One way that is sure to grab the attention of the recipients of your HTML e mails is to include a video segment or clipping. For particular events or offers, the use of video can convey a much more powerful message and be highly effective for your purposes. The main obstacle to overcome is that the video does not get played within individual e mail service providers – often the video portion gets disabled, especially if it has been created in Flash or JavaScript. But including video within an HTML e mail can sometimes be a tricky task – here are a few tips to avoid running into trouble.
Use a still image from the video and link it to the video. This is one way to still use the “look” from your video to attract the attention of the recipient, but without the complications of including the entire video. Choose an image that is a good representation of what to view in the video, so that the viewer is enticed to click on it to watch the full clip. To do this, take a screen shot of the image you have chosen from the video. Edit this screen shot to suit your e mail and place it in at the appropriate place. Upload the edited screen shot to the location where you are hosting all your relevant data and note the address of its location. Finally, add this link to the image in the e mail, so that the viewer will be directed to do it if they click on the image.
Use a text link that directs the viewer to the video. Most e mail providers give users the option of turning off image viewing, so that e mails load faster. In this scenario, using an image of the video would also be ineffective, in which case a text link is a more foolproof method to ensure that your message is conveyed. Include a short description of the video, which itself can be hyperlinked, or can be followed by a link to the video. While this lacks the power of the image, it is also perhaps the safest way to convey your message.
Create an animated GIF file of the video and include in the e mail. Because a GIF file is treated like an image, and not like a Flash or JavaScript file, it allows you the chance to include an actual video without getting stuck in the strings of the e mail service. The catch with this method is that there is no sound – it is just the images of the video, but they are not still and therefore capture the spirit of the video. Again, you run the chance that the user has turned off the image option in their e mail account, but if not, this is one step up from the option of including an image. Be sure to use a rather small clip so that it does not take too long to load and deter the user from viewing the segment.
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