How to Make a Video Email in 6 Simple Steps

If you know anything about adding video to an email, you might not think it's such a good idea.

Most popular email clients don't support it and producing videos is costly and time-consuming in general.

Luckily, there are simple solutions to all of the above problems.

Keep reading to find out:

• Why you should send video in email
• The 5 types of videos you can include in your next marketing campaign
• How to make email videos without spending a lot of time or money
• The easiest way to embed video in email

Why it's a good idea to send video emails

Look at your email inbox - what do you see?

A sea of boring text with a few stand-out images here and there. 🌊

Perhaps a few emojis in the subject line from a particularly tech-savvy sender.

Chances are, 99.7% of emails in your inbox are completely bland and utterly forgettable.

Like any company, you want to stand out from the rest, so why send emails like the rest?

Reason #1: People prefer watching to reading

We've documented the fact that people prefer watching videos to reading text many times on our blog.

But what do the stats say about email videos?

Well, according to a 2021 study, people are 13% more likely to remember details from a video email than a text one.

Why?

The same study suggests that video emails reduce the so-called 'inbox fatigue', which makes them more memorable than traditional text-based emails.

Reason #2: Video marketing + email marketing = 📈

Okay, so it seems that people prefer video emails, but how does that translate into numbers for your marketing strategy?

86% of marketers use video as a marketing tool and email marketing is used by 87% of marketers to distribute content.

Combining both to make video emails can result in:

• improved click-through rates by 300%
• increased open rates by 6%
• reduced opt-outs by 75%

Email marketers that use video are definitely onto something here. 🤔

5 types of videos you can include in an email campaign

Using video on a landing page or in social media posts is by no means a novel idea, but knowing what qualifies as a 'video email' might not be as intuitive.

Here are a few video examples you can include in your next email marketing campaign.

1. Marketing videos

Explainer videos, video newsletters, and promo videos are just a few examples of marketing videos.

The idea is simple - combine your video marketing strategy with your content distribution strategy for increased engagement and interest in your product/service.

2. Sales videos

'Sales videos' is an umbrella term for so many types of videos - prospecting videos, demos, walkthroughs, presentations, and more.

Since we've already established that videos are just so much more engaging than text, why not replace a cold outreach email with a personalized video email?

Sales pros who use video as part of their deal cycle report a 50% increase in close rates, and a 56% higher proposal engagement, which sounds like a win-win to us.

So, enable your sales team to attract new customers and close more deals by including video in email.

3. Onboarding videos

Nothing makes a person feel more welcome than a personalized onboarding video.

Of course, as a company grows larger, providing personalized experiences proves more and more difficult and time-consuming.

At this point, you're probably wondering why we're recommending such a time-consuming medium for personalized emails, and you're right - who in their right mind would film videos for every client??

Synthesia is a scalable alternative that allows you to create videos with talking AI avatars in just minutes.

Curious to learn more? Keep reading to see how you can make videos at scale.

4. Case studies

Case studies are the perfect instruments for providing social proof and strengthening customer relationships.

They also help prospective clients see how exactly your business can help them solve a problem.

A case study is a perfect candidate for a video email since a video allows you to take a data-heavy text and transform it into a more engaging and visual experience.

In fact, it's something we use at Synthesia quite a lot.

See an example of a case study video we made recently:

5. Product updates

If you're a SaaS company that pushes new product updates at the speed of a 🚀, sending out a product update video through email is the perfect way of keeping your customers up to date with your latest releases.

Here’s one of our product updates we’ve recently sent as part of our newsletter 👇

By this point, you probably have an idea of what type of video you would like to send in your next email, but let's address the elephant in the room:

🐘 How does one make a video email? 🐘

How to make a video email using Synthesia STUDIO

This isn't the only question we're going to answer in this section.

We'll also discuss how to make a video email without outsourcing, spending a lot of time and money, or having video editing skills — from your browser.

For this, we'll be using a tool called Synthesia STUDIO.

Here's how you can make any of the 5 video email types discussed above 👇

Step #1: Write a video script

Sorry, but you can't just take your email body text and paste it into a video maker and call it a day, you need to edit the text so it works well in video.

Normally we always advise to cut down the amount of text heavily whenever you're converting text to video, but with emails, it's slightly different.

Emails that convert best include around 50 to 125 words in body text, which makes them a bit too short for video.

So in this case, you want to expand your message, and make the tone more conversational to increase engagement.

Step #2: Choose a template

If you're not a video editing pro or simply don't feel like spending a lot of time creating videos from scratch, video templates are the perfect solution.

Browse our collection of video templates to find one that fits your needed video type.

To make videos from templates in Synthesia STUDIO, click on 'Templates' on the left-hand side, choose a template and click on 'Create video'.

Step #3: Add an AI presenter

If you want to grab your customers' attention and engage your viewers even more, make videos with presenters (also known as talking head videos).

But we're not urging you to hire professional actors or to record yourself speaking to the camera (we know how awkward that can be). We're suggesting you add an AI avatar to your video to act as an engaging presenter and narrator.

To add an AI presenter to your video, click on 'Avatar' on top of the video canvas and choose one that best fits your video.

Step #4: Paste text

The time has come to take your video script from step #1 and paste it into the video maker slide by slide so that it aligns with the template layout and visuals on screen.

To add the text, go to your video canvas and simply paste the text into the script box.

You will notice that the tool automatically detects the language of the text.

Why is that important?

Because Synthesia takes your text and transforms it into speech.

That's right, the AI avatar you chose in the previous step will narrate your video using your video script, without you having to record or add a separate voiceover.

How cool is that?

Step #5: Edit video

You're almost done!

This step is pretty simple - time to edit the video however you want.

Add text, an image or two, videos, screen recordings, shapes, and brand colors and logos to make the video look on-brand.

Step #6: Generate video

All you have to do now is click on 'Generate video' and let Synthesia do its magic. 🪄

Once your video is generated, it will have its own video page, which can be shared anywhere.

You can also copy the embed code, or download the video in an MP4 file in a Full HD 1080p resolution.

How to embed video in email

Okay, so now you have created an awesome video (or 10), and you are ready to send it out.

There's one tiny caveat - you shouldn't add video directly to your emails.

Why?

Because very few email clients actually support embedded videos, and the most popular ones (we're looking at you Gmail, Outlook, and Yahoo) don't.

So at best your video won't be shown in the email and at worst the email will end up in the spam folder. 😰

But worry not, here's a quick workaround to 'embed' videos for all email clients:

1. Create a captivating video thumbnail, an animated gif, or a simple screenshot of your video
2. Add a play button overlay to create the illusion of a clickable video thumbnail
3. Download the image/gif and upload to it your email body
4. Copy your video link (hosted on YouTube or Synthesia) and paste it as a link on top of your image so it becomes clickable

Time to say goodbye to boring emails...

Videos can be powerful email marketing tools if used smartly and embedded properly.

Hopefully, now you feel more empowered to start exploring video emails. If so, try a free demo of Synthesia to get started!