Video is omnipresent in our daily life. From YouTube to TV, via social networks or even internal communication, we are becoming great “video shooters” regardless of the size of our screen. However, a space is still inaccessible to video: our mailbox. Often considered too complex and too technical to integrate, video emailing has not yet said its last word. Stéphane Germain, expert at ACTIVECOM, dismantles prejudices and explains why and how videomail is now within reach of all communicators.
Stéphane, tell us everything: what are the advantages of video mails?
The use of video always works very well, in external communication as in internal communication. Many communicators today consider it a real pivot in their editorial strategy. They are not mistaken because video is above all a universal medium: lively content, short format, direct tone, accessibility. It humanizes the relationship between the brand and its audience by bringing proximity. The brand can fully express its messages there by conveying an emotion, and that ... in record time! While uploading to mainstream video platforms like YouTube is quick and easy, access to video can be blocked in a company. In addition, no solution until now has allowed to generate shareable insights through an email campaign. The videomail meets this need: to associate the video content with the email container to easily increase the audience of a video.
Why is video emailing complex a priori?
If email has become one of the main channels of communication for brands with their audiences, it is clear that integrating a video into an email is far from easy. The different types of mail - like Outlook, Gmail, Mail, Lotus, etc. - not all are equal when it comes to receiving video content. So the risk for communicators is to send a video that will potentially not be read because it is inaccessible to certain recipients. We must, on the one hand, deal with the incompatibilities of some messaging services that do not accept video formats and, on the other hand, the security restrictions imposed by certain companies blocking any distribution of rich content through the email channel. The complexity is thus linked to the diversity of the messaging systems used and the filtering of the content., especially in B2B.
So the subterfuge is to offer a clickable link to your video hosted on YouTube, for example, by embedding a capture in your email. This is a solution for lack of a real solution because you expose your recipient on YouTube to online advertising (your competitor could thank you!) And to the video suggestion algorithm (the video that will be triggered after will yours be compatible with your brand?). In addition, the visual impact is less: a still image is never as attractive as an animated content.
So you have implemented a new tool to bypass the diffusion brakes. How does it work ?
Many communicators with whom we work have expressed their wish to overcome these technical difficulties. We have therefore developed ACTIVEMOVIE, a solution that allows them to easily edit, host and integrate videos into their email campaigns. We offer our users to convert the display thumbnail of their video into a moving image, using an integrated mini editing bench, to highlight the striking visuals of their video sequence. The content is thus lightened and optimized for email integration. Concretely, it suffices touploader a video from your computer or load it from a platform. The tool automatically generates 3 video formats compatible with all browsers, whether recent or older. The user will then be able to build in a few clicks an animated GIF image that he can directly integrate into the body of the email, the whole being natively responsive design. The resulting GIF is customizable, from the size of the play button, the order of the images to the scrolling speed.
To summarize, ACTIVEMOVIE is a single entry point that allows you to encode your video sequences, generate an animated thumbnail, produce and integrate the code in your emails and finally distribute your video content.
And what are your tips for video enthusiast communicators in their communication plans?
- > Tip # 1: continue to multiply the impact of your videos! Standards have evolved and it would be a shame to deprive your video investments from optimal distribution by email. Integrate minima GIF previews in your campaigns to reach out to your recipients and generate clicks: they will be able to discover all of your brand's content.
- > Tip # 2: Beware of free video hosting platforms: if you don't fully understand your entire ecosystem, you risk losing your recipients quickly.
- > Tip # 3: do not launch into a technical hyper-personalization of your emails according to the messaging systems of your readers. Even if technically HTML5 allows it, content filtering can destroy all your efforts.
Get to know ACTIVECOM
ACTIVECOM is the smart mailing of advertisers which also propels the newsletter of the We Are COM team. Accessible in SaaS mode or installed within your IS, this solution - easy to learn - brings together several different and complementary tools in add-on. Each solution can be activated independently or coordinated according to your needs. Enough to transform your editors into web editors and your assistants in campaign managers to increase the performance of your mailings! Many advertisers have already adopted ACTIVECOM: La Poste, Banque Palatine, BNP Paribas Personal Finance, LCL, Crédit Agricole SA, Wolkswagen France group, Deloitte, CAF de Paris, etc.
More: www.activecom.fr
