Using Video to Level Up Your Email Marketing

Did you know that 86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool? That’s because using video content in your marketing strategy works. Of course, some creators and marketers stick to using video content in two places: on website landing pages and in social media posts. But what about using video to level up your email marketing?

The fact is, research shows that incorporating video content into your email marketing strategy can provide major results. Studies have found that emails with videos have a 300% increase in click-through rates, a 19% increase in open rates, and a 26% decrease in unsubscribers. 

So how exactly can you use video to level up your email marketing? We’ve got some tips, ideas, and best practices to get you started. 

Using Video to Level Up Your Email Marketing

Create a Video Series

Shorter videos often perform better than longer ones and that definitely holds true when it comes to using video in email marketing. Not many people want to stop in the middle of clearing out their inbox to watch a 15-minute-long video. That’s why, instead, it’s a great idea to create a video series.

If you have ideas for longer videos, try simply breaking that idea up into chunks and recording 6 or 7 shorter videos as opposed to one long video. Not only is your audience more likely to watch the whole video, but it also helps to keep them invested and waiting in anticipation for the next installment. 

Pro tip: When you use Zubtitle to edit your video, our video trimmer makes it easy to quickly trim the front and back end of your video so it’s the perfect length.

Include Video Captions

Just as it’s helpful to consider how long your audience will have to watch a video in their email inbox, it’s also important to think about where your audience is most likely to be when they’re opening their emails. There’s a pretty good chance that they’re either at work or in another public space (like commuting back and forth to work on public transportation). And those are the moments when people are almost always using their phones on mute, in an effort to avoid being disruptive or rude.

That’s why it’s so vital to add captions to your email marketing videos. Without them, you could miss out on a portion of your audience. After all, studies have shown that 80% of social videos are watched on mute for the same reason — people are often scrolling through their social media feeds in public areas.

Creators often skip the captioning process because they think it’s going to be long or expensive or confusing (or all of the above). But it doesn’t have to be… you just need the right tool. With Zubtitle’s state-of-the-art captioning software, you can add video captions with just a few clicks. It takes only seconds and it can make all the difference in your email marketing video’s performance. For a detailed walkthrough, check out this blog post.

Use “Video” In The Subject Line

Video email marketing is most effective when your audience knows that there’s a video in the email before they even open it. That’s why it’s always smart to incorporate the word “video” somewhere in your subject line. By just adding that one word, you can increase your open rates by 19%. If you want to make sure the word “video” really stands out, try putting it in all caps or enclosing it in brackets.

Send Video Newsletters

If you’re already sending out a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly email newsletter to your subscribers, that��s a great opportunity to start using video to level up your email marketing. You can use video embeds in your newsletters to give your subscribers a catch-up on any recent content they may have missed.

You can also take a recent video and use the email newsletter to provide a few bullet points from the video, followed by a video embed or a link to the video. By providing a short textual lead-in, you can give your audience an idea of what type of content they’ll find in the video and grab their attention enough that they want to find out more. 

Add a Call-To-Action

A call-to-action is absolutely vital when it comes to email marketing. No matter what video you’re sharing in your email, you probably have some action that you want your viewers to take. So make sure you keep it simple and make it clear. To cover all your bases, it’s best to include the CTA in the email text and in the video itself. Always instill a sense of urgency in your viewers (using verbiage like “act quickly” or “sign up now” or “limited seating”), and make it easy for your audience to complete the necessary action by including social buttons, a contact form, a link, etc.

Are you ready to start using video to level up your email marketing?

Tell us how you’re using video in your email marketing in the comments!

And don’t forget to use Zubtitle to increase your video’s effectiveness by adding captions, headlines, progress bars, and more. With our free plan, you can add subtitles to two videos per month. To create up to 10 videos per month (and remove the Zubtitle watermark), check out our standard plan. 

Sign up for a free account today to start creating!