According to comScore, US Internet users viewed 14.8 billion online videos in January, with YouTube alone scoring over 100 million unique viewers in that same period.(http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2741)

Do videos work in email campaigns and will people click to view your video? The answer appears to be Yes. However, there are 3 guidelines we use when developing video for email campaigns.

(1) Create short focused videos.
Too often companies try to solve all of their customer’s pain points in what I call the 14 minute corporate DVD. Sales and marketing videos should be short, narrowly focused and only address one or two points. Most customers will not endure through a video that does not address their needs and wants in the first 20 seconds. Create several short videos rather than a single long video.

Think of videos in two parts:

Part 1. Movie Trailer – This is your 60-90 second elevator pitch. Don’t answer all your customer’s questions, but create interest to a call to action. A Hollywood movie trailer gives just enough information to create interest and to get you to purchase a movie ticket. So should your elevator pitch videos. Create interest and lead them to the next step.

Here are links to sample elevator pitch videos we produced for our clients:

Part 2. 2-3 minute videos – This is a focused video that typically focuses on the following:

• One or two key customer pain points
• Provides information on typical customer objections
• Shows a key feature that solves a problem
• Highlights customer testimonials
• Focuses/Creates emotion on what happens if prospect does not buy your product or service

Here is a link to a sample 2-3minute video we produced for DigitalBridge:

(2) Include a Screen Grab to Improve Video Click Rates.

Screen grabs should give visual clues to the video content. They should be visually compelling enough to get your audience to click to view the video. Below our some sample screen grabs we have used fo our clients projects. (The bottom two link to their respective videos)

Screen grabs are definitely more enticing that a text link like this one below:

http://www.xcelusstudios.com/video.htm?cat=1+vid=0 (Xcelus Marketing Video)

(3) Reference Video in Your Subject Line

Three subject line examples:

• “Video Exclusive! Days 1 to 3 of Fashion Week” Saks Fifth Avenue, Feb. 4, 2008
• “The well-traveled tote (see video)” J.Crew, Feb. 13, 2008
• “RLTV Presents: Cape Lodge, An RL Home Video” Ralph Lauren, Feb. 18, 2008

Some campaigns are claiming 20% to 300% improved click rates with video referenced in the email message.