Video to replace text in email marketing?

Posted: 18 Jul 09 at 00:07

Just met a man who was convinced that video email was going to replace text-based email marketing within the next five years. (Yes, he was selling video-based email technology). Then I met another man who puts together videos for web sites, and he believed that both video and text have complementary roles.

So is zapping out a video to your potential customers likely to attract more attention – and more sales – than simple words and pictures?

The answer lies in asking:

• Can video make your message clearer and more exciting?
• Will your target audience appreciate the technology?
• Can you do the technology?

Video on web sites that sell image work very well. Think how much easier it is to make a buying decision on a dress when you can see a real image of it being worn on a real body. And how much more confident you can be of renting a holiday cottage when you've seen a 360º view of the main rooms on the web. The video is complementing the written information and helping to get the customer to a buying decision.

Then again, would video of someone using a computer make much difference? Would a talking head saying exactly what's written elsewhere on the site help attract sales?

What works on a web site could potentially work in an email blast but bear in mind -

• not everyone has the bandwidth to cope with video coming to their desktop – particularly important if you're marketing to an international audience
• not everyone has the time or inclination to click on a video and wait for it to load – and you could lose potential customers if this the only way you're putting out your message

Forrester says that video in email is a hot new tool for e-commerce, but points out that there are other ways of putting moving images in front of customers. Some have used animated .gif files that can look like video, but take up far less bandwidth. Great successes have been reported by businesses that encourage readers to click through to a video that is actually on the web site.

As is so often the case, video another tool to add to the box. It has a place, but only in addition to other marketing tools. Video likely to take over from the written word – I don't think so.

There's discussion about the difference between clicking through to video on the web from emails and actually embedding video in an email at Email Marketing Reports, which has other interesting articles on the subject elsewhere on its site.

Tags: video, email marketing, web

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