Interactive Email Messages
Interactive email refers to the inclusion of multimedia (video, pictures, sound) in an email message. Almost every email client supports the use of pictures in emails (although many filters are set to block them upon open). Embedded video and sound; however, are still often blocked by most clients. So what do you do? Link to them!
Link to your multimedia
You should always link to videos and sound via your website or landing page. First, include the outline for a video (a screenshot with a play button over it, in essence) in your message that links to the video in your landing page. Offer a brief text description of the video, both in the message and in your landing page or website. The description is important in your website for SEO reasons, and also because embedded videos generally do not index in search results.
Video promoted the internet star
Videos are becoming increasingly prominent in messages, and they are usually much more influential than text alone. In addition, they add more reputability and relevance to your message. They are often the selling point of products or services.
For instance, you may ask potential customers to “subscribe to your emails and receive two free videos,” with the hope that after seeing these videos, they will be inclined to purchase your DVD, online video training course, or eBook.
Reading and seeing pictures of a product is not enough in today’s Web 2.0 world. People are demanding more of businesses, especially their websites. Satisfy their insatiable craving for multimedia by linking to videos in your messages. A genuine video showing you or actual customers using your product or service can make all the difference in making a sale. When possible, use Flash video format. It is the most widely accepted format, and it achieves a high compression rate.
Sound Off
Sound on its own is often ignored by many businesses. After all, it can be annoying. If you’ve been surfing the web for a few years, you’ve no doubt been the millionth visitor to countless websites and won at least a couple hundred iPods and Xbox360’s.
Unless you are sending out an email marketing campaign promoting your band, club, or orchestra, linking to a webpage with background sound or speech that users don’t know how to turn off (or don’t have time to turn off) is grounds for a quick exit and opt-out. If you can get Morgan Freeman to do your voiceovers, great. Otherwise, you should probably leave sound on the backburner.
Keep it Really Simple Syndication
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updated content such as blog entries, news headlines or podcasts. An RSS document (which is called a feed or web feed or channel) contains either a summary of content (teaser) from an associated web site or the full text.
If you have a blog or any source of content that you update regularly, promote it in your email with a RSS logo in the header of your email marketing message. Like social networking websites, it provides another channel of interaction for your recipients.