Your Ultimate Guide on How To Embed a Video in an Email

Why use videos in your email campaigns

An open rate, click-through rate and unsubscribe rate are among the most important KPIs in email marketing, and the addition of video to your email affects them all.

Embedding video in the email: 

1. It boosts open rates. Businesses that used video in conjunction with other email marketing ideas saw the increase for themselves: for example, SuperOffice found that their open rates increased by 6% when they added the word “video” to their emails’ subject line. 
2. It increases click-through rates. B2B software company Igloo Software has seen this increase after they added videos to their email content. Thanks to this, their engagement grew, and their click-through rates increased by 189%.
3. It lowers unsubscribe rates. Adding a relevant video may help engage subscribers more compared to not having one, and thus lower the unsubscribe rates. 

Can you embed a video in an email

Currently, there is no one-fits-all solution to insert a video in an email that would reliably work for all email clients.

According to current Can I Email data, the HTML video element has limited support, with full playback mostly concentrated in Apple Mail and mixed or fallback behavior elsewhere. Gmail and many other webmail or mobile clients strip video-related tags, block playback, or show fallback content instead. That is why most campaigns should plan the fallback first and treat true in-inbox playback as a narrow enhancement.

In the end, you can choose to go the simple route and use one of the workarounds. Or, if you have the resources and want to prioritize quality and higher results, you’ll need to use a more advanced solution. It involves sending an actual video and setting up a series of fallbacks for those email clients that can not support playing it.

How to embed video in email step-by-step

If you still want to send actual videos to your email list, first make sure the campaign is worth the extra testing. HTML5 video is a niche option, not the default way to add video to email. There are 2 requirements you need to meet:

1. The service you use to send emails has to support videos in email.
2. The email client on your recipient’s side — like Gmail, Outlook, Apple, etc. — has to be able to support and play your video.

Email platforms that support video in email

To send a video, you need to add an HTML snippet to the email. You’d need a platform that lets you edit the HTML code of your email. 

Most email services — such as Gmail, Outlook, or Apple Mail — can not do that. But some marketing platforms can.

If you work with an established business, chances are, you are already using one of these. If not, start with making an account on one — many of them have free plans.

Create a video and optimize the file size

The size and where the video is hosted play a major role in determining if it will play in your emails. The size of the video is best kept under 1 MB — larger sizes might take longer to load and affect your viewers’ user experience. GIFs can become heavy too, so use only the amount of motion you need and make sure important information is not available only inside the video or GIF.

Also, hosting the video on YouTube or Vimeo will not work — you’ll need to host it on servers you control. 

Once the hosting is cleared, it comes down to three steps:

1. Create your video. 
2. Optimize its size. 
3. Upload it to the hosting. 

To create a video, you can use After Effects Templates from Videvo. They provide a wide range of free and premium templates that can be used to create dynamic videos. The templates include customizable text and graphics, and they can be used to create professional-looking results in no time. Moreover, they come with detailed instructions on how to customize the templates and how to optimize the file size. In case if you don’t have the resources to record video, you can also use an AI video generator like Heygen to convert text to video, and you can use AI avatars to demonstrate your product.

Create and upload the thumbnail for the video

A thumbnail is a still image that is visible before the video starts playing. A good thumbnail does two things:

• Helps people understand what the video is about.
• Engages the viewers — makes people click on itself.

You can get a thumbnail by choosing from existing images on photo stocks like Unsplash and Pexels. It’s also easy to create one yourself: in Canva, Snappa, with Paint 3D (on Windows) or Photos app (on Mac).

Use a video editor like 123APPS or Veed (both work online, no need to install a program) to add a thumbnail to the video. 

Set up your HTML video tag

You can use the <video> tag of HTML5 to send the video in an email. You will also need to set up fallback content and a linked fallback image for Gmail and other email clients that don’t support the tag. A hosted YouTube or Vimeo embed is not the same as playable video inside the inbox — in most campaigns, the email should link subscribers to the hosted video instead.

The important attributes to include in the tag are:

• The src attribute: should be added to the URL of the video.
• The width and height: they decide how wide and tall the video will look.
• The poster attribute: specifies the thumbnail that will be used.
• Video controls. Not all email clients support this attribute, but in those that do, it will show controls like Play; Pause; Seeking; Volume; Fullscreen toggle; Captions/Subtitles (when available); Track (when available).

Other ways to add video in an email (without embedding)

There are other ways to “embed” video into an email aside from HTML5 — or rather to make it look like an embed. 

Quick way to choose a video email method:

1. Use a static thumbnail with a Play button when you need the broadest support and a clear click path to a landing page or hosted video.
2. Use an animated GIF when motion matters, but keep the file light and make sure the key message is also available as text.
3. Use faux video only when your team can build and test the fallback behavior across your main clients.
4. Use true HTML5 video only for segmented audiences where supported clients are common enough to justify the extra work.

Use a Play button link on top of a static image

The simplest way is to use a static image and add a Play button to it, then make it so that a link to the video opens in a new window once the image is clicked.

The upsides of this method are:

• You can make an image size very small so it would load fast for most of your subscribers, even if they have a slow internet connection.
• You can host the video itself anywhere — the link behind the image can lead to YouTube, your website, etc.

The downsides are:

• Since it’s a static picture, it’s not likely to catch your subscriber’s eye and won’t earn you many brownie points. 
• If the viewer has the images in their inbox turned off by default, they will not see the image and will not know there is a video waiting for them.

Use an animated GIF image

These are steps to take if you choose to use a GIF:

1. Create a GIF image with an animated GIF maker like imgflip.com or giphy.com.
2. Add your GIF image to the email and add a CTA linking to the full video. The video can be hosted anywhere — YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, Dailymotion, or others.

The upsides of the GIF method are:

• It moves, so it looks much more like an actual video.
• GIF is still an image in essence, so it can be made very compact and light, making it load fast.
• You can host the video itself anywhere you want.

The disadvantage of using a GIF is the same as with a static image: if the viewer has the images in their inbox turned off by default, they will not see it.

Create a faux video with CSS animation

Faux video is mobile responsive, it works with retina images, and because it imitates video-like movement with an interaction, it lets your subscribers feel as if they’re playing the video in their inbox. Faux video can be played in: 

• Samsung Mail
• Gmail
• Gmail App
• Outlook for Mac
• Apple Mail
• IOS Mails for iPhone and iPad

There is more than one faux video technique. For example, by combining image sprites (a strip of static images) with background images and CSS keyframes, it’s possible to show one static image frame after another quickly, which will create a “video” effect too. Another option is to build it on animated GIFs – that’s how faux videos are done at Litmus.

Tips to make the most out of adding video to email

Craft a perfect thumbnail

 Here are some email marketing tips and best practices when it comes to thumbnails: 

• Use a still image instead of a GIF.
• Create your own custom thumbnail to suit the content of the video.
• Enhance it by adding a short, snappy headline and/or tagline text onto it. Alternatively, put instructions on how to play video instead.
• Add a Play arrow over it to make it obvious that it’s a video.

Consider keeping the thumbnail’s colors, background, and layout elements consistent with your other videos. Consistency is one of the answers if you are wondering how to create a good-looking email. 

You could use a stock photo, a snapshot of a video frame, or take a new photo to use as a base. Online graphic design apps like Canva, BeFunky, Snappa, Crello, and others can help you easily create great thumbnail images for free, no editing skills needed. They also offer hundreds and thousands of templates to choose from, as well as stock photo and vector image databases.

Consider your email subject line

The subject line along with preview text in email is what people see when they receive your message. It is prime real estate — a good subject line can raise an email’s open rate, while a bad one may do the opposite or even land the email in spam.

Do not insert long videos

Long video means bulky, heavy file, and a heavy file means the email will take longer to load. 

The problems here are: 

1. Your subscribers are forced to wait for a while (especially on mobile) which dampens their user experience. 
2. For some subscribers, it can take a toll on their internet plans, and as a result, they either can not load it at all or give up midway. 

This only applies to faux videos and embedded ones.

Include a clear CTA

Video CTA (call-to-action) prompts people to do an action you want them to take after they’ve watched the video. A call-to-action depends on the goal of the video and can be anything from signing up for a free trial or webinar, to buying a product, subscribing to a paid course, or buying a book. 

Here are a few tips and best practices for creating a good CTA:

• Add one CTA per video.
• Be specific and concise.
• Use clear action words. 
• Make it short.
• Repeat your CTA below the video.
• Make sure your call-to-action works well both on desktop and mobile. 

A few examples of a call-to-action to get inspired:

• Watch the film
• [Video] Learn how to do XYZ
• Watch this video and…

Test the email before sending

Before you send a video email campaign, check the fallback experience as carefully as the main design:

• Verify that the fallback image, alt text, and supporting copy explain what the subscriber should click.
• Test desktop and mobile layouts in Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, and the clients your audience uses most.
• Confirm that every Play button, image, and text CTA links to the right video or landing page.
• Check file weight, load time, and whether a GIF or autoplay-style effect distracts from the main CTA.

Best examples of email campaigns using videos

Tracksmith

A bright and obvious Play button with a CTA made as plain text. Tracksmith focuses completely on getting the subscribers to go see the video — everything else is removed from an email.

MacPaw

MacPaw blends an image with a Play button into the color scheme of the email.

Filmsupply

A leader in cinematic footage licensing Filmsupply uses a beautiful visual with multiple scenes in its email.

Builder Designs

Builder Designs uses a Play button on an image that perfectly matches its overall email design.

Musicbed

Musicbed’s email has a minimalistic layout with only four sections — the header with a full-scale image of the featured person, the video block, the hashtag, and a blockquote to get a stronger interest. It makes it clear there is a film waiting for its viewers.

Wrap up

Adding videos to your emails can have multiple benefits, from a boost in engagement and click-through rates, to a rise in conversion rates. 

Video can help get your message through and do so in a powerful and persuasive way. Despite the technology not being perfect yet, there are multiple ways to make it work:

1. Embedding video in the email with HTML5 for email clients that support playing it in the inbox.
2. A faux video technique that creates an impression of a video and can be used by itself or as a fallback for the first method. 
3. A GIF image that should work in any email clients as long as the user allows images to display in their settings. 
4. A static image with a Play button that is visible in any inbox as long as the user allows images to be displayed.

The first one is the most advanced, but the majority of email clients on the subscribers’ side do not support playing a video on the inbox — which means you need to set up a fallback (in the form of a faux video, GIF or static image) to account for it.

In practice, embedded videos are technically complicated to realize. The alternative is methods like GIFs and static images with a Play button — they are easy to make and work well enough.