Video email: new technique + take a poll

Looks like our video email toolbox might have another addition.

Dave Greiner of Campaign Monitor has successfully tested using the <video> element available within the proposed HTML5 specification.

That sentence already exceeds my technical knowledge, but basically the code he used either let a video file play directly in the email (e.g. in Apple Mail) or displayed a clickable image instead (e.g. in Outlook 2007). See the details here.

Pretty impressive, notwithstanding concerns as to how email clients and webmail interfaces will handle HTML5 elements in the future.

We now seemingly have five video email options:

1. A still or other image linking to a playable video on a website
2. Video .gifs (an advanced application of animated .gif technology)
3. CertifiedVideo (embedded video with limited ISP reach)
4. Embedded YouTube videos (only works in Gmail under specific circumstances)
5. The HTML5 <video> element

[There are also video email services out there that address the technical challenges of the medium, for example by optimizing streaming processes or providing viewing analytics.]

Now we know we can do video email, we can start asking “which technique should we use?” and “what tactical and practical issues do we need to worry about?” and (most importantly) “should we use video email at all?”. Previous posts dealing with these topics are:

Video email: current practices
Video email: 8 recommended practices
Video email: when to use it

Finally, I’d be interested in whether you’ve put video content into your emails.

Here’s a one-question poll on that (feed readers may need to click here to see it). Feel free to use the comments to expand on your experiences. This is new stuff for most of us and “best” practices are still to be established…

Thanks!

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