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Video in an email

by hpoint
6 replies
Hi Everyone,

Do any of you have any experience with embedding video within
an email?

I need to reconnect with a list, and want to do it by video.

I don't want them to have to click on a link - but actually show the "video still shot screen" in the email.

Thank you,
Jill
#email #video
  • Profile picture of the author sahi
    I think you might find the this info of interest:


    "
    1. Grab your video file
    I used an MPEG but you can use Quicktime MOV (requires Quicktime player), AVI, or Windows Media Video.

    2. Encode it into base64
    This turns your video file into raw binary data, which can be read as a text string. It can be embedded into an email file which is text based. Just google base64 for a list of free encoders.

    3. Embed the base64 text into your email - the key is to use dynsrc
    Here's where it gets tricky. Create an html email with an image, and add a dynsrc parameter to point to your video file. If an email client does not play the embedded video, this image will appear. Add a link to your online video file, as a back-up measure.


    You can download a zip file here containing Sparks.eml When you double click the file it launches in Outlook, or open it in a text editor like wordpad and view all the code rather than the small segment below.

    example code:
    <html>
    <body>
    <div align=center width=100% height=100%><img src="http://www.mysite.com/myimage.gif" mce_src="http://www.mysite.com/myimage.gif" dynsrc="cid:myvideo.mpg" mce_src="cid:myvideo.mpg" width="320″ height="240″/><div>
    </body>
    </html>
    After you've converted your video file to a base64 encoded string. Embed the encoded video file in the html as a unique content 'part' (emails are read as multipart documents, text only, html etc) Use the dynsrc parameter to point to this content 'part' to redirect the url in the image tag.
    example code:
    ----=_NextPart_000_0022_01C8F277.B56CB710
    Content-ID: <myvideo.mpg>
    Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name=myvideo.mpg
    Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

    MCaydY5mzxGm2QCqAGLObPUEAAAAAAAABwAAAAECodyrjEepzx G
    O5ADADCBTZWgAAAAAAAAAZmZ4mpW9yJiHWNgOvUjZSflgDwAAA
    AAAgK1DSFIlyAEqAQAAAAAAAAAcTg4AAAIIAgCtTCwAAAAC IEwAA.......etc..
    4. Send
    We usually use Campaign Monitor to deliver - and test - our emails, but they don't accept embedded files. So we used Blat for our video test. Its free, accepts embedded files and automatically does the base64 encoding for you.
    Why Embed Video?

    A few reasons you should give embedded video a try:
    • 50% lift in conversion rates...
    • The video starts playing immediately, even with images blocked.
    • Technology costs nothing, use a free 64Base encoder.
    • Email clients that don't play the video, show a screenshot with a link.
    • With Christmas coming up, everyone will be rolling out the bells and whistles.
    • It's at least worth one A/B test against the screenshot approach."


    I hope you liked the article.
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  • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
    I knew there must be some do-it-yourself way to do this.

    I've had people try to sell me $100 a month mlm plans to
    embed videos and I've laughed them out of the joint.

    But being able to test it on my own terms would be fun.

    thanks.
    Signature
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  • Profile picture of the author qubex
    $100/month!! that's funny! The question is, how many suckers do they scam into buying it?
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    • Profile picture of the author Mickey Wong
      Here are a couple of interesting articles on how to add video to email:

      New Way to Send Video Emails?

      Convert video to gif for email + Twilight demo


      - Mickey
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      • Profile picture of the author Annainla
        Thanks Mickey for linking to our post, Convert video to gif for email + Twilight demo. You can view and forward yourself the Twilight demo from tinyurl.com/87ldxf As it's an animated gif it plays in all email clients except Outlook 2007 which displays the first frame only.

        The Sahi article above was also copied from our blog. You can read the full post Embedding video in email (Lifts conversion rate 50%) - stylecampaign.com/blog/?p=29 - I would not advise embedding video as it only plays in Outlook 2000 and 2003. Your better of using the Video to Gif method...

        ----------------------

        (Sorry about the links, I'm new here so cannot add live links until I've submitted 10 post)
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  • Profile picture of the author Ian25
    Quite helpful thanks for the link
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