How to embed a video in your email: 3 easy steps

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“Can we email videos?”

This question has come up a lot over the years and we still hear it from time to time. Finally, videos seem to be a great way to improve the subscriber experience. But can you actually insert videos into emails? And should you? It depends on. That seems to be the best answer for anything email related. There are so many things to consider when it comes to email that every question raises more questions.

So let's look at the pros and cons, how to fake it, how to actually embed a real video in your email, and some examples you can get inspiration from.

Do videos work in emails?

Yes, you can use videos in emails! And there's evidence that suggests you should use video in email (at least sometimes).

According to the State of Email Trends Report, only 34% of marketers use video in email, but over 50% of those marketers say video has partially or significantly improved their email performance.

People want to watch videos, which gives the videos power. And just the idea of ​​a video is powerful:

That's pretty impressive.

But why do you still want to include a video? The advantages of embedded videos are the ability to:

• Show how your products or services work
• Give your brand a face or a voice
• Surprise and delight your audience

Considerations for using video in email

What is the goal of your email? If you simply want to increase engagement, videos can be helpful. However, you need to make sure that the video content you send is content that your subscribers are interested in. And does this format make sense for your message?

Wistia's test spanned multiple emails and the 40.83% increase in click-through rate only affected one of their emails. Other tests showed a significantly smaller increase over non-video email.

Don't add a video just for the sake of adding a video. Make sure you have good video content that addresses the needs of your subscribers. And make sure your audience can even play your video in their emails.

Here's what you should consider before using video in your emails.

Email client video support

Unfortunately, support for embedded videos is limited. This is what email client support currently looks like:

*supported with restrictions

As you can see, video is not supported in many places. Apple Mail and Thunderbird offer the best support for videos in emails.

Video file size and hosting

Another thing to consider is the video itself. The file size and where it is hosted are important factors that determine whether the video will even play in your emails.

For your video via email, we recommend a file size of no more than 1 MB, as longer loading times will impact your subscriber's experience. Larger files take longer to load and require more of your subscribers' data plans. Keep your subscribers engaged by keeping file sizes low.

You also need to consider where you are hosting the video. YouTube or any other video hosting platform does not work. You need to host the video yourself and then link directly to the video file. This can cause problems if you want to track video views. However, you can also work with third-party video-to-email companies to host and embed a video if you want to track video engagement.

To embed or not to embed a video?

Limited email client support and video file limitations are just some of the complications that can arise with video in email. Due to these limitations, we recommend using alternative methods to simulate a video in your email.

Try using a static thumbnail of the video with a play button above it. Or create a fake video with an animated GIF or animated CSS that looks like it's playing when subscribers hover over the thumbnail.

Learn about the pros and cons of using videos in emails before you decide to either embed a real video in your email or fake it.

A “faux video” is a GIF that looks like an embedded video, but is actually just a link to the video on your website.

How to embed a video in an email

So you've thought about all the limitations of embedding a video in an email and you've decided to go for it. Now all you need to know is how to do it. It's actually pretty simple.

1. Create your video file and upload it

Your first step is to create or select your video file. Make sure it's a high-quality, engaging video that's relevant to the email. If you go to the trouble of embedding a video directly into an email rather than just driving traffic there, it should be content you're proud of.

However, you need to balance quality with file size. Your video file should be less than 1MB, so you may need to experiment with the video length and resolution to get the right size.

Once you have your video file, upload it to your video hosting platform and copy the video file URL – you'll need it for the src attribute of the HTML video tag.

2. Create and upload your video's poster image

A poster image is the image that people see in the email and when downloading the video. Your poster image should be a still image from your video with a play arrow over it so people know it's a video. You can also use this image to leave instructions on how to play the video.

After you create the image, upload it to your server or ESP.

3. Set up your HTML video tag

The important attributes to include in the HTML video tag are:

• The src attribute: Enter the URL of the video file you are embedding.
• The Poster Attribute: This is the image that will be displayed when the video is downloaded.
• The width and height attributes: Specify how high and wide you want your video to be displayed.
• Controls: This tells the email client to display the controls for the video. Not all email clients support this, but for those that do, it's helpful to include it.

The content between video tags will be displayed if the video tag is not supported. This can be text or an image. However, in both cases, we recommend creating a link to your video so that your subscribers can continue to enjoy the video experience.

Here is an example of what the HTML video tag looks like:

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