Emails containing a video are an excellent way to increase subscriber engagement with your content.

The human element creates a ‘realness’ and more personal experience for the viewer, often resulting in higher clicks within the email. In fact a 2010 study by the Web Video Marketing Council found most marketers (73%) say video-based email marketing is also more likely than static content to generate higher conversion and purchase rates.

When inserting video into your emails, we recommend you steer clear of hard coding them in to avoid rendering and deliverability issues. Instead we suggest inserting a still image (such as a JPEG) or an animated image (such as a GIF) of the video and then link it to a web page for the video to play.

An excellent example of using video in email is this one from Maybelline.

Click to see entire email.

As an animated GIF, the animation in this email only goes for 2-3 seconds but it accomplishes Maybelline’s purpose really well. It draws your attention towards their YouTube Channel and shows you just enough to peak your curiosity and want to find out more.

Furthermore, it’s a very clever use of video that still manages to follow best practices for using animation in an email.

1. The first frame of the animation looks good so even if it doesn’t play the email still looks great.
2. The GIF file is not a large file size so it displays very quickly.
3. Clicking on the GIF image links you directly to where you can view the video in its full glory.
4. The video is consistent with the objective of the email and adds to the recipient’s experience.

Have you ever tried using animation in one of your emails? Or seen it done really well? If so I’d love to hear about your experience.

Posted by:
Kristin Huddleston
Marketing Coordinator

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