There are more avenues for marketing content today than ever before — in-app, social media and SMS, to name a few. Among them, email marketing remains a tried and true strategy. But that doesn’t mean it comes without issues.
According to a Validity survey, competition for attention in the inbox and poor email engagement were the top email marketing challenges for marketers. It all comes down to content fatigue.
As email marketing has grown over the past 5 decades, so has content overload. Today, an estimated 376.4 billion emails are sent and received each day, making it more difficult for marketers to create email campaigns that stand out and move customers to take that desired action.
Fortunately, there’s a solution. Rather than emailing your audience a blocky length of text (that they don’t want to read), why not send them relevant content in a video?
More and more businesses are incorporating video into their email marketing strategy to boost engagement. No matter the types of email you send — whether it’s an email newsletter, product announcement or customer onboarding series — video makes your content more engaging, digestible and memorable.
Let’s take a look at how different brands are using video to enhance their campaign results — and how you can leverage video yourself to boost email engagement rates.
The Issue With Traditional Email Marketing
As we touched on before, many marketers struggle to improve their email engagement metrics. Failing to engage your customers can have consequences. Low open rates, declining click rates and rising unsubscribe rates can all shrink your email list, push your emails into the spam folder and hurt your bottom line.
Marketers have long relied on traditional tactics like A/B testing and optimizing email subject lines and sender names to improve results. But while these methods are important, they aren’t always enough in a crowded inbox.
That said, setting time and resources aside to improve your email campaigns is still worth it.
Reports show that the value of email marketing is increasing, with the average revenue per email estimated to rise from 12.9 cents to 17 cents by 2026. And while email fatigue is certainly real, younger generations are far less affected by it. Less than 50% of Gen Z think they receive too many emails compared to 81% of baby boomers.
What’s more, around 77% of marketers believe the effectiveness of email marketing is holding steady or improving. So while engagement can be tricky, it’s still worthwhile to leverage email marketing.
The Value of Video
So how can marketers make their email campaigns more engaging? The answer is simple: by putting their content in a video.
Video reigns supreme when it comes to high engagement. An analysis of click-through rates for Google ads found that video ads had an 8.3x higher CTR than display ads. On Facebook, video now accounts for half of all time spent on the platform.
There are no signs of video slowing down, either. With more than 825 million downloads, TikTok was the most downloaded app of 2024, making it clear that short-form video is here to stay. Certainly, other social giants have taken notice, including YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels.
It’s no surprise, then, that video can also improve email marketing campaigns by boosting engagement, including higher open rates. Over 8 out of 10 people (83%) want more video content from brands, according to our State of Technology Report, and simply adding “video” to an email subject line can increase email open rates by 6%.
The bottom line? Including video in your email marketing campaign is a great solution to boosting the metrics you care about most.
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It’s easy to embed a video into an email, too. Just embed a thumbnail of the video that the user can click on to access the video landing page.
Of course, the way you present it matters. Strong email design plays a crucial role in capturing attention and incorporating compelling visuals can make all the difference.
For example, instead of a still image, make your thumbnail more engaging by animating it! Create a GIF, personalized to every customer, to use as a thumbnail. We’ve seen Personalized Graphics increase CTR by 5x compared to generic, static thumbnails.
Making Your Video Email Dynamic
Do you remember the early days of email? Marketers quickly realized that adding a person’s name to an email would increase the chances of the user opening it. But it only took about 10 minutes longer for spammers to copy the trend, making it commonplace and ineffective in grabbing someone’s attention.
Marketers have since learned that to cut through the digital noise, they need to do more than just personalize the name field. The same principle applies to the video content you add to your email. If your viewer is watching a video that’s irrelevant to their demographic, past behavior or interests, it’s likely they’ll click off after only a few seconds.
Gone are the days of static, one-size-fits-all content. Brands are now expected to personalize their communications — and that includes videos in email. In fact, nearly 60% of millennials and Gen Z reported that personalization in email marketing was extremely or very important to them.
Instead of sending the same video to every customer in your target audience, you can tailor the content to each individual person, creating a more relevant and engaging experience. For instance, sending a video that highlights a customer’s purchase history or suggests complementary products can drive more meaningful interactions.
But how can businesses with hundreds of thousands — even millions — of customers create video content that resonates with every individual? It’s easy, with the right tools.
With our video platform, you can automatically pull your customer data in and create a Personalized Video for every individual, providing them with content that’s not only fun to watch, but meaningful and relevant.
Whether you’re looking to email an exclusive offer or give a warm welcome to your company, including dynamic, data-driven video is one effective way to boost your email engagement rates. Need some inspiration? Take a look at these different email examples across the customer journey.
Upgrade Your Onboarding Emails
An email welcoming your customer to their new program, product or service should be exciting. You’re about to embark on a new relationship, and your customer has a bright future ahead of them. Why send a boring, transactional email when you can make a first impression that sets yourself apart?
Make your welcome email just as exciting by greeting them with a special video made just for them. Let your customers know they can expect easy-to-understand, valuable information from the start — even if it’s about a topic as nuanced as mortgages. Just take a look at the onboarding video PHH Mortgage delivered to new customers.
Each data-driven explainer video included information that would be the most helpful and relevant for the viewer, from their official start date to their loan type and more. By tailoring video content to the individual’s unique situation, PHH Mortgage helped customers easily understand every aspect of their mortgage journey and set the stage for a positive, long-lasting relationship.
A personalized touch from the start can go a long way in establishing rapport and showing customers that you value their business. Plus, if they forget something along the way, they can always rewatch the video for a quick reminder.
Another great example is Spectrum’s Interactive Video. The internet provider created an engaging self-installation guide that new customers can click through at their own pace. The video includes chapter markers and clickable buttons so that viewers can easily navigate to and revisit sections as needed.
Not only does this empower the customer and save them from having to wait for an installation team but it also helps Spectrum reduce labor costs and support calls. This optimization of the onboarding process ensures customers start strong and quickly reap the benefits of your service.
Ultimately, incorporating these kinds of videos in your onboarding emails does more than just provide a valuable welcome — it can actively boost your email engagement. Videos like these increase the chances of your emails being opened, clicked and revisited, helping you make a stronger connection.
Upselling With Style
Want to quickly stand out in your customers’ crowded inboxes? Reach out with the right message at the right time. If you’re looking to create an email campaign upselling an additional product or service, present offers and incentives that are truly valuable and needed instead of pushing products they’re likely to ignore.
When done right, upselling should feel like a natural extension of your relationship with the customer rather than a forced pitch. Take this dynamic video campaign created by Vodafone. The brand didn’t simply offer extra services, they recommended options that would actually be of value to each customer.
Addressing the recipient by name, the video grabbed attention and made viewers more likely to engage. And by speaking to the customer’s unique scenario and preferences, Vodafone turned a typical upsell into a valuable and relevant offer.
Here’s another example by Celebrity Cruises, which used Personalized Video to present an exclusive offer: a luxurious cruise to the Galapagos.
The use of video was a game-changer here. Video allows you to truly show the offer’s value, not just tell your audience about it. The viewer can see the stunning islands and cruise ship for themselves, which makes the offer more enticing. Combining this visual appeal with a strong call to action (CTA) creates a sense of urgency, pushing customers to act before it’s too late.
We’ve seen our clients achieve impressive results from sales campaigns like these, ranging from a 9x conversion uplift to 8x higher sales to an 81% conversion rate. When you use dynamic content to present your upsell, you’re not just sending an offer — you’re making it feel relevant, timely and special, motivating them to act before the opportunity passes.
Emails That Show You Care
You don’t have to restrict your emails to your new customers or the perfect upsell opportunity. Instead, try celebrating the milestones your customers have met. A well-timed email that highlights their progress or accomplishments can strengthen your relationship with them and reinforce their loyalty to your brand.
Videos are a great tool for storytelling. And what better story to tell than the one your viewers resonate with most: their own?
Check out the year in review that WW (formerly Weight Watchers) sent to their audience. Their multi-channel approach distributed the video in-app, via a dedicated video landing page and, of course, through email. No matter how users preferred to engage — whether on desktop, tablet or mobile devices — their personalized recap was just a click away.
People are used to businesses reaching out with an email to make a sale but a data-driven year-in-review video is a welcome surprise. WW’s customers were delighted to see a recap of their achievements, with the personal touch making the video incredibly impactful.
And the best part? When they’re done watching, customers can easily share their videos with friends and family to show off the progress they’ve made, compare results and more. A dynamic highlights reel takes your email content beyond their inbox and onto social media platforms, giving your customers bragging rights (and your company free advertising).
Showing you care could also mean expressing appreciation. The Canadian Red Cross sought to thank their donors by sending Personalized Videos via email, recognizing their contributions in a heartfelt and unique way. The impact? A 17x ROI and an 11% increase in year-end giving compared to the control group.
Notably, when the Red Cross tested a generic version of the video against the personalized one, the customized experience saw twice as many video views. This proves just how powerful personalization can be in driving deeper customer engagement.
Whether you’re celebrating a customer’s achievements or thanking them for their contributions, these types of videos can go a long way in turning one-time buyers into lifelong advocates.
Dynamic Video Creative That Gets Results
Ready to personalize your digital marketing efforts with video? Doing it without the right technology is all but impossible. Think about it — do you have time or budget to film or animate a unique video for every email recipient? Probably not.
But there is a solution. Connect your CRM data to your video creative and use automation to seamlessly infuse customer data into each video. Add those dynamic videos to your emails — an integration with HubSpot or Salesforce works well — and take your email personalization to the next level.
Our patented, enterprise-grade Next Generation Video Platform lets you generate millions of dynamic videos in cinematic quality and in real time. Whether you’re sending out personalized welcome messages, onboarding guides or targeted upsell offers, you can create and distribute data-driven video across multiple channels — including email — with ease. And if you need even faster production, Lucas, our AI video creator, is happy to step in.
Are you ready to enhance your email campaigns? Speak to one of our video experts today for a free demo.
