Why 46% of Marketers are Using Videos in Their Emails

It’s now a pretty well-established fact that video holds huge potential for businesses in their marketing efforts. It’s an instantly engaging, accessible and flexible format that can be used to showcase all manner of products and services.

An infographic created by online video, logo and website developer Renderforest underlines the huge significance of this medium. Key statistics show that:

• 86% of online video marketers use video content
• Five billion videos are watched on YouTube every day
• 100 hours of video are watched on Facebook every day
• Social videos generate 1200% more shares than text and images combined

One area of the digital marketing space where video is proving particularly effective is email. The statistics collated by Renderforest show that video in email boosts click-through rates by up to 300%, while use of the word ‘video’ in subject lines increases open rates by 19%.

According to separate figures cited by inbound marketing agency IMPACT, the proportion of businesses using video in email has increased from 36% in 2018 to 46% this year.

So what is it about video that is proving so attractive to email marketers?

Marketing tools are now evolving

Tools to enable more effective marketing and better measurement of results are improving all the time, and integration of video into emails is no exception.

According to IMPACT, technologies that allow marketers to send video via email are evolving in functionality, making it a quicker and easier job to do.

Perhaps most significantly of all, there are more ways than ever to track metrics such as click-through rates and engagement, meaning you have more opportunities to measure return on investment and plan your email strategy accordingly.

Video provides instant engagement

One of the most attractive features of video is its ability to make an instant impact on the viewer. This is particularly significant in the email space, where it’s essential to capture the recipient’s attention immediately to ensure they don’t head straight for the trash can icon.

Videos can combine the persuasive power of language with the attention-grabbing appeal of well-designed imagery in a way that requires no effort on the viewer’s part, except for clicking or tapping the ‘play’ button. This is a compelling combination of benefits if you are focusing on email as a channel to nurture leads, develop customer relationships and build brand loyalty.

Marketers can get better emotional responses

Making an emotional connection is vital to build engagement with customers and get people to share your content.

Video has a unique power to achieve emotional engagement, because it can bring various elements together into a single, easily accessible package. Use of music, images, color and voiceover all have a key part to play in making a genuine, lasting impact on your audience.

People who have this experience after opening one of your emails are more likely to share it with others and feel a stronger connection with your brand.

This example of a video in an email newsletter from jewelry brand Monica Vinader shows how the format can help to show the more personal side of a business and form an emotional bond with viewers:

It's easier to get your message across

Depending on the nature of your business, it might sometimes be necessary to explain relatively complex subjects and help customers understand exactly what you offer and how it can benefit them.

Video is one of the most effective ways of doing this. Rather than expecting people to read through a dry or impenetrable block of text, you are simply asking them to watch a video that could explain the subject much more effectively anyway.

Once again, this puts you in a better position to capture your audience’s attention, drive interest in your product and strengthen brand loyalty.