• by Loren McDonald , Op-Ed Contributor, September 3, 2015

Many marketers have found that adding video to their email programs drives increased engagement and customer loyalty. People love watching videos online (4 billion video views on Facebook alone in 2014), and they aren't all cat videos and sport bloopers.

Emails with "video" in the subject line have a 65% higher click-through rate on average, according to Vidcaster. When video is a central part of your email campaign, the CTR can be 200% higher than a similar campaign without video.

Email Video Strategies: Two B2C Examples

Video can help you cut costs and increase customer satisfaction as well as identify prospects and move them closer to a purchase decision when you integrate your email video strategy with your marketing automation and ecommerce platforms.

Reduce returns: A sports retailer uses video to help ski-boot buyers fit their new boots correctly and reduce unnecessary returns or customer-service contacts.

Every ski-boot purchase triggers a three-part follow-up emails series, which begins with a how-to video. The series generates a 57% open rate and 26% CTR., but most importantly has reduced costly returns and calls to customer service.

Welcome newcomers: A U.K. sports retailer's welcome email to new customers and subscribers links to video interviews with the CEO and three customers to explain its flash-sale ordering and fulfillment system.

This email moves new members back to the website and uses video to answer questions and reduce uncertainties about the buying process. While helpful, text and images would not bring the story and value proposition to life as powerfully as interviews with athlete customers and the company's founder.

3 Steps to a Video-Email Marketing Strategy

The innate activity associated with sports makes video marketing a natural for outfitters, but integrating email and video can help any brand achieve a variety of marketing and business goals.

Here are some suggestions (taken from a webinar I co-presented) for launching a video marketing strategy that incorporates email, ecommerce and marketing automation in a top-to-bottom sales funnel model:

1. Top of the funnel: Just get started.  All you need is a camera (even the one on your phone), a topic and a platform (embed on your website or host on Facebook, YouTube or Vimeo). Most smartphones and desktops have basic recording and editing tools like QuickTime or iMovie, or you can purchase a video editing software solution.

And you need one more thing: a clear business goal for the video. This, in turn, sets up a distinct call to action. Videos at this level can raise awareness and drive traffic to your website.

Your company might even be in the video business already. Scout around for product demo and trouble-shooting videos, even customer/fan videos. Don't forget your own recorded webinars.

2. Middle: Qualify and move leads faster. Here, prospects reach your website from a public platform (Facebook, YouTube, etc.). Put up a simple lead-generation form that collects identifying information to unlock premium content.

Use that data to launch a drip campaign to these viewers, but watch their video viewing choices for indications that your prospects are closer to buying. This can let you skip ahead a few levels in your campaign schedule and move them to the funnel's bottom.

At this point, you might need to move from a basic video platform to an enterprise-level program that provides more data management and integration with your marketing-automation program.

3. Bottom: Decision time. At this level, you have enough data on your prospects to point them to the videos that will persuade them to take the business action you want (purchase, sign up for a demo, call for an appointment, etc.).

Where are you on the video spectrum? What works, what doesn't? Let me know in the comments.

Until next time, take it up a notch!