MindComet

Hotmail Kind-of Sort-of Announces HTML5 Video Support

So Hotmail now supports HTML5 video in email. This is a major development in the video-in-email saga, but it’s not a bullet-proof solution… yet.

Once the email is opened and images are displayed, the user must right-click on the video and select Play. This is due to Hotmail stripping out the <video> tag by default. Unsurprisingly, IE 7/8 doesn’t support HTML5 video yet, so you must have fallback content (such as an image) in place for users browsing the web with IE. Safari does not allow for right-click enabled playback, so fallback content is completely necessary here, as well.

Ros at CampaignMonitor brings up a good point in regards to autoplay in that having a video automatically play in users’ inboxes is likely to be a huge annoyance and will ultimately be a great way of encouraging users to unsubscribe. Food for thought.

All in all, this is not a solution that has been fully-realized, but it is only a relatively short matter of time before its fleshed out to the point where videos in email is viable and worth pursing in future efforts.

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Posted by Bryan Quilty on Jul. 20, 2011

Must Subscribe: Pei Wei Succeeds With Video and Offer Email

Pei Wei’s latest email campaign focuses on their new Asian blog experience, and this is the first of the series.

This inaugural email primarily pushes for a click-through to a video of a “Japanese Noodle Master” making a batch of Soba noodles (which is quite compelling, by the way). The secondary call to action includes a unique barcode for the subscriber to print out for a 25% discount off their variety of noodle dishes. Kudos to them incorporating this, as they can easily track how well their email converted subscribers.

All in all, this email is a great example of how you can leverage two of the most powerful calls to action—a video screenshot and a coupon embedded within the email—for a very successful campaign. The email is well rounded with social media share buttons (which aren’t just links to their static Facebook and Twitter pages), further spreading the offer and awareness of their blog.

My only complaint is in regards to the supportive copy / text. Unfortunately, the copy is embedded with the images, which limits the potential communication of the message to their subscribers (since most email clients block images by default). I guess you can’t win ‘em all.

Sign up for Pei Wei’s emails here.

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Posted by Bryan Quilty on Mar. 04, 2011

Mother London Turns Spam On It’s Head

What happens when an ad agency sends out a seemingly spammy email claiming to give away $10,000 to hundreds of people? Watch below and find out.

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Posted by Bryan Quilty on Dec. 23, 2009

Goodmail Merges Video and Email

Video in email is inevitable and that inevitability is now closer than ever before.  And I’m talking legitimate video in email here, unlike the Gmail YouTube feature I covered last week. Don’t get me wrong, I still think the Gmail YouTube feature is a step in the right direction, but Goodmail’s newly announced video service is definitely some next level ish.

Goodmail CEO Peter Horan says:

“Americans watched more than 14 billion online videos this past January alone. With CertifiedVideo, consumers can now watch videos within their e-mail in-box without having to click to an external Web site, and brands can tap into shifting media consumption habits and craft truly interactive, e-mail 3.0 marketing campaigns,“

For $5 per 1k emails (CPM), you can embed a video into email and it will actually work when sent to any AOL, Yahoo, Cox, Roadrunner or Comcast subscribers. You can check out their demo here. It can support and stream of SWF and FLV files, using Adobe Flash to play them.  Now $5 per 1k is a little pricey, but just think of the potential return you’ll get using video in your email.

The power and influence of online video is undeniable and email still garners the highest ROI of any other form of direct digital marketing. It’s a match made in heaven.

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Posted by MindComet on Apr. 02, 2009

Video within email is finally becoming a reality

The holy grail of email marketing is finally becoming a reality, and the geniuses at Gmail are the proverbial Indiana Jones’ who’ve discovered it.  As far as I know, Gmail is the first browser-based email client to allow videos to display within their emails. In order to turn this feature on, enable YouTube previews under “Settings” > “Labs”.

Yes, yes, I know this was blogged about everywhere last week, but I haven’t had the chance to test it myself until today. And I don’t mean to sound exaggerated, but this has the potential to be pretty ground-breaking in the world of email marketing if you think about it.

If you’re an email marketer you have to turn off click-tracking within your ESP in order for the video to work.  The video will only display if the YouTube URL is in your HTML… not the unique URL your ESP creates in its place for click-tracking purposes.

I only have one other criticism with this: The video displays separated from the email—below it. You have to “unhide” the video for it to actually play. See below:

This is all well and good right now… But once they allow emails to include EMBEDDED YouTube video, then that my friends, will be Gmail’s overarching killer app.

With all things considered, I can’t wait until I get the opportunity to segment all of my Gmail users and send them an email with a YouTube video.  I suggest first sending out an email asking your Gmail subscribers if they’d like to receive videos in their emails. Provide them with the simple directions on how to enable the videos in their account.  A week later, start sending them videos relevant to their interests. I’m guessing your response rate will spike significantly.

If anyone has incorporated a video into any of their email campaigns, comment below.  I’d love to hear about the results!

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Posted by MindComet on Mar. 27, 2009

Planning Your Email Campaign

Abercrombie is leveraging video within their email marketing messages.  There most recent communication was different than the standard sales and marketing mesasges they typically send out. 

Subject line for this message was: Have What It Takes To Be The Next A&F Model?

Body of Message:

Overall, I like the idea of the email communication.  One because its different than their other messages, two because they are trying something new and three because they are asking their audience to interact.  However they failed to follow through.  The video never gave me a call to action.  It was back to their standard marketing tactics, using good looking men and women to represent their brand.  I was then redirected to a page on their website with a half naked man.  Based on my preferences and previous emails I received from them, they know I’m a female so why wouldn’t they direct me to the woman’s fashion area of the site?  Better yet, why didn’t they redirect me to a landing page with the call to action from the video in regards to details on becoming the next A&F model?  Lastly, why can’t I watch the video again?  I went back to my email to click through again to see if I had missed something but when I try to click through again I am just taken back to the half naked man.

Like I said, I like that A&F is trying something new, however planning an email marketing campaign is one of the most important parts prior to execution.  The planning needs to be thought through before implementing to tee up a successful campaign.

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Posted by MindComet on Aug. 21, 2008

Videos In Email…  How Many Times Do I Have To Tell You!?

It’s been long debated the best way to go about implementing videos into email.  Well, I’ll come right out and state the obvious: it can’t happen.

BUT there are cool and creative ways to execute videos in email.  The simplest thing to do is to take a screenshot of the video, making that clickable which will lead the user to a landing page.

To take this a step further, take a screenshot of the video BEFORE it plays, with the opaque play button.  This will entice the user even more, which will lead more traffic to your site.

Also make sure you add a text link within the email for users who can’t view images.

Another quick and effective way to portray that there’s a “video” in your email is to take a number of screenshots to blend together to create an animated gif.

Until email clients across the board can support flash, this is pretty much your best bet to get your audience to watch your videos.  If you ever come across any company that claims they can do this, they’re liars.  Straight up.

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Posted by MindComet on May. 21, 2008