Video email, also referred to as email video or video in email, refers to the embedding of videos directly into the body of an email, without the need to attach files or click on a hyperlink to play them. Although video email providers have existed since the early-to-mid 2000s, [1] [2] it has become an increasingly popular medium for email marketing in recent years due to technological advancements, [3] [4] and is used to boost engagement rates. [4] [5] Several companies use video email to showcase their brand identity, send out newsletters, and announce events, product lines or launches. [3] Examples of video email providers include EyeMail Inc., TailoredMail, MailChimp, Biteable and BombBomb. [6]
In the 1990s, the burgeoning email marketing industry could easily send emails with embedded video, although few marketers produced video at the time. [7] By the early 2000s, the rise of email-related security threats greatly complicated the possibilities of embedding videos. [7] Marketers have long looked at video as a way to improve their promotional emails, although most efforts were initially unsuccessful, as Internet service providers (ISP) tended to block video messages due to concerns about spam and malware. [1] In 2006, Lan N. Nguyen of The Wall Street Journal recommend using video-sharing sites such as YouTube so as to email video clips without "jamming your computer". [8] In 2009, noting the growing popularity of social media, the same publication reported on a supposed "end of the email era", [9] and also described video email as a "long-sought horizon for marketers". [1]
Nevertheless, video in email companies already existed, such as the now-defunct Goodmail Systems (founded in 2003), one of the first companies to offer a service that embedded video in the body of an email so as to avoid security constraints, [7] with events promoter Live Nation becoming one of its first clients. [1] In 2009, Goodmail Systems attempted to "resurrect video in email" with the release of CertifiedVideo, although the project did not prosper as ISPs were slow to adopt the technology. [7] Another example of a video email provider from the early-to-mid 2000s is EyeMail Inc., founded in Atlanta, Georgia in 2004 and still operating. [2] [10] [11]
Since the mid-to-late 2010s, video email has been massively adopted by marketers, as producing digital video has become easier and less expensive due to technological advances. [3] [7] MediaPost stated in 2013 that "video in email finally works, is powerful, and is here to stay." [7] Writing for Entrepreneur in 2019, Syed Balkhi noted: "Many email marketing services make it easy to embed video directly in your emails. Some can even pull a thumbnail image from your videos from YouTube or Vimeo as well as overlay a 'play' button icon on top. This is important because without this icon, some of your email subscribers may mistake your video for an image." [5] Some examples of recent businesses that also offer video email services include Playable (founded in 2017), [12] Dubb, [13] and Binary Kitchen, which only allows sending webcam videos recorded within its website. [14]
Video email is an increasingly popular medium for email marketing and is used to showcase a brand identity, send out newsletters, and announce events, product lines or launches. [3] In 2017, MarTech Advisor reported that adding videos to email content could boost click rates up to 300 percent. [15] Recent advancements in technology have resulted in a resurgence in the use of HTML5 and video in email, as maintaining engagement is more difficult than in the past. [4] Marketing director Jordan Cohen noted the importance of HTML5 in the popularization of video email:
HTML5 is a programming language that makes it possible to publish secure multimedia content on the Web without relying on plug-ins like Flash and QuickTime. Because it's a wide open standard, its uptake has occurred rapidly throughout the Internet ecosystem—including within some of the most popular email clients—and it's a safe bet to say that HTML5, and video-in-email, are here to stay. [7]
In his 2014 book Big Social Mobile, David F. Giannetto noted that marketers who use video in email cite "increased click-through rates, increased time spent reading the email, increased sharing and forwarding, increased conversion rates, and increased dollars generated as the top benefits and visitors who view product videos are 85 percent more likely to buy than visitors who do not." [16] Giannetto also noted that only one out of four marketers used video in email, with 43% of them stating that they did not due to a "lack of available video content". [16] A survey conducted by the Web Video Marketing Council, Flimp Media and ReelSEO in 2013 found that around 93% of marketers used video in their marketing efforts, while 82% of them said online video marketing generated a positive impact on their business. [17] The study also showed that 60% of marketers used video for email marketing, up from 52% in 2012. [17]
According to Wyzowl's 2020 "State of Video Marketing Survey", 86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool, 87% of video marketers reported that video gives them a positive return on investment (ROI), and most marketers (63%) consider video engagement the top metric for measuring success. [18] At the same time, email usage keeps growing, with the number of global users amounting to 4 billion in 2021 and expected to grow to 4.6 billion users in 2025. [19]
Electronic mail is a method of transmitting and receiving messages using electronic devices. It was conceived in the late–20th century as the digital version of, or counterpart to, mail. Email is a ubiquitous and very widely used communication medium; in current use, an email address is often treated as a basic and necessary part of many processes in business, commerce, government, education, entertainment, and other spheres of daily life in most countries.
Webmail is an email service that can be accessed using a standard web browser. It contrasts with email service accessible through a specialised email client software. Examples of webmail providers are AOL Mail, Gmail, GMX Mail, Mailfence, Outlook.com/Hotmail.com, and Yahoo! Mail. Additionally, many internet service providers (ISP) provide webmail as part of their internet service package. Similarly, some web hosting providers also provide webmail as a part of their hosting package.
Permission marketing is a type of advertising in which the people who are supposed to see the ads can choose whether or not to get them. This marketing type is becoming increasingly popular in digital marketing. Seth Godin first introduced the concept in his book “Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers Into Friends, And Friends Into Customers.”
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from a mobile phone over a cellular network. Users and providers may refer to such a message as a PXT, a picture message, or a multimedia message. The MMS standard extends the core SMS capability, allowing the exchange of text messages greater than 160 characters in length. Unlike text-only SMS, MMS can deliver a variety of media, including up to forty seconds of video, one image, a slideshow of multiple images, or audio.
The Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act of 2003 is a law passed in 2003 establishing the United States' first national standards for the sending of commercial e-mail. The law requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to enforce its provisions. Introduced by Republican Conrad Burns, the act passed both the House and Senate during the 108th United States Congress and was signed into law by President George W. Bush in December 2003.
Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, where organizations communicate directly to a pre-selected customer and supply a method for a direct response. Among practitioners, it is also known as direct response marketing. By contrast, advertising is of a mass-message nature.
Email marketing is the act of sending a commercial message, typically to a group of people, using email. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing. It involves using email to send advertisements, request business, or solicit sales or donations. Email marketing strategies commonly seek to achieve one or more of three primary objectives, to building loyalty, trust, or brand awareness. The term usually refers to sending email messages with the purpose of enhancing a merchant's relationship with current or previous customers, encouraging customer loyalty and repeat business, acquiring new customers or convincing current customers to purchase something immediately, and sharing third-party ads.
Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising which uses the Internet to promote products and services to audiences and platform users. Online advertising includes email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, many types of display advertising, and mobile advertising. Advertisements are increasingly being delivered via automated software systems operating across multiple websites, media services and platforms, known as programmatic advertising.
Emailtracking is a method for monitoring whether the email message is read by the intended recipient. Most tracking technologies use some form of digitally time-stamped record to reveal the exact time and date when an email is received or opened, as well as the IP address of the recipient.
Mobile marketing is a multi-channel online marketing technique focused at reaching a specific audience on their smartphones, feature phones, tablets, or any other related devices through websites, e-mail, SMS and MMS, social media, or mobile applications. Mobile marketing can provide customers with time and location sensitive, personalized information that promotes goods, services, appointment reminders and ideas. In a more theoretical manner, academic Andreas Kaplan defines mobile marketing as "any marketing activity conducted through a ubiquitous network to which consumers are constantly connected using a personal mobile device".
There are two types of "open rates" one for electronic mail and one for physical mail.
Digital marketing is the component of marketing that uses the Internet and online-based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile phones and other digital media and platforms to promote products and services. Its development during the 1990s and 2000s changed the way brands and businesses use technology for marketing. As digital platforms became increasingly incorporated into marketing plans and everyday life, and as people increasingly used digital devices instead of visiting physical shops, digital marketing campaigns have become prevalent, employing combinations of search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), content marketing, influencer marketing, content automation, campaign marketing, data-driven marketing, e-commerce marketing, social media marketing, social media optimization, e-mail direct marketing, display advertising, e-books, and optical disks and games have become commonplace. Digital marketing extends to non-Internet channels that provide digital media, such as television, mobile phones, callbacks, and on-hold mobile ring tones. The extension to non-Internet channels differentiates digital marketing from online marketing.
Customer engagement is an interaction between an external consumer/customer and an organization through various online or offline channels. According to Hollebeek, Srivastava and Chen S-D logic-Definition of customer engagement is "a customer’s motivationally driven, volitional investment of operant resources, and operand resources into brand interactions," which applies to online and offline engagement.
Content marketing is a form of marketing focused on creating, publishing, and distributing content for a targeted audience online. It is often used by businesses in order to achieve the following goals: attract attention and generate leads, expand their customer base, generate or increase online sales, increase brand awareness or credibility, and engage an online community of users. Content marketing attracts new customers by creating and sharing valuable free content. It helps companies create sustainable brand loyalty, provides valuable information to consumers, and creates a willingness to purchase products from the company in the future.
Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing is becoming more popular for both practitioners and researchers. Most social media platforms have built-in data analytics tools, enabling companies to track the progress, success, and engagement of ad campaigns. Companies address a range of stakeholders through social media marketing, including current and potential customers, current and potential employees, journalists, bloggers, and the general public. On a strategic level, social media marketing includes the management of a marketing campaign, governance, setting the scope and the establishment of a firm's desired social media "culture" and "tone."
Direct digital marketing is a marketing method that uses such things as a consumer's email to send advertisements and other forms of communications to a target audience. Direct marketing campaigns feature calls-to-action that allow marketers to track and measure responses consumers have to marketing campaigns. The personalization and targeting capabilities of direct digital marketing have proven effective. The direct digital marketing has been done directly with the help of other digital medium options such as e-mail, web service, and social media platforms. It is easier to achieve goals in direct digital marketing as compared to traditional marketing. Another advantage of direct marketing is the cost reduction. By using digital marketing resources, companies lower their mail costs. E-mail marketing is much more affordable for companies in terms of marketing and directly reaching consumers. Businesses interact with customers through email, web browsers, mobile applications, social media sites, and other digital media channels. E-mail marketing is considered one of the key marketing solutions besides content and social media marketing.
Marketing automation refers to software platforms and technologies designed for marketing departments and organizations to more effectively market on multiple channels online and automate repetitive tasks.
The commercialization of the Internet encompasses the creation and management of online services principally for financial gain. It typically involves the increasing monetization of network services and consumer products mediated through the varied use of Internet technologies. Common forms of Internet commercialization include e-commerce, electronic money, and advanced marketing techniques including personalized and targeted advertising. The effects of the commercialization of the Internet are controversial, with benefits that simplify daily life and repercussions that challenge personal freedoms, including surveillance capitalism and data tracking. This began with the National Science Foundation funding supercomputing center and then universities being able to develop supercomputer sites for research and academic purposes.
Data-driven marketing is a process used by marketers to gain insights and identify trends about consumers and how they behave — what they buy, the effectiveness of ads, and how they browse. Modern solutions rely on big data strategies and collect information about consumer interactions and engagements to generate predictions about future behaviors. This kind of analysis involves understanding the data that is already present, the data that can be acquired, and how to organize, analyze, and apply that data to better marketing efforts. The intended goal is generally to enhance and personalize the customer experience. The market research allows for a comprehensive study of preferences.
Email Deliverability index is the measure of the success of an email message in reaching its intended recipient's inbox. Factors affecting deliverability include sender reputation, email content, and recipient engagement, among others.
Media related to Email and Internet marketing at Wikimedia Commons
