At Blings, we focus on getting your campaigns to convert better, faster, and more consistently. The secret to our success is that we help you create compelling, engaging, and relevant video content that drives your message home and stimulates your audience to respond quicker because of the personalized content you can deliver to them.

If you aren’t yet using personalized videos, here’s information that should help you understand what personalized videos can do for your company in today’s marketplace:

• According to a Vidyard report, personalized videos can increase click-through rates by up to 10 times.
• Adweek found that personalized video ads had a 37% higher view-through rate than non-personalized ads.
• Research from Demand Metric found that personalized videos have a conversion rate that is six times higher than non-personalized video.

And we’ve seen this happen over and over again with the campaigns that our customers are running. 

A large, international, online sports betting website was interested in using the opportunity of the World Cup to increase revenue on its site. They looked at two segments, first-time betters and return betters who they could encourage to make an additional deposit.

They sent the interactive video by email just moments before the World Cup kickoff. It included a teaser that asked the reader to guess who would win a specific game, and who would win The World Cup. The company also included a financial incentive to place the bet before the match began. By asking questions and making room to have those questions answered, they put their clients into the mindset of betting and the results showed it. Both segments saw a 5 times increase in online deposits directly resulting from the campaign, thereby making the video ROI positive on the very first send. 

DOS AND DON’TS 

So now that it’s clear that personalized video will help you convert once your audience has opened your emails, I thought to take the opportunity to share some "do's" and "don'ts" for creating the best email subjects based on Bling's findings over the past few years.  If you can increase your open rates but just a few points, and you’ve got the content of your campaign handled with an impactful personalized video, you’ve got yourself the holy grail of campaigns. 

And to sweeten the pot, I'll also provide some examples of effective subject lines that you can use to grab your audience's attention and encourage them to take the next step in their customer journey.

Subject line DOS

• Insert the recipient's first name in the subject line. This can help grab their attention and stop them from scrolling past your email. According to a recent LinkedIn report, personalization is the first step to increasing open rates by up to 26%.
• Make sure your subject line is between 6-10 words. Subject lines that are too long or too short can be less effective. After analyzing more than 260 million emails across 540 retail email marketing campaigns, marketing analytics firm Retention Science found email subject lines kept at 6 to 10 words resulted in a 21 percent open rate.
• Create a sense of urgency in the subject line. Using words like "limited time," "exclusive," “now is the time,” “your competition knows” or "act now" can increase open rates by up to 22%, according to recent research. This can help motivate your subscribers to open and read your email right away.
• Use the word "free" in the subject line. Offering something for free can be a powerful motivator for your subscribers. Research shows that using the word "free" in the subject line can increase open rates by up to 10%.
• Consider using the phrase "personalized video" in the subject line. Globoplay,  a Brazilian subscription video-on-demand streaming service with over 20 million registered users, found that using this phrase in the subject line increased open rates by up to 150%. Personalized videos, especially interactive personalized videos, can be a great way to engage your subscribers and make your email more compelling.
• Send your emails at the right time of day. Marketing leader, HubSpot, surveyed over 300 U.S. email marketers and found the majority reported the highest engagement for their marketing emails occurred between 9 AM to 12 PM and 12 PM to 3 PM. For higher visibility, send emails with promotions or sales during the times when your audience tends to take their lunch breaks. Data suggests this is when they are most active.

Subject line DON'Ts:

Now you know what it takes to get your subject line noticed. Here are a few subject line "don'ts" to keep in mind: 

• Don't include "fw" in the subject line. A report released by LinkedIn partner Sidekick, released a study with 19 stats to optimize open rates including that emails with "fw" in the subject line are 17% less likely to be opened. 
• Avoid sending from a "do-not-reply" email account. This sends the message that you don't value your subscribers and aren't interested in hearing from them. Instead, use a personalized email address that shows you value your relationship with your subscribers.
• Don't waste your time including the word "update" or "newsletter" in the subject line. Some studies even suggest these words can decrease the message's open rate since it tells readers the email is associated with a series, and therefore they can catch the next one. 
• Don't overdo it with emojis. If part of your brand voice is using emojis, make sure not to use more than 3 in the subject line. Using too many emojis can make your subject line look cluttered and unprofessional.
• It is generally best to avoid mentioning your company or product in the subject line unless you are offering a discount or special offer, or if your company name and product name are the same. The subject line should focus on the topic of the email, not your brand or product.

To ensure the success of your email campaign, consider following these guidelines and using a high-quality product, a deep understanding of your market, and an engaging personalized video to convey your message. These elements, combined with a well-crafted email, can help make your company a thriving success.

Let's face it. People don't really read emails anymore. Unless it’s something really important that they were expecting, they'll probably won’t put much effort into reading it. This is why so many businesses and marketers switched their email marketing method to sending out videos. And not just any videos- interactive and personalized video content that makes every client feel special!

So what are email marketing videos

Simple as it sounds- it’s your regular email marketing, but in the form of a video. This could be really useful helping your marketing emails and newsletters stand out. Nowadays, the attention span of people while reading something has gotten really short, and it becomes harder to convey your whole message without people losing interest in the middle of it. That’s where videos are becoming handy! Videos are intriguing, light and easy for your clients to understand. And yet, Although all the benefits email marketing videos can give you, businesses still don’t use them enough, and there are few reasons for it:

1. It takes quite a time to create.
2. It can be pricey.
3. Even when videos are being created, they are mostly generic and don't speak to each customer as its own, so it may lose the whole point of it.
4. Most video files are too heavy to attach to an email. Even compressed MP4 files are still too heavy to create, store and send out.

To make email video marketing truly effective, it’s better to find a platform, like Blings, that allows you to achieve the whole potential of your email marketing. It helps you to create unique videos, which can tell a personalized story to each and one of your clients. Furthermore, Blings is the only platform who can offer you to use MP5 files for your email marketing strategy. Those types of files are unique - they are light and easier to send because they are based on code instead of rendered files which makes them run faster and in much better quality. MP5 files have a long life because the content within the video can be updated in real time, making the ROI on them much higher and much more efficient than a static videos, in which you can’t really include any personal, real-time, details in the video itself - because by the time you will send it out, it will be already out of date.

This is actually what’s great about MP5 videos. They are connected to a database and pull the data in real time! This ability allows the marketing team to tell richer, more customized stories to tell you a loyal audience through your videos.

Is customized video content is that important?

The answer is definitely YES! It becomes harder and harder to catch people's attention across the inter

net and social media. The web is full of attractions and recent studies even show that you only have about 8 seconds to capture people’s attention and make them listen to what you have to say. The best way to catch attention is using videos, because they take less time to finish than reading, and it’s also easier to understand, but the real magic happens when you are targeting each of your clients, existing or potential, with a customized video that will make them feel like you are speaking directly to them, which will intrigue them and and increase the chances of them choosing to be a part of your community. As any business owner and marketer knows- the bigger the audience, the bigger the business. So if there is any tool that can help you expand and grow, it’s definitely customized video emails!

In which ways can I use email marketing videos?

That’s the beauty of it- you can use it however you want! The list goes on and on. Here is some ideas for effective video marketing strategy:

1. Newsletters - A scheduled newsletter is an idea that a lot of businesses use to give their audience a regular update about the brand’s news and give special offers to the subscribed clients. If your clients have already been registered to get updates any once in a while, you can give them a much personal experience with it, when they will get a personalized newsletter that will contain the information that’s the most suitable for them and their needs, instead of just sending out a generic one for all of the subscribers. Recognizing each of your clients' needs individually could give you a trusting and loyal audience. You could even include a loyalty program and an updated count of the loyalty points they have accumulated making the offering in the email even more impactful.
2. Announcements - Every growing business has its “next big thing” to accomplish. And what is a better way to announce your company’s big achievements than a really well-made, interactive video? Whether it's a new product, new service or an event you’re throwing, let your subscribed clients know it first, through a customized video that tells each of them about the news. It is very effective because your new feature could be the exact thing with the exact qualities your clients are looking for right now, and you will offer them the perfect solution! Then you can personalize your marketing emails by knowing what products your customers already have, to make the details of the offering perfect for their current needs. This will make them feel prioritized and intrigued by this new options that’s just opened up, that also fits as a great solution for them.
3. Nurture emails - Nurture emails are a very important part of creating relationship and emotional bond with your audience. It’s a way for you to reach your clients and help them throughout their buyer's journey in which, in the end, they will get the service they've been needing, and you will get a trusting and loyal customer. Due to the fact that nurturing emails are based on each of your client's behavior (such as email subscriptions, search history and adding products to cart but not buying), the video marketing strategy should be personalized as well. Each of the customers has its own story and reasons for their consumer's behavior, so if you will recognize that and reach out to them with a personalized video that is meant to help them and solve the issue they might have, the chances of them accepting that solution and purchasing that product or service will grow. But more important than that, they will feel appreciated and that the brand actually cares for them, and that’s a super important base to building a loyal community for your brand.

Is it difficult to do?

Now this is the best part of it. You can achieve your marketing goals, increase engagement and conversions, and expand your audience without putting too much effort in it. All you need to do is to choose the most suitable platform that allows you to create marketing videos and personalized videos, that will speak in your business language in the most effective way. Here in Blings, we can offer this exactly!

Along with the option to modify your content and design it, our unique technology gives you the option to use various tools that will make your email marketing videos interactive and special, while ensuring longer viewing times and engaged audience.

You can reach out to us in Blings and we will be happy to tell you all about our options to make your email marketing strategies even better!