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Why embed video inside Gmail?

How many of you have clicked on emails with the word ‘Video’ in the subject line? I’m guilty! With inboxes getting crowded by the day, pairing video in your email is a relief to one’s eyes, as it stands out from the clutter. No wonder videos are quickly becoming the norm for most salespeople.

According to Hubspot, adding video to your emails can increase click rates by 300%! Why is that? It’s because people are intrigued by videos. Over the years, videos have evolved from an entertainment medium to having an impact on the way buyers purchase products/services. In fact, according to Wyzowl, 84% of people were convinced to buy a product or service by watching a video. 

Source: Wyzowl

So how can sales reps reach prospects and customers that are looking for faster, more engaging content? The answer is a video email! 

Consumers are 4x more likely to watch a product video than read about it. – Animoto

So to cut through the noise, rather than sending them the usual text-rich emails that most sales reps still stick on to, opt for video emails to provide them a more personalized and dynamic experience.

Easy way to embed video in Gmail using Hippo Video

Embedding videos into your Gmail is a tedious process, isn’t it? Even with all the hard work involved, it still doesn’t guarantee a 100% success rate. So what if we told you that there is an easier way to do this? Yes, that’s right! With a video platform like Hippo Video, you can create and send video right from one of the most commonly used email providers – Gmail. 

We’ll take you through the step-by-step process:

Step 1: First things, first! Login to your Gmail account.  Click the + icon on the right-hand side of your Gmail to go to the marketplace and search for ‘Hippo Video’. 

Step 2: In the next window, click on Install and then Continue. 

Step 3: To complete the installation process, select your Gmail account which is connected with Hippo Video and provide access to the Hippo Video add-on to proceed to install.

Step 4: After you allow access, Hippo Video will be installed successfully. You can now view the Hippo Video add-on in the lower right corner.

Step 5: To experience the complete version of Hippo Video, install the Hippo Video Chrome Extension or login if you already have a Hippo Video account. 

Step 6: Now’s the fun part! Your ‘COMPOSE’ button has some additional tabs. Here, you can either choose a 1:1 personal video message or launch a personalized video email campaign and send it right from your email without having to switch tabs. 

Step 7: After you click on the preferred option, a window pops up to either record a new video or import one from your Hippo Video library. See we, told you it’s easy right? 

 

Step 8: If you’re launching a personalized video email campaign, you can import the spreadsheet with your recipient’s information.

Step 9: You can also choose between a static or an animated GIF as your video thumbnail.

Step 10: Once that’s done, hit ‘Send via Hippo Video’ to send your video email.

Step 11: Wait! That’s not all! Apart from convenience to record and send videos, Hippo Video also provides real-time analytics of the action taken by your recipients on your video email. Navigate to the notification icon available on the right-hand corner to see how your video emails are performing.

This lets you capture all sorts of data that you wouldn’t have had if you had simply embedded it. You’ll see how much of the video they watched, what parts they skipped or, rewatched, and you can then use that data to personalize your future emails. 

How video email saves your day?

There are so many ways you can use a video email in your business. Here are a few common use cases:

• Build relationships – Videos help build connections through personalized engagement.
• Boost brand awareness – It helps keep your products/services top-of-mind among your prospects.
• Generate leads – Video helps to entice your prospects to fill your lead generation form without seeming too pushy.
• Grab attention – Simplify complex topics by presenting information as a narrative.

But before you dive in,  here’s a word of caution.

Video emails can be tricky

As much as a video email is essential to one’s business, it can be tricky, because either your videos might not be playing properly or your emails end up as SPAM if it’s not done right. You are not alone if this has happened to you. Here are a few mistakes sales reps make while sending video emails:

• Embedding video in email – This might be the biggest crime, sales reps make as most email providers including Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, don’t support embedded videos within their emails. This means that your video won’t play in the recipients’ email. The workaround to this problem is to host your videos through video hosting platforms.

• Heavy size – Are your recipients complaining of a delay in playing the video? Or is your email bouncing back? Blame it on the heavy size of your emails, as many enterprises have a 3mb email limit. This can be overcome by finding a video hosting platform that can help you save your videos in the cloud.

How can you use YouTube Videos in Gmail?

With YouTube being a preferred medium for many businesses to host videos, one of the popular questions that arise is ‘Can you use Youtube in Gmail’? The answer is ‘Yes, you can’! By copying the video link from YouTube and pasting it in your Gmail, your recipients can preview the Youtube video within Gmail’s reading pane.

Although the latest news by Gmail Labs announced that you could preview YouTube clips from within Gmail’s reading pane, this comes with its own disadvantages.

1. It is a common practice for people to use other email clients like Outlook to view emails received in their Gmail account. In such a case, your YouTube preview won’t be available in your alternate email provider.
2. Secondly, as you can see in the image below, the YouTube previews section of an email is fairly subtle and, if your email text is longer, it can disappear under the folds and, your recipient might miss the video.
3. Lastly, adding a CTA like ‘View video below’ can create confusion among audiences who view it using other email clients.

By hosting your video through a video hosting platform you cannot only send crisp previews but also needn’t fear losing your video in the myriad of text.

And what’s more? You can customize your video by personalizing elements such as name, company name, logo, etc. Also, you can add-in interactive CTAs to push your prospects to the next step and close deals effortlessly.

Conclusion

A video email plays an important role in fostering engagement – don’t let it fizzle out by embedding videos the wrong way. With a video hosting platform like Hippo Video, attaching video into your Gmail is a breeze – whether you’re sending a video to that one-prized prospect or to thousands.  Now you can host videos of any length and choose a static or animated thumbnail for your video because we take care of it all while you enjoy the rewards. 

Sign up for Hippo Video and experience the ease of embedding videos in Gmail today!