-sell or cross-sell, show videos of similar products, destinations or services. Compare conversion rates of email with and without videos.

Consider including informative or funny material to help maintain loyalty. Steady open and clickthrough rate for your customers with a long tenure show they are still in engaged.

Part Two discusses what products and services are available to meet your objectives.
Part Three addresses questions about successful execution.

Best Practices for Integrating an Email Campaign with Social Networks

Cutting corners when creating the HTML version of a message may save you time, but do you a disservice if you want to take advantage of social networks.

Assuming you have a content that you think is "share-worthy", attention to details such as the basic HTML tags, placements of the link and chiclet, and what will be shared, should remove obstacles and increase the likelihood of something being shared.

Need for basic tags
Lacking the basic tags such as <html>, <head>, <title> may not matter when the message is displayed in Outlook or Lotus Notes or even web based email clients.

We can all agree that creating an email message that renders in an email client requires different strategy than creating a page that will render well in a web browser.

However, they are necessary if you wish the email to not only display in a browser but also to render well as a shared item in Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or LinkedIn.

Facebook specifically scans the page for the following:
<meta name="title" content="Title Here">
<meta name="description" content="Description Here">
<link rel="image_src" href="preview-image-here.jpg">




If you don’t have the title defined, then Facebook will use the URL of the web page.

Other networks will use either the subject line or the title of the hosted message to name the shared item.



If you don’t define the image to be displayed, Facebook will include thumbnails of all the images in the message.

The most compelling one may not always the first one referenced in the code. If you want the customer to be able to choose, make sure they show up in the correct order.




Placement of a link or chiclet
The placement of the link and/or "chiclet" that allows the reader to share the email with their network should be placed above the fold in an appropriate place.

If it must be below the fold, then it should be close to image or copy that will draw their attention.

Check what will be shared
Test, test and more test! Make sure you have accounts in the major social networks and the ones that your audiences are mostly likely to use.

That’s all for now!
With deft use of tags, optimal placement of the social network link and rigorous testing, you can provide a better experience for your customers and make your content not only more "share-worthy" but also "share-able."