As marketers, most of us send out emails regularly, stuff like newsletters, emails of special offers, coupons, promos, etc. And, if you’re like me, you try different methods and strategies to get more clicks and responses from those emails. I’ve found that one of the most effective methods being utilized right now is using animated GIFs and large video thumbnail links that take recipients to a video landing page. Most people hate reading long emails, that’s a fact, and that’s where the benefits of using videos come into focus 🙂 So, the take-away here is gonna be: Video Email Marketing Increases Sales. But how to improve CTR?
Did you know that an average CTR (clickthrough, an email marketing metric) is only around 2.4%? Quite discouraging isn’t it? But did you know there are ways to catapult this into a whopping 16.4%? That’s almost a 600% improvement in response rates. How? There are basically two steps to do it – improve list quality and making interesting and fun videos.
First Step: Offer Quality Content to a Qualified Contact List
Quit spamming your list; build a permission-centric opt-in list through inbound marketing
This is a no-brainer, but a lot of people really forget about it and continue to spam people day in and day out. The key to better email marketing is to promote engagement, which you can achieve by providing quality. And then, use inbound marketing that is permission-centric to improve your CTR, even for the average email that you send. The idea behind this is quite simple – those who want to get your email would love to have it in their inbox and will click on it . And those that don’t want on your list in the first place won’t. So get ’em off the list and start crafting a great message for those who will really benefit.
Second Step: Make Personal, Fun and Interesting Videos
Rather than sending people emails that are just text, spice things up and make it more interesting by using video thumbnails (with a play arrow overlaid on top… just inviting…beckoning them to click and play) or create an animated GIF that will actually play a short animation right inside their email client. Talk about grabbing your attention! I love these. Not many people are using them yet, but it is catching on fast. Th they are an old technology that is coming back fast… in blogs, emails, and other places. Video and animation are very powerful media; it is of course, more active and interesting than text. But of course, they can take time and require some technical knowledge to execute effectively. We can help with that, or if you want to go it alone, that can work out well in some situations.
If self-producing, you will want to start small and make your videos short but compelling. Get a pattern of presentation that is flexible and sustainable. Find something that works well and don’t stress yourself with it. You can record a good video for blog marketing using only your camcorder or even a high quality web cam. (Yes, that’s right – we’re a video production company and we said you could do it yourself. We want to help and, hey, sometimes this is an appropriate approach, for example a “man on the street” interview, or simple how-to on your product – we think that can be great and it is sustainable on a smaller budget. But for a more polished sales tool or branding piece you will want higher production values. We can definitely help you on that :).
Of course, you should still never forget about your email layout and text. Your email still needs images, links, and of course, compelling written copy. Measure it for SPAM flags and make sure it displays correctly in all major email clients (we can help with all that too!) because email clients vary in their presentation of HTML emails. And don’t forget to do some anecdotal market research… test your videos with your friends and peers and ask them what they think about it. They can give some good insights and suggestions. Use these things to polish your work.
There are many writers competing for the eyes of very few readers. Our culture is all about the sound bite and quick snapshots of information and, for better or worse, many people really prefer watching a video than reading your well crafted prose. Video email marketing and animated GIFs will increase sales by encouraging better CTR. For more ideas on email templates, landing pages, how to make animated GIFs or a compelling web video, please contact us!
