Engagement is a vital concept for marketers to master; if your emails are more engaging to your target audience, they’ll be much more likely to buy your products and become loyal to your brand.
So how do you make your email marketing strategy more engaging? One of the best ways is with the help of embedded email videos – videos that play automatically when a user opens your email. But what is it that makes videos so engaging in the first place?
What Is Engaging Email Content?
In case you aren’t familiar, “engaging” content is content that grabs a person’s attention and keeps them interested for a period of time. For example, you might see a billboard on the highway in your peripheral vision, then ignore it and keep driving; this content is not engaging.
By contrast, if you notice the billboard, direct your attention toward it, then pull over so you can get a closer look, you can define this as a much more engaging experience.
Engaged users will hear more of what you have to say, they’re more likely to be persuaded, and they’re much more likely to take action (like visiting your site or buying something from you).
Why Is Video So Crucial for Email Engagement?
So why video? What is it about video content that leads to higher user engagement?
It’s actually several things:
- Movement grabs attention. In Jurassic Park, human beings are able to avoid the predatory T-rex by standing still, because its vision is “based on movement.” Human eyesight doesn’t have such a dramatic feature, but we are inherently drawn toward movement. If you’ve ever jerked your head automatically in response to a suspicious movement in your periphery, you’ll be familiar with this phenomenon. If you open an email and a video automatically starts playing, you’ll be hard-pressed to avoid it; we’re all naturally drawn to these moving images, forcing us to surrender our attention naturally.
- Visual data is easier (and faster) to process. Human beings are wired to process visual information. Written text is a relatively recent invention, but we have millions of years of evolution on our side to help us understand moving images. Ultimately, the human brain can process images about 60,000 times faster than text, so it’s no wonder why videos and infographics become more engaging and more popular than written articles that provide the same information.
- Audio adds depth to the experience. Videos aren’t just about visual information, however. They also tend to include audio. Depending on your intentions, that could mean setting a comfortable tone with a cozy song, describing the features of a product with soothing human speech, or making your product seem more realistic with accurate sound effects. In any scenario, you’ll be adding depth to an already engaging experience.
- Videos can be watched passively. You don’t need to do anything to consume content from a video, especially if it starts playing automatically. You don’t have to scroll. You don’t have to move your eyes back and forth. You don’t have to go to a different website. You can just sit back and watch – so there’s less room for user dissonance and disconnection.
- Video content is concise. Generally speaking, video content is concise. You can cram a ton of information into just a few minutes of video content – or in some cases, even a few seconds. This can help you make a more thorough case for your brand or your product while spending less of a user’s time.
- Videos offer more creative flexibility. Some writers might argue here, but for the most part, videos offer much more creative flexibility than other forms of content. Writing includes only writing; videos, by contrast, include writing, a visual stream, and an audio stream. These multiple dimensions afford you much more dynamic interactive potential – giving you a chance to show your users something they’ve never seen before.
- Videos are more memorable (and so are the brands that use them). Images and video are linked to higher levels of retention. People are much more likely to remember information they’ve learned and brands they’ve encountered when they’re exposed to these novelties in a visual format. This makes video content much more effective at improving your brand recognition and reputation.
- Videos are more likely to generate traffic. At this point in the list, you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that videos are also more likely to generate traffic than other forms of content. Brands that rely heavily on video and visual marketing see better traffic rates than those that rely on written content alone.
- Real humans generate trust. People are much more likely to trust a human being talking than a website or email full of pre-written text. Videos give you the option to take advantage of this. You can introduce your CEO as a familiar face or interview your previous customers to get a live testimonial; whatever you do, people will be more engaged and trust your message more than if you presented this information in writing.
- Videos make tone easier to convey. Have you ever failed to transmit sarcasm in a text or email? That’s because tone is hard to convey through writing. In a video format, you have much more power and control here – allowing you to present your messages with more nuance and subtlety.
- Videos get more shares. Did you know that video is about 12 times more likely to be shared on social media than text and images combined? There are many reasons for this, but it ultimately makes video content even more engaging, giving it a much wider reach than it could get on its own.
As you can see, video content has the potential to achieve the highest levels of user engagement. With better videos embedded in your emails, you’re more likely to see higher open rates, engagement rates, and conversion rates. Want to see it for yourself? You can – all you have to do is sign up for a free account or contact us for more information today!
