Answer
Aug 04, 2019 - 08:17 PM
BombBomb is a platform for video email - a marketing concept that’s quite modern, yet still surprisingly little-used.
Video email differs from standard email marketing, in which a video can be attached as a link, by allowing users to watch the video right there in the email. To answer your question, no, a click is not required to watch.
But do video emails really get more results than hyperlinked videos in regular emails? Let’s take a look.
Research definitely points to the value of video in email in general. For example, the word “video” in a subject line can raise your open rates by 19%, and clickthrough rates by 65%. Emails that use video can decrease unsubscribes by 75%. Consumers like watching videos, as the numbers from social media and marketing research consistently show. See more visual stats here:
https://themarketinghelpline.com/visual-marketing-statistics/
But does it matter whether that video in the email opens in a new link or not? Here are some of the potential benefits of using video email platforms like BombBomb.
Image via Pixabay
Increase ForwardingIf someone sees a video they like, they’ll likely just send the link to their family or friends. But if they see a video they like that’s right there in an email, they’ll forward the email instead.
This can be a benefit to your brand, but only if you want more email forwarding, as opposed to more shared links to your YouTube channel or website.
Saving users an extra click can be worth it. Clicking to open a new tab is pretty easy on a computer. But many people use mobile for emails, and clicking to a new tab on a mobile device can feel like a bigger hassle. By putting the video right there in the email, you show that you want to make things easy for your subscribers.
While video email has a couple of clear benefits, there are also some potential issues to be aware of.
You might wonder why more companies don’t use video email. The main reason is likely that there are limitations to who can use this method.
HTML 5 made video email possible. But video email still isn’t supported by all email services. This means that both the email service you use, and the one your subscribers use, can affect how well video email works.
As of earlier this year, according to SendPulse, these email services support video email:
Apple Mail
Thunderbird 24
iOS devices, native email clients
Samsung Galaxy, native email clients
Outlook.com (except on IE8 and Safari5)
That’s a pretty limited list. Meanwhile, Gmail, Windows Mail, AOL, Yahoo, and other major email services don’t support embedded video.
However, that’s one of the benefits of platforms like BombBomb. BombBomb actually integrates with Gmail, Outlook, and other email services, which helps take care of this potential issue.
Image via Pixabay
Audience BurnoutVideo email can work well, but not if every email you send is video-based. People get bored of the same thing over and over. Plus, you’ll run the risk of losing the small percentage of online users who don’t like video content that much.
However, paying for an expensive platform like BombBomb can make you feel pressured to use video in every email, so you’re getting the most out of the platform.
When you post a video link on your website, you’re creating a resource that users can visit and share again and again. But when you use email to share that video, it becomes a more temporary resource. Users probably won’t come back to a video that’s buried in the depths of their inbox - and even if they want to, they may not be able to find it again. Also, without the added click, you lose an opportunity to bring people to your website.
Since video email is still so niche, your audience might be surprised when your email format changes to include more video. People are accustomed to seeing simple animations, like GIFs, that make emails more engaging. But full videos embedded in emails may seem strange to people who haven’t encountered them before.
Typically, the purpose of an email is to get people to visit your website. But with an embedded video, it’s more difficult to make this happen. Once the video’s over, there’s not much left for them to do but move on to the next email in their inbox.
Of course, you can put a CTA at the end of a video. But without making it clickable, you lose some of its power - plus, you have to trust that people will really watch all the way to the end. And if you put the CTA in text, there’s the risk that people will be too distracted by the video to pay attention to it.
With all of that in mind, it’s easy to see why many marketers still avoid video email. The drawbacks often outweigh the benefits.
However, that doesn’t mean video email is never a good choice. You just need to have a compelling reason why video is the best way to share information with your subscribers.
For most brands, I suspect that the cost of platforms like BombBomb isn’t worth it, since the benefits of video email are limited. But if you decide you want to give video email a try, is BombBomb the best way to do it?
One way people have used BombBomb successfully is to make “cold emailing” more appealing. So while it may not be the best for standard marketing, it can be a good way to introduce yourself when reaching out via email, or to connect with clients on a personal level. You can also use it to make embeddable videos for your website.
BombBomb is very easy to use, so there’s no steep learning curve. Users have also mentioned a great customer service team to help you troubleshoot issues. And you’ll have access to tracking and analytics through the platform, so you can see how well your video emails do. You even get notified when the emails get opened, and when the videos get viewed. If you no longer want people to access an old video, you can delete it so it’s no longer accessible from their inbox.
With BombBomb, your video emails can be viewed on any device, so you can successfully reach all of your subscribers with no issues. You can also access the platform via mobile apps for iPhone or Android, so your whole team can use it with no issues, too.
You can also add a written text element to your BombBomb emails, where you can add your call to action and links to your site.
One of the big issues with BombBomb is that it doesn’t help you make high-quality videos. The lighting, script, and other aspects that make a video great are all up to you. These skills can be learned, but they don’t tend to come easily.
However, an even bigger drawback may be the steep price. The starting price of $39 per month, per user will add up fast.
If you decide video email is necessary for your brand, BombBomb is one of the sleekest and most effective platforms to do it with. The price is steep, but it gets you ease of use, great customer support, analytics, and other perks of the platform.
However, the real question is whether or not video email is right for you. Video email is helpful in some ways, but for the traditional marketing and monetizing that you’re hoping to do, you’d likely be better off with clickable links to YouTube or your site. But if you do want to try video email out, BombBomb’s free trial is a good place to start.
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