The Lunch Pail

We have been hearing a lot from our customers recently about video email. Many have been hearing that suddenly it's possible for an email marketer to embed video files or script within the body of the email, which has been verboten for many years by the ISPs. The ISP simply strips out the file or script, and your email gets a big gray hole in the middle of it. Unfortunately, most of what they are hearing and asking about is based on a simple misunderstanding about what is and isn't possible with video in email.

At great disappointment to some of our customers, very little has changed in video email – for the masses it’s still a ways away. The standard security protocol for ISPs has not changed: they still remove scripts and embedded video.

The recent clamor many of our clients are responding to centers around Goodmail Systems, an email certification provider. Recently Goodmail Systems announced a new business venture called “Certified Video” where certified email marketers pay a fee to Goodmail and the ISPs that partner with Goodmail in turn guarantee safe delivery of the email – scripts intact – to the consumers’ inbox. When the consumer opens the email the video is intact, and will begin playing automatically, though without the audio (audio is deemed too intrusive, and I think this is the right call on Goodmail’s part). The email recipient can then decide to stop the video, or turn on the audio.

So, while this is progress, this is by no means the Holy Grail. Goodmail’s model is pay-to-play, so every marketer will have to weigh the cost of Goodmail’s certification (not to mention the cost of video production if you don’t have content just lying around) to justify video email. For media and entertainment providers it may be a good fit. For a lot of others it may be a bad fit: too much cost, too much bandwidth, and unintended negative consequences which ultimately could mean a poor email experience.

A quick search of the blogosphere will uncover a lot of insights and opinions on the topic. I recommend Email Marketing Reports’ analysis here. Be sure to read all of the comments to get great insight on improving your animated gifs (sometimes a nice alternative to video) and some counter-arguments to including video in your email arsenal at all.

Smart email marketers have adapted and flourished in the email channel in recent years, without video in emails and other technological challenges. The logic makes sense – as more and more consumers watch video online it stands to reason that video should live in email, too. But those waiting impatiently for the second coming of video email may just be missing out on some great opportunities here and now, with good old fashioned html.