Flimpbruary Day 11: The Difference Between Flimp and Goodmail

This is total kismet. When we designated February 11th as the day to compare the difference between the a flimp web video email and the Goodmail CertifiedVideo product, we had no idea that two separate articles about email video best practices would be published.
BtoB Magazine published an article focusing on 4 tips for video e-mails.  John Janetos, VP-business development at iPost (a Flimp ESP Partner), outlined four important ways to make an email web video marketing effort work:

1. Don’t directly embed the video into the email message.
2. Keep the video content short and include a call to action.
3. The content’s message is more important that fancy video production styles.
4. Always test and always measure.

Video was also recommended as a content format in an article published by MarketingSherpa.  At the recent MarketingSherpa Email Marketing Summit, video was suggested as an email content format to consider for 2010 marketing initiatives. What’s the best way to include video?

• Present a screenshot of the video.
• Embed a link to the video for video playback.

Time and again, video email best practices come down to including a screenshot of the video (or the video thumbnail or the video landing page) and providing a link to the video?  Why?  Even though it is techncially possible to play video in an email message, this is not a video best practice.
Most email systems, especial those managed by corporations, do not permit video to play directly in a video message.  Also, email recipients may not want video to play automatically.  In order for email web video marketing to gain a critical mass, marketers need to be aware of before integrating video into an email message.
Editor’s note: Kudos on the use of the word “kismet,” Jenn. I admit, I had to look it up. –MS