No man is an iland

Google just announced that a YouTube Preview feature is now activated on all Gmail accounts.

This allows millions of Gmail users to view YouTube-hosted videos in the email itself.

This sounds like the holy grail of video email: full in-mail video and audio without the cost and problems associated with developing email-specific solutions.

You would simply segment your list by domain, and could then send all gmail.com addresses your YouTube video.

That’s the theory, but how does it work in practice? And can email marketers and their subscribers really benefit?

What is the YouTube preview function?

Gmail does not react to the code normally associated with embedding videos in a website. If you add YouTube’s “Embed” code to your HTML email, nothing will happen: Gmail ignores the code.

It’s actually much simpler than messing about with scripts or code. Gmail just looks for a link to a YouTube video in an email. If it finds one, it shows a still image of that video overlaid with a large “play” button:

Clicking on that play button expands the video box and runs the video just as if it was embedded in the page.

This sounds great, but there are limitations in terms of the benefits for email marketing.

The first limitation is that the preview is not displayed next to the YouTube link that triggers the feature, but at the very bottom of the email:

The shorter your email, the more people will likely see the preview.

What YouTube links activate the preview function?

Then there is a link formatting issue. Here the results of some tests I ran…what “links” trigger the video preview function?

1. Simply including a YouTube URL as standalone text (unlinked):

(Gmail actually turns that into a link for you).

2. The YouTube URL as linked text:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdTghdIc5Fo

HTML: <a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdTghdIc5Fo”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdTghdIc5Fo</a>

3. Where the YouTube URL appears in the link only

Interestingly, Gmail also displays the video preview where the YouTube address only appears in the URL and not in the text displayed in the email:

Click to view video

HTML: <a href=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdTghdIc5Fo”>Click to view video</a>

Problems arise when you introduce click tracking, as is typical for any email sent through email marketing software. The destination URL is then no longer a YouTube link but a tracking link.

So case 3 looks like this in the HTML:

<a href=”http://www.ESP-Tracking-Link.com/?abcdefghisefgl”>Click to view video</a>

…and NO video preview is triggered in Gmail.

Another issue is that you probably don’t want to send people to YouTube anyway…you’d rather have people who click on the video link going to a landing page at your own website, where the video is embedded.

A formatting solution?

One possibility might be to have the YouTube address as text and your landing page as the URL of the link, like this:

<a href=”http://mysite.com/VidLP”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdTghdIc5Fo</a>

That way Gmail picks up the YouTube reference and triggers the video preview, but anyone clicking on the link actually goes to your website.

There is a user experience issue here, though: I click expecting to go to YouTube, but end up at your website. I’m also not sure how this might look to Gmail (today or in the future) or the reader in terms of security: URLs that don’t go where they say they go look a little like phishing.

Another alternative would be to put an anchor tag right at the bottom of the email:

<a name=”video”></a>

…and link to it:

<a href=”#video”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdTghdIc5Fo</a>

People clicking on the link get taken to the bottom of the email where the preview appears.

(Neither alternative is entirely satisfactory).

Segmenting by domain

Another limitation is that segmenting by domain is not an accurate way to pick out Gmail users. Somebody using a gmail.com address may not be reading the email in Gmail itself.

Gmail users can forward emails automatically to another address or use software like Outlook or Thunderbird to access their Gmail mail. See this post for more details on this issue.

Nor is everyone reading their Gmail in a standard web browser: does the preview feature work in mobile display environments?

Some concluding thoughts

It comes as a shock, but the YouTube preview feature wasn’t designed with marketers in mind. But if you have videos hosted at YouTube, then it does offer you a way to give recipients an in-email video experience.

This assumes, of course, that you take account of the limitations discussed above when designing the email.

If nothing else, it seems like a good way to promote your YouTube video channel to Gmail subscribers!

However, let’s not forget that “just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.”

You have to ask yourself if allowing people to view your video(s) in the email delivers value to you and your subscribers. Check out this article on when to use video email.

The more important implications for marketers might be at a broader, long-term level.

The YouTube preview feature encourages subscribers to interact directly with the email itself. It conditions them to accept and value email as a richer experience. This itself has further implications.

First, it potentially raises expectations. How does your plain text email look now when set alongside a well-designed HTML message with optional video?

Second, it takes both subscribers and inbox providers further down the road to email interactivity. Might this encourage Yahoo! Mail and Windows Live Hotmail to do something similar? (YouTube is a Google property, so perhaps not!)

Might it encourage software manufacturers and webmail services to explore ways to allow richer experiences in email (notwithstanding security concerns)?

For those who shake their head sadly and question my optimism, consider this behind-the-scenes report on Sears and their testing of Google’s Enhanced Email offering. Suddenly interactive inboxes don’t seem quite such a pipe dream?

As Chad White writes in the report:

“These coming changes will require new ways of measuring email success and of thinking about email strategy, particularly the relationship between email and website landing pages”

What do you think?

Find related articles:

• Channel: Video email

In one of my (very) rare public outings, I’ll be guesting on a webcast at BtoB Magazine on “Testing to improve the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns.” Thursday, February 25th at 2pm EST. Details here.

The main speaker is Wendy Lowe, Director of Product Marketing for Campaigner (the event’s sponsor).

We’ll cover the mechanics and value of testing and highlight the kind of things you might explore through tests.

In particular, I’ll be throwing out lots of ideas you can try out regarding subject lines, preheaders, sign-up forms and calls-to-action. Hope you can join us.

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• Channel: None (just a friendly update)

Templates cast their own spell over us. The name implies something fixed. Once defined and coded, they are largely forgotten.

The attention we give each new outgoing email focuses on the content and offer that changes.

The layout and static elements within the template — logos, administrative footers and links etc. — are all commonly ignored. Because they stay the same (duh!).

But should they stay the same?

Many email templates are essentially designed for strangers…for people new to the list.

This premise, plus the fear of being ignored, places design and copywriting emphasis on recognition elements: logos, branded subject lines, exhortations to view online if images don’t show up, etc.

It’s all designed to allow your (new) reader to pick out your message in a cluttered inbox. Definitely best practice.

Now consider this…

When we meet someone for the first time, we are at pains to introduce ourselves and ensure we are recognized. When you go for a beer together for the 50th time, recognition is not an issue (after the beer, perhaps, but not before).

The way we present ourselves changes to reflect the status of the relationship. Is there value in applying that concept to email?

This is a long-accepted practice in terms of the email elements that always vary: content and offers might be tailored to past click behavior or other actions/information recorded over the course of the relationship with the reader.

Might you apply the same principle to the static elements of the email?

First, we need to define when a subscriber becomes “long term”. At what point can we consider a recipient so accustomed to our email stream that we can move to a more mature template?

For example…”recipient has been on the list at least X months and interacts with an email at least once every Y weeks”.

If we accept the idea that long-term subscribers don’t need the same emphasis on recognition elements, what parts of the template might we change for this group?

Preview pane graphics

The top left of most commercial emails is reserved for a nice fat logo or other graphical cues that reinforce the sender’s identity, even if the email is only viewed in the preview pane.

A mature email template might shrink the size of these graphical cues, lifting content higher up the email and releasing space for more action-oriented text and images.

Subject line branding

It’s not unusual to find that including the sender’s name or brand in the subject line lifts open rates. It helps with recognition.

I do it with my newsletter:

Subject: (Email Marketing Reports) New list growth tips, trends to worry about, role of images,…

However, the branded / not branded comparison is made using emails sent to both new and long-term subscribers: I don’t think anyone has reported the impacts of subject line branding on “older” subscribers, who might not need that extra visual subject line cue.

The advantage of removing subject line branding is you move the information on the email’s actual contents to the front and have more space to come up with the right wording to entice interest.

Equally, you might argue that it is precisely the long-term subscribers who home in on the subject line branding to pick your email out in the inbox. Which is why testing is so important here.

Indeed, to avoid repeating myself later: all suggestions in this post need to be tested first before switching to a multiple-template approach based on the length of the subscriber relationship.

Preheader text – the online version

Nearly every commercial email now includes the obligatory line that looks something like this:

If this email does not display properly, click here for the online version

It’s good practice. You never know just how good the receiving device or software is at displaying your email, so it’s useful insurance for a design SNAFU.

But our long-term subscriber has seen that line so often, can we free up preheader space by shortening it?

How about “online version” or “images-on version” or some other text that relates to the longer statement used initially, but which is much shorter?

Preheader text – the permission reminder

Many senders choose to tell recipients where they signed up to get the email, and put this info at the top of the message. They do this in case the recipient thinks the mail is unsolicited and hits the “report spam” button.

You are getting this email because you signed up for it at the AcmeProducts.com website

(I’m not sure it deserves such prominence if you’re operating a truly permission-based email program, but still.)

Again, does your long-term subscriber need to see that so prominently every time? After X months of interacting with your email, are they suddenly now going to start asking questions about where you got their email address?

Perhaps you can move that permission reminder down to the bottom of the email, freeing up preheader space for more valuable messaging?

More on the permission reminder debate here (check the comments).

Preheader text – whitelisting instructions

Another good practice is to encourage subscribers to add you to their address book or safe sender list. If they do, it commonly means your emails have a better chance of getting delivered to the inbox with images displayed in full.

But the same principle applies here. If that long-term subscriber hasn’t whitelisted you by now, is she ever going to? And if she has whitelisted you, you’re wasting space asking her to do something she already did.

We might want to get even more nuanced about this messaging. A personal whitelisting request might be best suited to sign-up confirmation pages and email welcome messages, plus the first couple of emails. Then leave it out.

Then maybe put it back in again further down the road.

Eh?

The motivation for whitelisting a sender is to ensure you don’t miss out on the emails. This motivation is high immediately after signing up, driven by curiosity and the original reason for joining the list.

It’s also high after the emails have established their value to the recipient. So perhaps it’s worth temporarily returning that request to the preheader after the recipient has clicked on a few emails?

(You might argue that if you’re getting a response from the subscriber then your emails are already getting delivered fine, but future delivery success is not guaranteed and every bit helps…)

Image richness

Images can be very powerful, but their use in email has been curtailed by the specter of image blocking. Except if someone has recorded a number of opens on your previous emails, then they likely aren’t blocking images.

So you might send them a more image-rich template. More discussion on the pros and cons of that approach here.

Design surprises

As a final suggestion, maybe it’s worth throwing out something completely different now and then? Templates are obviously a critical part of email marketing. Not least because of the benefits to email production, branding consistency etc.

Does, though, familiarity breed occasional contempt?

Does the same old layout surround the reader in a comfort zone that dulls the senses? Can unusually stand-out content and offers stand out so much when they come in the same packaging as the last 100 emails?

I have no idea, frankly, but I wonder if it might be worth testing what happens when you break your template.

For example, what about a plain text message for a reactivation email or a meaningful message from your CEO to all customers at Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Or a horizontal email?

Or one that is just a massive image (making the recipient curious as to what’s hidden behind the giant blank box?)

Again, the only answer comes from testing.

Costs

Of course, all this theory is wonderful, but let’s not forget costs. Building and managing multiple templates adds another cost factor to the email creation process. So (obviously) if testing any of the ideas, don’t just look at changes to response, but weigh them against the cost and production management consequences, too.

So, any other ways you might age your template? Or anyone tested these kind of changes?

Find related articles:

• Channel: Email design

I spent some of last week’s vacation reading through the 146 page “Email Marketing Best Practice Guide” released by Econsultancy under the lead authorship of Dr. Dave Chaffey.

Here’s my considered review in the book review section of the main Email Marketing Reports website.

Find related articles:

• Channel: Book reviews

One newsletter publisher found that modifying the words used on their form’s “submit” button changed sign-up rates by over 20%.

Which suggests we should pay more attention to those forms. Should, but largely don’t.

We twiddle and tweak incessantly with content, offers, subject lines and button colors. Why not give due attention to the sign-up form, too?

Once you’ve covered the basic elements (like location, privacy links, indication of email frequency etc.), what are some issues you might look at more closely?

Here are three suggestions…

1. How do you actually describe the act of joining a list?

A quick browse across some top sites reveals how they describe the actual process of adding your address to their email list.

What word do they use in the form’s copy and on the button that the would-be subscriber clicks to complete the submission process?

Are they different because it doesn’t matter, or are they different because they’ve tested to find the words that work best for their particular audience and list?

I suspect the latter.

There are three important elements to consider here.

First, what do those words imply in the minds of your audience? Does the word “subscribe” really carry the same subconscious meaning as “sign up” or “join”?

The dictionary definition of a “subscription” commonly mentions payment for a product or service. It implies some kind of investment. Does that emotional baggage lead to hesitation?

Would that change if you made it clear your emails are free? Does “subscribing” for free imply you get something of more value than if you just “sign-up” for free?

The dictionary definition of “join” typically talks about commitment, an association, a relationship. Again, is that asking too much of the user? Is the more passive “sign up” better suited to email lists?

Second, there’s the copywriting aspect. You’re selling the value of handing over an email address, so persuasive copy has as much of a role here as on your sales pages.

Does “sign up!” or “sign up now” or “sign me up” work better than a simple “sign up” button?

When I modified my sign-up form and sign-up page copy, list growth quadrupled.

Third, how does the verb interact with the kind of emails you’re offering?

My instinct would be to avoid the word “join” given the potential additional level of commitment it implies. But consider the eBags sign-up form:

The suggestion is that signing up to the list provides access to an “insider” group. Join makes more sense here than it might with a simple “daily deals” list.

The same concept applies to the MarketingSherpa copy:

They’re using join to reinforce the concept of social proof to drive list growth.

If you “join” a list that a large group of your peers have already joined, you can feel more certain that you made the right decision.

2. What do you call your emails?

There is more to what you call your list than the interplay between the name and the verb used in the sign-up copy. The name contributes to expectations and thus to an assessment of the likely value of joining the list.

The term “newsletter”, for example, perhaps implies something more informational than promotional.

An “alert” implies time sensitive information/promotions. You wouldn’t expect a “news alert” to contain just sales promotions. But you would expect that from a “deal alert”.

The difference between the expectations created at sign-up and what you actually send is important, because it impacts subscriber remorse and how people respond to your campaigns or newsletters.

The safe alternative is, of course, to make it clear just what the emails contain. But if there’s no space for that, consider how you name your list carefully.

And if your list has a unique name that is not intuitively email-related, make sure it can be recognized for what it is.

You know that the link to the “Acme Deal Dispatcher” goes to your email list sign-up page. But would a casual website visitor know that?

3. Replace jargon with words

Depress the input device after repositioning the cursor over this hyperlink. Or “click here” as we usually put it.

Email and online marketers have built up their own tribal language. We are very comfortable with certain terms and processes that might be unintelligible to the casual email user.

One principle in web design is to make desired actions (like submitting an email address) as intuitive as possible. And where it’s not intuitive, ensure the associated explanatory text is easy to understand.

Get someone who isn’t an email list junkie to find, use and interpret your sign up form. You may be surprised by what they say.

With website real estate at a premium, sign-up forms found on every page are often pared down to the very bare essentials. Two common problems that might then arise:

1. Do site visitors know that the blank field is for them to input an email address?

2. Do they know what to click on to submit that email address? You may laugh, but you’re not representative of the typical net user.

Some forms have no apparent submit button. You have to hit “enter” or click on that arrow at the end of the form field. How many people give up confused? Worth a small test, no?

Another problem is jargon. Especially if your form (and other administrative pages) were set up by IT or a disinterested ESP.

How many of these terms do you use that might cause confusion among those outside the email marketing tribe:

• Biweekly (every second week, but many people read that as twice a week)
• Opt-in / opt-out
• HTML version
• Mobile version
• Preference center
• Unsubscribe (I wonder how many people use the “report spam” button because they don’t know that the unsubscribe link in an email is the way to get off a list)

I’m sure there are other words, too…

There are few golden rules here. But take a second look at the lowly sign-up form you desgined four years ago and consider testing a few tweaks to see how that might accelerate the growth of your list.

Related post: The new email marketing…using the right words

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• Channel: Building an email list