Dan Tudor at LandingTheDeal.com discusses video emails and the reaction he’s had from using them.
While I haven’t tried out using video in email, it sounds like an intriguing idea. On one hand, it could potentially be very annoying because part of the power of email is how quick it is to read, write, and correspond. Waiting for video to download and kick in could be something that both friends and prospects don’t enjoy.
On the other hand, it’s been shown many times that putting a more human face on a website can help conversions. Why not email as well? How could it be used?
Ecommerce Newsletters
You could show off new products with real video and audio. That seems to be a surefire way to improve the amount of products you could sell.
Individual Sales Discussions
If your type of business involves having individual email conversations with prospects, what better way then to make a relationship if the customer can actually see the salesperson they’re working with?
Blog Updates
I believe one of the reasons blogs have been a success is because users get to really feel like they know the blogger. If your blog has an email update list, might as well communicate via video on occasion to grow that bond even more.
Content Sites
Again, breaking things up from the normal email newsletter could be a nice change of pace, and for some sites you could do some great educational stuff with video emails.
It seems worth a test on any account, and let me know the results.