Video email templates

Some surprising stats about video email templates

Did you know that according to recent research from SuperOffice, not only can adding videos to an email increase engagement and conversion rates, but including the word “video” in subject lines can increase open rates by a solid 6-19%? 

Another statistics from WordStream show that marketers who use video are likely to grow their revenue 49% faster than those who don’t. This also applies to email campaigns, which makes templates for video email super engaging revenue machines regardless of the actual occasion or topic of your email. 

In fact, video email can give your YouTube channel the initial boost it needs to go viral. Think about how many subscribers you have on your list and compare it to these statistics from Wistia: video in email has been shown to increase click-throughs by 65% while reducing unsubscribes by 26%. Just wow! 

If you can grow a new channel while keeping your current one in good shape, isn’t it worth adding short clips or GIFs to your next email? And with Selzy’s video email templates, it’s easier than you think!

How to embed video in email

Yes, it is fair to say that statistics work wonders, but how do I embed those clips in my video email templates? The first and probably easiest way is simply providing links to recordings hosted on a website like YouTube or Vimeo. 

If you are in the B2C space, you are probably not sending video emails to corporate accounts, but to regular addresses like @gmail, which have a default feature that allows showing clips you are linking to in the attachments of your video emails.

That way, customers don’t even have to leave their inbox to play and watch clips along with the rest of the email content, which can be a good or bad thing, depending on your goals. Let’s take a deeper look at why!

Boosting social media via video email

If your video email has a different call to action than the embedded clip, then Gmail’s way of keeping customers in the inbox is probably good because they won’t go anywhere and ruin conversion rates. But it might not be the best option if your plan is promoting a YouTube channel and you want customers to go there and watch the recording. 

Another important thing you should keep in mind, regardless of your goals, is that linked media files must be less than 25MB. Otherwise they won’t be attached to emails and will only be available via a link inside.

Best alternatives to video in email

Speaking of optimizing video email weight: if your clip is short enough, you can make GIFs of it and include them right in the email body instead of adding recordings as attachments. This will help you keep your video email “light” and ensure that users will see it. GIFs can also act as highly converting and attention-grabbing CTA buttons that, when clicked, take users to a media hosting website. 

You can do the same trick with static images (typically thumbnails) or with animated images such as play buttons that shine like a beacon grabbing users’ attention.

One thing about video emails they won’t tell you about

Okay, now let’s move on to the probably less easy way of adding some media to emails (or at least you might think of it that way) — but the most effective one. It is embedding a movie player directly into your email.

Keep in mind here that not all email clients support video playback in the inbox, plus the number is constantly changing. So we suggest that you do your own research on what clients your subscribers are using, and make a decision on whether or not to embed a media file based on that.

Native video integrations in email (with Selzy’s editor!)

If you’re lucky and your subscribers are using the right email client that supports video playback, consider your work done. Choose video email templates you like and customize them to the smallest detail within the intuitive interface of Selzy’s drag-and-drop email editor. 

You can also create your custom video email design from scratch by simply adding the appropriate element, linking your clip (which can be hosted anywhere, from your website to YouTube or Vimeo), and selecting one of the appropriate pre-made play button thumbnails — or leave it without a button and create your own type of thumbnail design. 

Either way, our email design is mobile friendly by default, so you can send it out as is, or easily customize it with no HTML coding.