When it comes to creating valuable opportunities to increase your sales, few digital resources are more effective than video emails.  

When done right, video emails can help you boost brand awareness, connect with prospects, and nurture them into becoming loyal customers. This is why so many growing businesses are using email video prospecting to complement and improve their sales strategy. 

Now, truth be told, developing a memorable and impactful sales email is no easy task. You need to understand how to properly combine video and email if you want to leverage your sales outreach and meet your conversion goals.

Read on to learn everything about using video email for sales -- its benefits, best practices, and even what type of content you should use on your video marketing strategy to better engage prospects on each stage of the sales funnel!

As you probably know, people receive hundreds of emails every week: newsletters, blog posts, ads, press releases, job offers, personal emails, you name it. Given these circumstances, standing out can be extremely challenging.

However, when you add a video to your emails, you can turn a simple message into the most unforgettable and engaging experience. So much so that just by adding the word "video" in the subject line, you can boost open rates up to 13%!

But it’s not just a matter of open rates - video actually drives action. An image thumbnail can help you increase click-through rates up to 65%. Meaning that if you’re strategic enough, you can redirect subscribers to a targeted landing page purposely designed to convert leads into customers.  

Another major benefit of video is it helps you create deeper, more personal relationships with potential buyers. In the digital landscape, people long for some kind of connection. With video, you can put a nice and friendly face to your pitch. Helping you humanize both your sales process and brand. 

Also, videos are great at synthesizing a lot of relevant information in a short amount of time - which comes in handy if you consider that the perfect email copy length is only between 50 and 125 words.

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Ok, now that you know how video emails help you elevate your prospecting strategy. Time for some actionable tips!

• Keep your video short: Whether it’s a simple video featuring a sales rep talking to the camera or a beautiful explainer video developed by a production company, keep it under the 90-seconds mark. You should always assume that viewers have short attention spans and many distractions. Be concise, straightforward, and include only what’s really necessary to get your message across. By using video maker tools you can simplify the content creation process, ensuring your message is effectively delivered within the 90-second timeframe.

• Don’t use a script: If you’re going to record a video talking directly to your prospects, don’t read a script. Yes, you should have a basic outline in mind and use cue cards to help you in case you forget what you want to say. But try to make it look as honest and natural as you can - That’s going to make your video - therefore you - more relatable, familiar, and authentic. 

• Make it personal: On a similar note, make your video email personal. Include your leads’ names in the subject line or copy, introduce yourself in your video, and even drop a personal comment if you can. If you show prospects how much you remember and care about them, you’ll build a more loyal, lasting relationship. 

• Use a thumbnail video image: Instead of having your video playing right inside the email, add a thumbnail that redirects subscribers to an external page. Why? Because most email service providers - like Gmail or Outlook - don’t support embedded videos, and will show a fallback image or, even worse, a broken image error instead. Something that’ll lead to poor user experience and affect (negatively) your close rates. 

• Put your video below the copy: To make sure your message gets across effectively, place your video after the email copy. That way, if they don’t watch the video or the thumbnail doesn’t load, they’ll still understand the message. As for the copy itself, make it short, persuasive, and intriguing.

• Edit your video: You don't need to be a video expert to produce high-quality videos. The right app on your device can make your phone a powerful video editing tool. An app like Instasize can help you adjust your video settings, adding filters & borders, and much more, so you can shoot awesome videos.

Remember that videos will only make you thrive if your overall prospecting email strategy is right. 

Check out this blog to make sure you aren’t making any deadly mistakes in your prospecting emails!

When using video for sales prospecting, the most common practice is recording a personal message directly from your computer. However, there are other types of videos that can help foster trust, build solid relationships with prospects, and ultimately, move them through the sales funnel.

Educational Videos

These videos are designed to educate an audience about specific problems they're dealing with, or topics they'd be interested in. Note that it doesn't matter how complex, sensitive, or boring the subject might be - with an educational video, you can turn it into something entertaining and easy to understand.

On top of that, they present your brand as a reliable and trustworthy source of information.

Customer Testimonials Videos

If you want to convince potential buyers about the value of your product (or service), there’s nothing more effective than customer testimonial videos. It makes sense, though - We already trust a lot in other people’s opinions and reviews when it comes to deciding whether to buy a product online or not. 

So, if you add to that successful equation a happy face from a past customer, talking about their positive experience with your brand, it’s going to make the message even more personal, powerful, and persuasive.

How-To Videos

In its more basic form, these videos - also known as tutorials - quickly walk you through all the steps needed to complete a specific task, from start to finish. These videos should be very targeted and answer your audience’s most relevant questions or doubts. 

What makes how-to videos so engaging, is that they combine educational content with a highly entertaining approach. Using super easy-to-follow steps and captivating visuals. That’s why they are very engaging but also great for building credibility and trust. An online video editor is perfect for creating these types of videos.

When planning an email campaign, videos will play a huge part in helping you move prospects down the sales funnel and smoothing over the sales cycle. However, it’s important to highlight that according to what stage of the funnel your prospects are, some videos will work better than others. 

For example, at the top of the funnel, prospects are educating themselves. They want information, not a sales pitch. It’s always a great idea to send them a short awareness video answering who you are, what you do, and what you stand for. Some video examples are educational videos, explainer videos, and inspirational videos.

When in the middle of the funnel, prospects are trying to figure out which one is the best solution to their problem. This is why you need to keep educating them while building up yourself as a trustworthy figure. At this stage, your prospects know who you are, but they want to know more. You should create videos that combine practical content and social proof. Product demos, testimonial videos, and comparison videos will empower prospects to make better decisions, and consequently improve your credibility and trustworthiness.  

In the last stage of the funnel, you have to focus on closing the deal. Prospects know who you are and trust your expertise. All they need is a final push to decide in your favor. For these videos, you can talk about the benefits of your product or service, while creating a sense of urgency to convince prospects to buy. Remember to personalize your emails at this stage, to enhance the idea that your solution is exactly what they need.  

Keep in mind that every email is made up of many different elements. Each one has a very important function, and they all should work in tandem to help you get your message across. So, a video will only drive action when it's aligned with the rest of your email's content.

Wrapping Up

Finding new exciting ways to nurture prospects into becoming customers is not an easy thing to achieve, especially through email. It requires a lot of planning, analysis, time, and creativity. 

However, there’s one resource that has proven to be very effective for creating unique experiences - video email. Not only can it help you boost both open and click-through rates, but make your sales messages more human, personal, and engaging.

So, if you haven’t implemented it yet, we recommend not to waste another minute and start planning your next video email campaign. It will give your business another great avenue to help break through the digital noise, engage prospects, and hit your sales goals!

Author Bio: Victor Blasco is an audiovisual designer, video marketing expert, and founder/CEO of the explainer video production company Yum Yum Videos. Besides running the business, he’s a lifelong student of Chinese philosophy and a passionate geek for all things sci-fi.