Can I add Video to my Act-On Emails?

  • Updated

Video is one of the best ways to boost engagement with your content, whether you're teaching people about your product or just trying to get attention for your brand. It makes sense to want video in your email campaigns - but embedding video directly into an email isn't the best way to do it, and can actually work against you.

Why this matters: Most email clients - including Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook - don't support embedded video, so an embedded video simply won't play for most of your contacts. Worse, video-embedding code has historically been used to deliver malicious payloads, so emails containing it are often flagged straight to spam, which hurts your sender reputation and your open and click rates. Linking to a hosted video instead keeps your email deliverable and actually improves engagement, since contacts have to click through to watch - which boosts your clickthrough rate, your cross-channel traffic, and your sender reputation.

Quick Reference (Advanced Users)

  • Act-On's Email Composer doesn't support embedded video - link to hosted video instead.
  • Method 1: A thumbnail image styled like a video player, linked to your video's URL as the Target URL.
  • Method 2: A Bulletproof Button that links to your video.

Why Act-On doesn't support embedded video

Act-On's Email Composer does not provide the functionality to embed video in your email, and here are a few reasons why:

  • Most Email Clients do not support Embedded Videos. Popular email clients like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook do not support video embedding in their emails, making your videos unplayable for anyone who uses these email services.
  • Embedding Video can send your Email straight to Spam. Video embedding has historically been used to transmit malicious code to its recipients. This means that emails with embedded video code are frequently sent directly to spam, which can negatively impact your sender reputation. This ultimately harms your open and click rates.
  • Providing a Link to a Video is a much better Marketing practice. When your Contacts have to click through to view your video, this increases your cross-channel engagement and drives traffic to your channel on sites like YouTube. It also increases your email clickthrough rates, and actually improves your sender reputation, and bolsters deliverability.

Including videos in your email marketing is still possible - here are two ways to add a link to your video in your email design.

Method 1: Use a Thumbnail Image

Our suggested best practice is to design a static image or GIF to look like a video player that acts as a thumbnail for your video. Then, add a link to the website or landing page where the video is hosted. The image itself looks like a video and is clickable.

  1. Create a thumbnail image for your video and upload it to the Image Library.
    • We suggest adding a play button, so it actually looks like a video player and obviously takes you to a video. This can significantly increase clickthroughs.
  2. Copy the URL for the video; this will be your Target URL.
  3. In the Act-On Message Composer, navigate to Design > Content > Blocks.
  4. Drag and drop a Rich Text block or Image block into your message.
  5. Upload your image, add alt-text for screenreaders (optional), and add your Target URL.
    A screenshot of the image upload dialog in the Act-On Message Composer, where you add alt text and a target URL for the thumbnail image.
  6. Click OK, then Save.

Method 2: Use a Bulletproof Button

If you don't have graphic design skills or want a slicker email design, you can also create a button that links to your video. This will serve as a call-to-action, which is also good for improving your email engagement.

See our guide for more information on creating a button for your email message: Using Bullet Proof Buttons in Emails.

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