New video email options in 2009
Latest posts | Feed | | By Mark Brownlow
And so we emerge into the bright lights of a new year, brimming with fresh ideas and fresh energy. (Hopefully.) What will 2009 bring? Video email for one. (Possibly.)[New: you'll find the latest updates on current practices at the main video email page.]
Back in September, I reviewed the pros and cons of the three options available for putting videos in email:
1. Embedding code that causes a remote video stream to download and play.
2. Embedding the actual video file in the email.
3. Including an image or "video still" and linking that to the video at a website.
The general consensus is that option 3 is the best: the original post has all the details, reader comments and relevant links. However, two new developments have changed the video email landscape for us.
Option 4: Animation as video
In December, Chad White highlighted a progressive email from Sears that included a video. One that displays fine inside the email itself, just about regardless of the webmail service or email software you use to view it. Goodness!
Some suggest the "video" might be clever use of a "simple" animated gif. While the service powering the video disputes this (see Chad's post), the suggestion is intriguing.
Notwithstanding image blocking issues, animated gifs are displayed fine by all major email clients and webmail interfaces bar Outlook 2007: see this recent post for details.
So can you put together an animated image that looks more or less like a video (just without sound)? If you can, "video email" becomes a realistic tool which anybody with reasonable video and graphic editing skills can use. (So not me.)
And the answer, it seems, is yes.
Anna Yeaman gives us an impressive step-by-step example of how to do exactly this using common design tools.
Certification
The utopian vision of video email is embedded code: a small piece of script in the HTML that calls up a remote video file and allows the user to view it inside the email in all its high-quality visual and audio glory.
This hasn't worked to date because webmail services and email software tend to disable this kind of script for security reasons (protection from viruses etc.).
In theory, then, if an ISP could be assured of the provenance and good standing of an email and its sender, they would have no problem allowing such scripts to work.
Assurance of the provenance and good standing of emails and their senders is, by definition, what email certification is all about. So, theoretically, ISPs could allow "video code" in emails whose certification they recognize.
While this hasn't happened yet, it would be a logical development. And one email certification agency (Goodmail Systems) has already announced "Certified Video" functionality for this year.
The future
These two developments suggest the pressing "how" issue is increasingly solved for video email. However, the more important question is not how to put videos in email, but whether you should put videos in email.
A particular danger is that excited marketers start using videos in email because they can, and not because they should.
What works? What doesn't? When are videos the right email tactic to use? That's the new video email debate for 2009. Your thoughts most welcome...
More on videos in email | Tags: video emails, animated gifs, goodmail
Permalink | January 05, 2009 | 17 comment(s) - add yours!
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17 Comments:
Hi Mark,
I've been doing more research into converting video to an animated gif for email.
I was encouraged to dig deeper after the quick test I posted on the Campaign Monitor forum a couple weeks back...
Check out the video email demo on my blog and forward yourself a copy. Let me know what you think.
It's an animated gif so it will play in every email client but Outlook 2007, which as you know will only display the first frame.
http://stylecampaign.com/blog/?p=44
-Anna
By 
Anna Yeaman, on
05 January, 2009
Sorry I was in too much of a rush before as it's the first day back after the holiday, should have answered the important question...
A few ways I see "video gifs" being useful in email and not just a gimmick.
As a teaser for an online video. Be it a film, what to wear this season or a showreel. 20sec of video would engage me more than a screenshot - a/b tests needed.
360 or enhanced product view videos like shown on the LK Bennet, Forenzi, Martin + Osa and ebags websites.
GasLogGuys, CEO Mike Hackley stated, “10% to 15% of shoppers who look at videos of burning logs go on to click and buy,” he says. “Without the videos, we get about a 1.5% conversion rate.”
Showing shoppers what the flames look like or an outfit in 360 significantly boosts conversions on the web, why not email?
None of these examples rely on sound...
-Anna
By Anna Yeaman, on
05 January, 2009
Super Anna, thanks: excellent examples.
By , on
05 January, 2009
There is one key factor which everyone seems to miss. So blindingly obvious is it in today's economic climate that it still baffles me as to why people are wasting their time with the concept of video in email at all.
Bandwidth.
Nobody cares about your bloated email if they have any kind of bandwidth limitation. Whether it be a monthly usage allowance - which affects businesses as well as residential, or if there is any kind of throttling on the network.
It is such a shame that so many people are wasting valuable time and missing the main benefit of email as a marketing channel. It is fast and it is cheap to produce.
Imagine the development costs you could start racking up getting videos created in or out of house. It completely defies the point of the medium.
I can't say I personal see it as a gimmick, more of a burden, increasing the download time of your email means you are more inclined to lose readership.
We are fickle people with little time on our hands and want instant gratification not to wait 5 minutes for a sub par quality advert to load, which we could have easily seen on a web page.
Stop bloating it and utilise it for what it does best. Generating site traffic.
By Andy Parker, on
06 January, 2009
That's an important issue you raise Andy, thanks. This is why there has to be value to the video as opposed to just being decoration. There's also the issue of mobile email...
Ideally, perhaps, we can give users control, either through the "image/click to view online" approach or through an embedded player that works but the recipient has to click on "play"?
This is where there is particular promise for sending to webmail addresses, since most people are then already viewing the email in a browser environment.
Lots of testing needed...but great topic. Like I said in the post, there's a lot to discuss beyond the technicalities.
P.S. I'm not sure expense is necessarily a consideration if the video material already exists from other channels.
By , on
06 January, 2009
@Andy Parker
Great point about bandwidth - I think this will become less of a concern as bandwidth becomes cheaper & more available over time, but it's definitely still worth considering now.
Something to consider with the "bloat" argument - people used to say the same thing about HTML email vs. plain text. You (well, I) don't hear about too many people eschewing HTML email for that reason anymore.
On another note, I respectfully disagree with your assertion that email's main benefit is that "it is fast and it is cheap to produce."
It's technologically cheap to send an email - but equating that with email marketing being cheap, period, shortchanges email's other advantages, discourages investment in email strategy and encourages the "blast" mentality that the industry needs to purge.
By Justin Premick, on
06 January, 2009
Thanks Justin (and congrats on the 50k users). I think there are two trends in play regarding bandwidth. It's disappearing as an issue for those sitting on broadband connections at a PC, but growing as an issue (at least in the short-term) as more and more people surf using smartphones and PDAs.
Top of the class email marketing using video has to find a way of keeping both sets of recipients happy.
Again, giving control to the user may be a simple solution. But there are still lots of issues to get our heads round here.
By , on
06 January, 2009
I have mixed views on what you've said although I may be wrong.
I'm just sceptical about the certified video idea. Now i'm not technical,(so feel free to put me in my place!) but I can't help but think that allowing video's in inboxes will open up the chance for malicious software to sneak in again.
Certification may put up some barriers, but whilst there is an opening you must expect it to be eventually exploited.
As most email clients aren't really on our side, they will most likely opt for the easy way out and not allow any embedding.
That said though, I do like the idea of animated gifs used in the right places. I've received a few over the past 4 or 5 months and they really do draw the eye.
As far as getting people to view your call to action, it is definitely a handy tool to have in your artillery. Though use sparingly and tactfully to maintain the impact of it.
By Alex Fenwick, on
06 January, 2009
Hi Alex: I'm not technical enough to offer any reassurance there. But I imagine the most potential with certification and video is at the webmail services, where there is a clearly defined sender-receiver chain and working certification systems in place (e.g. Goodmail and Yahoo/AOL). When their product goes live, we'll know more...
By , on
06 January, 2009
Interesting follow ups.
Indeed, 2009 is going to see a massive increase in smart phone sales, with each of the key players having unique licenses to products. These do come with 3G tariffs providing unlimited net connections.
BT's 21CN project (21st Century Project) has a completion date of 2012 which should see 2/3rds of the UK with exchange-to-exchange Fibre optic link-up. It doesn't mean door-to-door however.
This is very relevant in the cost and usage of broadband within the UK. I would not expect bandwidth capping, fixed charges or any of the existing tariff concepts to change in format until at least 2011 maybe even later.
It's unlikely that current talks on whether BT should remain responsible for upkeep of residential lines, exchanges and public call boxes will resolve for at least another year and even longer than that to see whether these services can being to tender.
Changes to this mandate could have the potential to reduce the cost of broadband services and reduction of caps as well as increasing the QOS.
These are all of course only relevant statements (to my knowledge) for the United Kingdom.
I think the most obvious push for this to become a viable and real facility would be for a mail client to have a video player integrated.
I see Google as being the most likely candidate to incorporate this into their gmail client with a tie-in to Youtube/defunct Google Video.
By Andy Parker, on
19 January, 2009
Thanks for the detailed info Andy: very helpful.
By , on
19 January, 2009
I have been using jiveSYTEMS (video email). They integrate with my ContactContact account and most likely all others. I am not too savvy with computers. There support team even showed me how to hyperlink to videos in blog posts, word docs, etc... I will give it a go now. Here is a link to some of their success stories, click here.
To learn more, visit their website.
I hope those links work. Some blogs don't support anchorlinking.
All the best,
William
By , on
29 January, 2009
There is another new option out there GinkoMedia. This solution allows users to create their own multi-media messages or presentations, including video. The user publishes links for email, news letters or websites and views are tracked through cool analytics. check em out at www.ginkomedia.com
By , on
26 February, 2009
Have to laugh. Everytime I write about video email, the post attracts numerous sales pitches from "video email" companies. Most of whom BTW don't actually do video email but simply do web videos that you can link to from your email. Buyer beware.
By , on
30 March, 2009
You will not find any company successfully embedding videos directly into the email body. I have seen a hyperlink to a video used quite often. There are all sorts of free and paid options.
To name a few......
Free:
Comcast Video - comcast.com
OoVoo
Springdo
Paid:
VmDirect
CoVideo Systems - www.covideo.com
Imagemind - imagemind.com
By , on
03 August, 2009
Thanks for the article. I read this a while back and I'm just now getting around to trying out video email. All the companies I have looked at utilize the web video approach. (they hyperlink from the email to a webpage that displays the video). Eyejot looked like the best free option out there. The system was robust and easy to use. For my business, Covideo made a lot more sense. The additional branding, support and additional products are perfect for marketing campaigns. http://www.covideo.com
Cheers,
Rachel
By , on
30 September, 2009
Mark,
Simply put www.attainresponse.com is how you do video eamil online. urbanimagesnetwork@vmdirect.com
By Markeith Johnson, on
14 October, 2009
