If you gave people the option of digesting a given piece of content in the form of an article or video, nine out of ten would probably go the way of the latter. Video is a highly effective marketing tool, one that provides the ability to tell stories and engage in ways other mediums just can’t. It allows you to personalize your brand, visualize your product or services and build stronger relationships with your audience. The video trend has shifted to email marketing, but it is accompanied by great challenges.

There Goes that Word Again…

When video is added to the mix, the challenges an email marketer faces are intensified. This is definitely the case with deliverability. As usual, the deliverability issue in this regard has to do with spam and the mechanisms designed to stop it in its tracks. More than other media, video is prone to trigger spam filters, meaning there is a good chance that your message will never even be delivered, let alone opened and viewed. This could easily happen no matter how stellar your reputation.

If you want to make sure your video email arrives at its intended destination, look no further than your subscribers. Even if you are whitelisted at the ISP level, they have the power to determine whether your message gets into their inbox at the user level. Realizing this, you should be trying to get each of your subscribers to whitelist you themselves. When your email address is included in their address book or approved list of senders, your message is almost guaranteed to make it through. The best way to do this is to simply ask them and let them know exactly what steps need to be taken in order to do it.

Video Email Killers

As the language of the web, HTML is capable of displaying virtually any type of visual content you can imagine either directly or indirectly through integration with other technologies. Using it to embed a video clip into an email message really isn’t a difficult feat at all. Unfortunately, this is not a wise practice. Because video technologies are generally viewed as a security threat in the email arena, most mail clients will automatically strip or disable them from HTML code for safety precautions, which presents problems even if you have been whitelisted. For this reason, including a link to the content in your message is the most reliable method. Until video email standards improve, this is your safest bet.

Know the Best Practices

Making the most of video email can be a bit of a headache, but considering all the benefits that are up for grabs, I think you’d agree that this one is definitely worth it. Understanding that it should be approached in a different way is essential. The best practices of video email are being established as we speak, so get to know them, and don’t hesitate to experiment to find out what works best for you (and your subscriber’s email client!).