These days, video is a hot commodity. According to ReelSEO, an e-commerce business can see up to a 45% increase in conversions when they use video as part of their marketing strategy.

A Kelsey Group study found that more than half of the people who watch a video about a company product visit the company website. Twenty-four percent make a purchase based on the video.

This is great news for email marketers.

Because, according to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing in general offers the highest Return on Investment (ROI) of all marketing mediums. In fact, iContact.com revealed that for every one dollar spent on email marketing, $44.25 was brought in!

If you (or your client) are not currently using video in your email marketing campaign, incorporating video can potentially boost your profits by another 50%.

So, how do you go about incorporating video into an email marketing strategy?

The rules and strategies are not that much different from regular copy …

 … your content has to be interesting and of value to the viewer.

Here are 21 ways you (or your client) can use videos in email marketing:

  1. Demonstrate your product or service — Instead of writing about how your product or service works, show them. Actually seeing the benefits they’ll experience will have more of an impact on them.
  2. Video customer testimonials — Ask clients if they’d be willing to film themselves talking about the benefits of doing business with you and/or the benefits they’ve derived from a product or service.
  3. Show your dollars at work — If you write fundraising copy, put together a short video of how and whom their donated dollars have helped. Actually seeing their money at work will reinforce their decision to donate.
  4. Introduce your staff — Solidify the bond between an organization and their customers by featuring videos of employees explaining aspects of their role and how what they do benefits clients.
  5. Give an insider look at your client’s operations — Take your viewer on a tour of your facilities. This will reassure the viewer you have the necessary resources in place to deliver the products and/or services promised.
  6. Ask people to take part in a live poll or survey — To boost participation, asking people for their input in a poll or a survey (explaining in the long run how it will end up benefiting them) is powerful.
  7. Ask for feedback — Video is also a great way to encourage feedback from your subscriber base which can then be turned into testimonials.
  8. Offer training on a particular product or service — Minimize customer returns by sending out short training videos on how to use, clean, or store the product someone just purchased from you.
  9. “How-to” tips — Share nuggets of information about how to get more out of your products and services, save people time and money, and make their lives a little easier.
  10. Interviews — Interview someone internally or a notable person in the marketplace about a new industry trend or development.
  11. Industry news and commentary — Relay important industry news to your prospects and customers.
  12. Company profile — Strengthen your relationships with prospects and clients by giving them a customer-centric overview of your company. Talk about your company history and what makes your company stand above your competition.
  13. Reviews — Offer up an objective review of an industry-related book or product.
  14. Presentations — Share a presentation about some aspect of your company. Often you can tweak an existing sales and marketing presentation slightly to make it applicable to a more general audience.
  15. Encourage event participation — If your company is staging an upcoming event, a series of videos concerning the benefits of attending is an excellent way to build up people’s desire to attend the event.
  16. Client appreciation — Thank your clients for their support and loyalty.
  17. Announce upcoming company developments — Keep viewers informed about important events and occurrences coming down the road. Feature things your company is doing to help the community.
  18. Offer a discount — Instead of writing about a discount, offer it to your clients “in person.” Explain why you’re offering a discount while reinforcing the benefits of the product or service you’re discounting.
  19. Share a company milestone — If your 10-year anniversary of being in business is coming up, share that milestone with your prospects and clients.
  20. Feature footage from a recent speaking event — If you have an educational or inspirational tip from a recent company event, share a clip of it with your subscribers.
  21. Have your staff wish prospects and customers happy holidays — It’s a nice touch during the holidays to thank your customers for their support and wish them a great holiday.

To include a video in your email, you have two options:

  • Include a text link to the video; or
  • Do a “print screen” of the video and add the graphic to your email with a link embedded. When the person clicks on the graphic of the video, they are taken to a landing page or website that houses the video.

Videos work with all ages. For the 12 to 35-year-old target market, videos are a normal and fun way to communicate. To older people, they are a fresh and exciting way to connect online.

But the bottom line is…

 … they boost email revenues and profits.

As a writer, it makes sense to introduce your client to the benefits of video in email marketing… before your competition does.