Video in Email

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Video in Email

Engage with your patrons in a whole new way by adding videos to your emails. You can insert

them into ANY image element in templates that you build in WordFly.

How does it work?

Desktop email clients, browsers, and webmail clients all deal with video differently and require different video formats.

We’ve designed our tool to create the best video experience for all of your patrons regardless of which email client they are

using. With our tool, you enter your video URL(s) and a fallback image, and WordFly will write code that dynamically displays

video in email clients that support it and gracefully degrades to an image if video is not supported.

For maximum video support, we recommend saving out three formats of your video, plus two images. If you don’t create all

versions it’s OK, you’ll just get less support. Fortunately there are free tools on the web that you can use to easily convert your

video to all of the necessary formats.

MP4 Format*

The most widely

supported video

format. Plays in

iOS, Apple Mail,

Safari, Chrome,

IE9+, and others.

WebM Format

Videos in this

format will play in

Chrome, Firefox,

and others.

OGG / OGV /

Theora Format

Plays in Firefox

and Thunderbird.

Fallback Image*

Very important.

Displays on all

email clients

which do not

support video.

Example: the

best frame of

your video. If

you’re adding a

fallback link, add

a big Play icon on

the image.

Fallback Link

Recommended. Add a URL to play

the video in a web browser. Example:

a YouTube link.

Poster Image*

Displays when

video is supported,

but before the

subscriber clicks

Play. The image

should entice

them to play the

video.

Alt Text

Enter text that will display if the

images aren’t loaded.

* Required

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Video Tips + Best Practices

DESIGN TIPS

A video can be inserted into any Image area in a

template that you build in WordFly.

It’s best if the Image element is the exact size and

ratio of the embedded video. But if it isn’t, the video will

be centered and resized in the available space of the

Image element.

POSTER IMAGE TIPS

This image displays when video is supported.

This image should show off the best frame of your video.

iOS devices will automatically add a Play icon to this

image.

FALLBACK IMAGE TIPS

This image displays when video is not supported.

This image should show off the best frame of your video.

If you’re adding a fallback link (recommended), consider

adding a Play icon on the center of the image.

For extra interest, you can even use an animated gif as

your fallback image.

STRATEGY CONSIDERATIONS

In your text content, entice people to click Play by telling

them what they’ll see when they click the video.

Include a text link to view the video on YouTube or

Vimeo, in case the person doesn’t have images loaded.

Consider adding a note for Hotmail users that they

should “Right-click to play the video.”

Try using the word “Video” in the subject line for a

bigger open rate.

Try to use videos that are two minutes or less

VIDEO ENCODING TIPS

For maximum video support, we recommend saving out three

formats of your video. If you don’t create all versions it’s OK,

you’ll just get less support. Make things easier for yourself

by using an encoder, such as Miro’s Video Converter (it’s free

and will easily convert to all necessary formats). Just drag

and drop your video into Miro’s tool, and save it in these three

formats: MP4, WebM (vp8), and Theora.

> http://www.mirovideoconverter.com

Video Support in Email Clients

NATIVE DESKTOP CLIENTS

Apple Mail

Lotus Notes 6.5 / 7 / 8 / 8.5

Outlook 2000 / 02 / 03 / 07 / 10

Outlook Mac 2011

Thunderbird

WEBMAIL CLIENTS

AOL Mail

Gmail

Outlook.com

Yahoo Mail

MOBILE CLIENTS

Android

Blackberry

iPhone, iPad, iTouch

Shows Video Shows Image

Video Format Support

BROWSER

Android

Chrome

Firefox

Internet Explorer 9 ****

iOS

Opera

Safari

OGG / OGV / THEORA WEBMMP4

* Requires right-click to play

** Requires right-click to play, unless using IE10+

*** Older browsers show the fallback image

**** Earlier versions of IE do not support embedded video

***

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Frequently Asked Questions

WHY CAN WE USE EMBEDDED VIDEO NOW, WHEN IT

WASN’T RECOMMENDED BEFORE?

Thanks to broader browser support for HTML5, WordFly can

now implement code which can dynamically display video

in email clients that support it and gracefully degrade to an

image if video is not supported. Hooray!

DO I HAVE TO CREATE ALL VERSIONS?

If your goal is maximum support, yes, but it’s OK to start

small, too. At a minimum you’ll only need to create an

MP4 format of your video (covers all iOS devices and many

browsers), a poster image, and a fallback image.

CAN I ADD MY YOUTUBE OR VIMEO VIDEO LINK?

At this time, YouTube and Vimeo only allow their videos to be

embedded with JavaScript, which email clients unfortunately

do not support. YouTube and Vimeo links will work perfectly

as your Fallback Links, though.

I ONLY HAVE A YOUTUBE OR VIMEO VIDEO LINK.

HOW CAN I ADD IT TO MY EMAIL?

In an Image element, skip the Insert a Video tool and use

one of the Insert an Image options instead. Follow the same

recommendations for this image as you would for a Fallback

Image. Then just add your YouTube or Vimeo URL in the

Links To ﬁeld.

WHERE DO I PUT MY VIDEOS?

Upload them to your organization’s web server. Video ﬁles

are not supported by the WordFly Media Library.

HOW IS A POSTER IMAGE DIFFERENT THAN

A FALLBACK IMAGE?

The poster image displays when video is supported but

before the user clicks Play. The fallback image displays

when video isn’t supported at all.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE SUBSCRIBER’S COMPUTER

DOES NOT SUPPORT VIDEO?

The subscriber sees the fallback image (and link) you

speciﬁed in WordFly.

WHY DO GMAIL, YAHOO AND OTHER WEBMAIL CLIENTS

NOT DISPLAY THE VIDEO?

At this time, all webmail clients except Hotmail strip

out the Video element before rendering the email within

their user interface. By adding a fallback image and link,

though, you’ll still be able to reach this audience.

Quick Start // Here’s a sample workﬂow for adding a video to your email template.

1. Locate the raw original version of your video.

2. Convert it into one or more formats with a free tool like Miro’s Video Converter.

3. Upload the videos to your organization’s web server. Paste the URLs into a text document.

4. Make your poster image and fallback image in image editing software.

5. In WordFly, upload the images to the Media Library. Copy and paste the URLs into a text document.

6. In your WordFly email template, rollover an image area and select Insert a video.

7. Copy the video and image URLs from your text document into WordFly.

8. Paste the URL to the YouTube or Vimeo video into the Fallback Link ﬁeld.

9. Save your template and send some tests.