How to “Embed” a Video in Email
Nov 09 2007
One of our agency partners (yes we partner with a ton of agencies to provide an email platform) did a great job of using video in email. Now before you think that this video actually played in email.. wait. It did not and that is just fine by me. Video although sexy in email, does not always work no matter what company is telling you it did. BUT as a medium to use to drive the click through it is great.
The way that Citrus used the video player and play window is in my mind how to do it. Create the video to look like it is playable and drive me to click. Don’t waste my time making me install something or have it fail, just drive it to the place where it natively plays best.. the browser.
If you are using video in your campaigns and site, use it as collateral and fodder to drive the engagement in email. I think it works beautifully as we all love video and bandwidth is no longer a major concern.
- Posted by Dylan Boyd
- @dtboyd
- at 5:21 AM
Published in Behavioral Marketing, Best Of Email, Best Practices, Email Design
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November 9th, 2007 at 11:42 am
I have to disagree – I am not a fan of tricking recipients to click. Having controls respond in a way that is not expected reduces the recipient’s trust of their email app, their browser, and/or the email sender. This reminds me of the popup ads that look like OS or application dialog boxes to get more clicks.
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Love you to show me some that work. Send them my way.
November 9th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
I’d recommend using a screenshot but with the controls faded a bit to appear inactive. A button could be placed on the image with a descriptive call-to-action like “Launch Video” or similar. This method will still tease the video while also conveying what will happen when the image is clicked.
I don’t have any examples handy, so I threw one together:
http://loudstyle.com/images/example_videoLink.jpg
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Interesting idea. I think it is similar to the play button, but gives people a clear idea of what to expect. What about mashing it up with the play button?
November 13th, 2007 at 10:14 am
Sure, that might work too.