Video Email Marketing in 2009: Facts, Stats, Limitations, Possibilities

Video Email Marketing in 2009Facts, Stats, Limitations, Possibilities
2009 Liveclicker Video Commerce Webinar Series, Part III of III
August 12, 2009
Lisa Harmon
Principal and Co-Founder, Smith-Harmon
Chair, User Experience Roundtable, Email Experience Council
President, Email Marketing Best Practices Roundtable
Justin Foster
Co-Founder & VP Market Development, Liveclicker
Founder & President, Video Commerce Consortium
Founder, Email Marketing Best Practices Roundtable
Tweet about this webinar using #videoemail
Follow us on Twitter! @lisaharmon, @videocommerce

Upcoming Events
Email Marketing Roundtable, Video Commerce Consortium
Largest consortium of interactive professionals dedicated to advancing the art and science of video commerce @ www.video-commerce.org
Largest roundtable of email marketers dedicated to peer-to-peer exchange of email marketing best practices @ http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/emailroundtable
Free Membership!
Shop.org Annual Summit, Sept. 21 – 23
“40+ Specific Things You Can Do to Make Money Next Week”
Email Marketing Roundtable: “Video and Email Marketing”
StreamingMedia West, Nov 17 - 19
“The Quiet Revolution in Video Commerce”

About the Presenters
Lisa Harmon – follow @lisaharmon
Principal and Co-Founder at Smith-Harmon
President, Email Marketing Roundtable
Currently working on the following initiatives:
Pushing email strategy and creative to optimize subscriber experience
and program performance
Leading the EEC Email Design Roundtable in it’s efforts to share
email creative best practices with the industry
Working to better integrate email into seamless cross-channel experiences
Justin Foster – follow @videocommerce
Co-Founder & VP Market Development at Liveclicker
Founder & President of the Video Commerce Consortium
Currently working on the following initiatives:
Actively studying the impact of video on e-commerce performance
Building Liveclicker and the VCC into world-class resources for professionals seeking to advance video for commerce
Communicating the value of video commerce through case studies, whitepapers, webinars, industry reports, events, blogging, and general industry thought leadership

Poll
Take Our Poll: Why are you interested in video for email?
A– Differentiated inbox experience
B – Boost subscriber engagement
C – Drive key metrics (CTR/CVR)
D – Innovate / experiment
E– Just curious right now / not sure

Top Concerns re: Video in Email
n = 287. Registrants attending “Video Email Marketing in 2009” 8/10/2009

Attitudes re: Video in Email

Expertise re: Video in Email

Facts, Limitations, Possibilities

Why Video in Email?
The promotion of video in email has grown because…
Rising access to high-speed Internet has created a shift in how people desire to consume content online
The expense of creating and hosting video is falling
Video viewing increases engagement by adding context to products and building brands
“Video in email can increase clickthrough rates by as much as 2X – 3X”
- David Daniels, VP, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research
May 4, 2009

Why Video is Relevant?
As the email channel matures, so do email subscribers: simply receiving an email is no longer the novelty it once was.
It’s become necessary for email marketers to differentiate themselves in the inbox by using more thoughtful strategies and tactics.
Video brings an exciting “third dimension” to what’s traditionally been a two-dimensional experience.

4 Ways to Deliver Video in Email
“The results are conclusive – the only reliable way to embed
video in email is through the use of animated .gifs”
2009 Campaign Monitor Video in Email Study
January, 2009

What Methods Have You Tried?
Take Our Poll: What Methods Have You Tried?
A– Static Image
B – Optimized Video .gif
C – Certified Video
D – Embedded Flash Video

Static Image with Video Call-to-Action
Static Image:
A static image simply features a still of one of the frames of the video
Use strong visual cues to indicate video presence to encourage subscribers to click through to web-hosted video.
PROS:
Compatible with nearly all mail clients
No learning curve
Established best practices
CONS:
It’s not really video in email
Subscriber must click through for video
and audio

Video .GIF v. Animated .GIF
1999:
Animated .GIF
2009:
Video .GIF

Video .GIF
Video .GIF:
A video .gif uses a compressed,streamed animated .GIF to delivervideo-quality content.
PROS:
Compatible with most mail clients (~75% - 90%)
Displays video directly in email
Does not cause ISP blocks
Does not require the end user to download the
video prior to viewing
CONS:
No audio
Works most places, but not everywhere
Limited player controls
Requires enabled images
Production and delivery expense

Certified Video
Certified Video:
GoodmailSystems is rolling out its CertifiedVideo service.
PROS:
Currently the only solution in the market providing
full-motion audio and video directly in email without
clicking to landing pages
Inbox placement guaranteed
Works regardless of whether images are enabled
CONS:
Only works at AOL (9, 10 clients, AOL Webmail)
Additional cost for video delivery via GM partner
Production expense

Email Client Support for Video, by Inclusion Method

Email Client Market Share
Email Client Market Share Report, FingerPrintApp. September 2008.

ISP Support for Video, by Inclusion Method
Top 23 US ISPs by Subscriber, Q3 2008. Alex Goldman.

Browser Support for Video .GIF, by Market Share
All browsers are not created equal. Video .GIF playback compatibility is dependent on the underlying user agent of the web browser or mail client.
Browser Version Market Share. Net Applications. 8/10/2009.

Which email clients block images by default?
LEARN MORE:
Certified Email (Goodmail): Unblock images at AOL, BT, Yahoo, Telus, Cox, Comcast
Certification Program (Return Path): Unblock images at Windows Live Mail

Best Practices for Video .GIFs
Best practices are still emerging for video .GIFs in email, but the following rules should be followed to maximize performance/experience.
DO:
Use video as a tool to create engagement and richer visualization, not as a subscriber distraction.
Key takeaway: Use video as a primary call-to-action, rather than supporting visual element.
Ensure the first frame of the video is acceptable for the ‘exception’ mail clients that show static images only.
Key takeaway: Add call-to- action on the first frame of the
video so Outlook 2007 will still display a meaningful image.

DO
Pay attention to your video infrastructure.
Key takeaway: 1MM email
subscribers, 25% open rate, 5MB video
can consume 1.25 million megabytes
(1,250 gigabytes) of bandwidth in a
single email campaign.
Experiment with dithering and frame rate to
reduce the bandwidth load required of the
end recipient.
Key takeaway: Reducing the number
of colors per frame from 256 to 128 can
reduce the size of a video .GIF by 25%
without noticeably impacting output
quality.

DO
Measure audience engagement.
Key takeaway: While engagement
metrics for video .GIFs are not
perfect, they are directionally useful and will give you new insight into your email audience.
Consider technology for .GIF creation.
Key takeaway: Unless you want
to create 8 – 20 versions of a .GIF
to account for the variances in compatibility in mail clients, and manually compress files, technology can dramatically automate the production of email video.

DON’T
Make videos that require greater than 150kB – 200kB/
sec in data transfer to display properly.
Key takeaway: Measure the connection speed of
visitors on your web site to get an idea of % of
your email audience on dial-up.
Use video as a secondary or tertiary item in the email.
Key takeaway: Go “all the way” or “not at all.”
Otherwise, video can actually hurt your results.
NEVER, EVER use Flash or Javascript to attempt to get
video to play in email, unless you are using
CertifiedVideo™ and sending only to an AOL audience.

Results
Results
REI
“Statistically significant” increase in CTR, CVR, AOV
- March, 2009
SAP
Increased CTR from 7% to 32%
- January, 2009
Olympus
49% increase in CVR over several emails.
- April, 2007
eBags
65.5% increase in sales in YoY test of video v. no video.
- June, 2009

Key Takeaways
CertifiedVideo™ currently represents the truest incarnation of full video in email. However, its limited adoption by ISPs hinders usefulness for now.
Video .GIFs, on the other hand, represent a step toward universal video in
email coverage, yet technical limitations remain, like audio support.
For today, when executing video in email campaigns, the recommendation for
the highest quality and broadest reach of video in email is to combine CertifiedVideo™ where it works, supplement with video .GIFs where it does not, and take advantage of auto-image rendering at CertifiedEmail™ ISPs to broaden the coverage of video in email.

Common Questions
Q: How large are the video files? What’s the recommended size?
A: Size isn’t really that important for video .GIFs, because the videos download progressively in the background once the user opens the email, even though they stream immediately. It’s much more important to ensure that the amount of bandwidth required of the end subscriber not exceed 150kB – 200kB/second, unless you know your audience can accept higher throughput.
Q: How long should my email videos be?
A: With Certified Video, length may be less of an issue because audio can be used to capture the attention of the reader. With video .GIFs, videos are typically no longer than 30 – 45 seconds. A best practice for longer videos would be to use subtitles or text displayed throughout the video to maintain attention.
Q: How can I find out how much of my audience can view video?
A: Check out FingerPrintApp.com. For less than $50, you can take a snapshot of your subscriber list on your next email campaign to determine what mail clients are being used.

Common Questions
Q: How can I find out more?
A: Your first call should be to your agency or ESP to check whether they’re already partnered with Liveclicker. If not, email sales@liveclicker.com.
Q: I don’t know anything about making video. Where should I start?
A: Liveclicker recommends starting out with an email design specialist with particular experience in using video in the channel. Smith-Harmon is one of many great options. Your ESP may also have some experience. Or email info@liveclicker.com for references.

Questions and Answers
Lisa Harmon
Justin Foster

Video Email Marketing in 2009Facts, Stats, Limitations, Possibilities
2009 Liveclicker Video Commerce Webinar Series, Part III of III
August 12, 2009
Lisa Harmon
Justin Foster

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Video Email Marketing in 2009: Facts, Stats, Limitations, Possibilities

by Liveclicker / Video Commerce Consortium

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