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Video email, also referred to as email video or video in email, refers to the embedding of videos directly into the body of an email, without the need to attach files or click on a
hyperlink In computing, a hyperlink, or simply a link, is a digital reference to data that the user can follow or be guided by clicking or tapping. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text wit ...
to play them. Although video email providers have existed since the early-to-mid 2000s, it has become an increasingly popular medium for email marketing in recent years due to technological advancements, and is used to boost
engagement An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...
rates. Several companies use video email to showcase their brand identity, send out
newsletter A newsletter is a printed or electronic report containing news concerning the activities of a business or an organization that is sent to its members, customers, employees or other subscribers. Newsletters generally contain one main topic of int ...
s, and announce events, product lines or launches.


History

In the 1990s, the burgeoning email marketing industry could easily send emails with embedded video, although few marketers produced video at the time. By the early 2000s, the rise of email-related security threats greatly complicated the possibilities of embedding videos. Marketers have long looked at video as a way to improve their promotional emails, although most efforts were initially unsuccessful, as Internet service providers (ISP) tended to block video messages due to concerns about
spam Spam may refer to: * Spam (food), a canned pork meat product * Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages ** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages ** Messaging spam, spam targeting users of instant messaging ( ...
and
malware Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, depri ...
. In 2006, Lan N. Nguyen of '' The Wall Street Journal'' recommend using video-sharing sites such as YouTube so as to email video clips without "jamming your computer". In 2009, noting the growing popularity of social media, the same publication reported on a supposed "end of the email era", and also described video email as a "long-sought horizon for marketers". Nevertheless, video in email companies already existed, such as the now-defunct Goodmail Systems (founded in 2003), one of the first companies to offer a service that embedded video in the body of an email so as to avoid security constraints, with events promoter
Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American global entertainment company and monopoly that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The company promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertainme ...
becoming one of its first clients. In 2009, Goodmail Systems attempted to "resurrect video in email" with the release of CertifiedVideo, although the project did not prosper as ISPs were slow to adopt the technology. Another example of a video email provider from the early-to-mid 2000s is
EyeMail Inc. EyeMail Inc. is an American communications technology and digital marketing company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded by entrepreneur Lisa S. Jones, EyeMail Inc. is both a black and woman-owned business enterprise (WBE), and is an official ...
, founded in Atlanta, Georgia in 2004 and still operating. Since the mid-to-late 2010s, video email has been massively adopted by marketers, as producing digital video has become easier and less expensive due to technological advances. MediaPost stated in 2013 that "video in email finally works, is powerful, and is here to stay." Writing for '' Entrepreneur'' in 2019, Syed Balkhi noted: "Many email marketing services make it easy to embed video directly in your emails. Some can even pull a thumbnail image from your videos from YouTube or Vimeo as well as overlay a 'play' button icon on top. This is important because without this icon, some of your email subscribers may mistake your video for an image." Some examples of recent businesses that also offer video email services include Playable (founded in 2017), Dubb, and Binary Kitchen, which only allows sending webcam videos recorded within its website.


Usage

Video email is an increasingly popular medium for email marketing and is used to showcase a brand identity, send out
newsletter A newsletter is a printed or electronic report containing news concerning the activities of a business or an organization that is sent to its members, customers, employees or other subscribers. Newsletters generally contain one main topic of int ...
s, and announce events, product lines or launches. In 2017, MarTech Advisor reported that adding videos to email content could boost click rates up to 300 percent. Recent advancements in technology have resulted in a resurgence in the use of HTML5 and video in email, as maintaining engagement is more difficult than in the past. Marketing director Jordan Cohen noted the importance of HTML5 in the popularization of video email:
HTML5 is a programming language that makes it possible to publish secure multimedia content on the Web without relying on plug-ins like Flash and
QuickTime QuickTime is an extensible multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. Created in 1991, the latest Mac version, QuickTime X, is avai ...
. Because it's a wide open standard, its uptake has occurred rapidly throughout the Internet ecosystem—including within some of the most popular email clients—and it's a safe bet to say that HTML5, and video-in-email, are here to stay.
In his 2014 book ''Big Social Mobile'', David F. Giannetto noted that marketers who use video in email cite "increased click-through rates, increased time spent reading the email, increased sharing and forwarding, increased conversion rates, and increased dollars generated as the top benefits and visitors who view product videos are 85 percent more likely to buy than visitors who do not." Giannetto also noted that only one out of four marketers used video in email, with 43% of them stating that they did not due to a "lack of available video content". A survey conducted by the Web Video Marketing Council, Flimp Media and ReelSEO in 2013 found that around 93% of marketers used video in their marketing efforts, while 82% of them said online video marketing generated a positive impact on their business. The study also showed that 60% of marketers used video for email marketing, up from 52% in 2012. According to Wyzowl's 2020 "State of Video Marketing Survey", 86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, 87% of video marketers reported that video gives them a positive return on investment (ROI), and most marketers (63%) consider video engagement the top metric for measuring success. At the same time, email usage keeps growing, with the number of global users amounting to 4 billion in 2021 and expected to grow to 4.6 billion users in 2025.


See also

*
Electronic mailing list A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is re ...
*
Electronic publishing Electronic publishing (also referred to as publishing, digital publishing, or online publishing) includes the digital publication of e-books, Online magazine, digital magazines, and the development of digital library, digital libraries and catalo ...
* History of email *
Marketing communications Marketing Communications (MC, marcom(s), marcomm(s) or just simply communications) refers to the use of different marketing channels and tools in combination.Tomse, & Snoj, 2014 Marketing communication channels focus on how businesses communicate ...
* Mobile advertising * Online advertising * Social media marketing


References


External links

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