Marketers are using video to support their marketing efforts in a number of areas, find the Web Video Marketing Council, ReelSEO and Flimp Media in a new study [download page], with the vast majority reporting positive effects. While survey respondents most commonly report using online video as part of their website marketing content (83.9%) and for YouTube marketing (65.2%), an increasing share say they’re using it for video email marketing or email newsletters.
This year, 60% reported using online video for email marketing, a significant step up from 52% who claimed to use video for that purpose last year. A further 26% are considering using video in their email marketing initiatives.
Those a larger figures than seen earlier this year, when a survey by The Relevancy Group and StreamSend found only 1 in 4 respondents to be using video in their email programs. Nevertheless, a strong majority of respondents to that survey said they planned to use video in their email initiatives. So while the numbers may not match up, both surveys indicate a growing trend towards integration of video and email.
Clearly, marketers see an opportunity to benefit from the integration, and 8 in 10 marketers using video email marketing said it has been very (34%) or somewhat (48%) effective for their organization. Currently, respondents believe that the most effective way to use video for email marketing is to link to a video landing page or video in a website (50.7%) or to link to a video player from the email message (24%). That may change if ISPs and email clients further enable the ability to embed video content directly in emails.
Meanwhile, 6 in 10 believe that prospects are more likely to purchase or convert after viewing a video email. Respondents feel that the types of email communications most effective for incorporating video are product/service promotions (73%) and sales lead generation (55%).
Other Findings:
- More than 9 in 10 respondents indicating using video for online marketing, sales or communications, up from 81% last year.
- 7 in 10 reported an increase in online video marketing budgets this year.
- The cost of video production (37.2) and the difficulty of producing quality video content (27%) were ranked as the biggest barriers to using video.
- 7 in 10 respondents are optimizing video for SEO purposes, most commonly by tagging videos with keywords and by optimizing videos hosted on YouTube.
About the Data: The Web Video Marketing Council, together with ReelSEO and Flimp Media, conducted the survey during Q2 and Q3, 2013. A total of 600 respondents participated, with 52% working for B2B companies, 23% working for B2C companies, 21% for agencies, and 4% for non-profits. More than 8 in 10 are involved in decision-making.