I received a video in an email the other day and quite frankly it surprised me. We all get those YouTube links from friends, but I hadn’t seen the new way to ‘say it online’ with video marketing!
HTML5 makes it possible. It’s now an open standard built into all of the latest web browsers and most modern mobile devices, including Apple devices and the latest Android operating systems. Unlike Flash, HTML5 is supported in the browser in a native fashion that gets rid of the security risks of third-party plug-ins that hindered earlier efforts to embed videos in emails.
More and more people are reading their email off their smartphones too, one of the best environments for HTML5 video. And when the video is in the email, only a single tap is required to initiate playback.
In the past, most online video marketers downplayed the idea of video emails for the simple (and very realistic) reason that a video not supported by an mail client looks pretty lousy on screen. But with HTML5, an acceptable default failover is implemented, and the viewer sees a seamless transition.
We’re told that over 50% of the marketplace is now able to receive full video with audio in email messages. That’s on the right side of the balance scale to get a lot of online video marketers interested. Just remember that although the video appears to playback within the client, it’s best to actually host the video remotely, away from the body of the message, so the video won’t impact the size of your messages or trip spam filters.
An email with added video value. Nice idea.
About Ted Schellenberg
Ted Schellenberg has held positions in communications in the corporate, academic and public arenas, with specific experience in IT. Ted contributes a twice-weekly post on the online video marketing industry to LDRK Media's blog.