How to Create a Video Newsletter in 2023

A business newsletter is one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal. However, email recipients receive tons of them daily and have grown weary of the “same old, same old” traditional newsletters.

As a business owner or marketer, you want to differentiate yourself from other companies communicating with subscribers through newsletters. That’s why many successful brands have turned to video newsletters to get their message across.

In today’s rapidly changing world of influencer marketing and TikTok videos, your prospects’ attention spans keep getting shorter. So, how can your newsletters stand out from the crowd?

You need to turn your traditional newsletters into engaging video newsletters to catch your reader’s attention before they move to the next email. After all, statistics show that video content is probably the most popular type of content on the internet.

It might seem daunting at first, with so many video types and the endless possibilities they offer, but we will help you sort things out.

This guide will dive into video newsletters, why they are so essential for your business, and how you can use them to increase engagement and leave your competitors’ newsletters behind. Let’s kick things off with a definition.

What Is a Video Newsletter?

As the name suggests, video newsletters are videos embedded in newsletters to communicate your business activities and make important announcements. Transforming plain newsletters with large chunks of text into eye-catching video newsletters is a great optimization strategy.

Companies leverage newsletters to provide snippets of content. When they incorporate videos in them, they add value and quality to said content. After all, recipients give you access to the most private space, which is their inbox. The least you can do in return is personalize your newsletter experience by sharing captivating video content.

Why Should You Create Video Newsletters?

But why are email marketing professionals reluctant to use videos? That’s mainly because they fear the process is time-consuming and confusing. Such fear is unfounded, though, since most email marketing providers like ConvertKit and the best ConvertKit alternatives make embedding videos in your newsletter a walk in the park. Also, they enable you to preview how your video newsletter is displayed on different devices and email clients, leaving little room for mistakes.

But if you want to urge recipients to notice your video newsletter in an inbox full of email promotions, first, you need to make it outstanding and optimize its performance. StoryXpress provides you with all the necessary tools to create and customize your videos. Also, our platform allows you to monitor your video analytics, check what works, and where there is room for improvement in future video marketing efforts.

Do you need a little more to get things started? Here are a few reasons to use video newsletters to target your audience successfully:

1. Emails with videos get better results in terms of open rates.

Email subject lines that contain the word “video” have better chances of getting opened since recipients understand beforehand that opening it will take less time and be more engaging than a traditional newsletter.

2. Videos increase your newsletter’s engagement and visibility.

Informative and compelling videos get users to interact with them. Even better, they could use your newsletter's social media sharing buttons to share your business news with their connections. That way, your video newsletter might go viral and reach a wider audience.

3. You save time and money.

People think that creating videos requires resources and great effort, but the truth is that all you need is a video hosting service and your talented marketers. For instance, testimonial videos are great for showcasing your products or services without wasting time and resources since satisfied customers will do the advertising themselves.

4. Video newsletters drive website traffic.

As already mentioned, video newsletters are more engaging, leading recipients to explore your video content and click your CTAs to take the action you need them to. After watching a video, visitors are more likely to navigate through your website to read a blog post or check your product page, boosting your website traffic and SEO rank.

5. Video newsletters are easier to digest.

People retain more from a message delivered through videos than dense text messages. Recipients usually prefer video newsletters not only because visual elements excite them but also because they know they will get all the information they need quickly and with the bare minimum effort.

How to Create an Engaging Video Newsletter in 2023

Now that we covered why you should leverage videos in your newsletter, it’s time to move to the fun part, which is creating them. There are several video types to choose from, depending on your business goals and marketing resources. By building a video newsletter strategy, you can educate prospects, show your expertise, present your company values, tell your story, and more. To help you through that journey, we compiled a list of the most effective video newsletters to engage your audience.

1. Company culture video newsletters

No matter your audience’s specific demographics, behavioral data, interests, and desires, they all have something in common. And that’s wanting to feel like they belong. When brands let us inside their business culture and share their values with us, we think of ourselves as a part of that culture. Creating and sending company culture video newsletters makes subscribers feel included and special.

Company culture videos bring out a business’s human side, breaking the ice between the brand and its audience. This type of video usually features employees talking about what it’s like to work there. You could even include some kind of behind-the-scenes material of employees connecting at the office or during non-work-related activities.

This is your opportunity to highlight your brand identity and business vision through your workforce’s success stories. Don’t be afraid to put in humor and sensitivity, as recipients love - and, most importantly, remember - company culture videos that evoke emotions.

Pottery Barn did a great job in its company culture video, sharing the brand’s values from the employees’ perspective. And the culture is centered around the most crucial factor of all: it’s all about people.

2. How-to video newsletters

At some point, every consumer has used search engines to find helpful how-to guides that educate them on specific products or services. For me, it’s quite a standard Google search. And since users tend to prefer visuals over text, how-to video guides are one of the best ways to engage new and existing customers. In fact, how-to videos are among the most popular queries on Youtube and other video hosting platforms.

It goes without saying that how-to videos are a great way to add value to your newsletter, answering users’ most common questions and helping them take advantage of your product’s or service’s full potential. This proves you are one step ahead, caring for their needs and addressing their challenges. Also, how-to video newsletters are great tools to build trust, positioning your company as an industry leader.

Prospective customers feel more confident when they have visual guidance. So, think about all the potential questions and what tips could make using your product or service easier. You can also check your Help Center to make sure you tackle your most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and show empathy in customer service without your customer support representatives moving a finger.

3. Company update video newsletters

Company update video newsletters are highly effective in informing recipients about everything new with your business, like product launches or updates, job openings, great achievements, or any type of information that could interest your target audience. You can send company updates at a certain frequency to build brand awareness but don’t go overboard if you don’t have something interesting to say.

No matter what you choose to include in your company update video, reserve your video introduction for the most important information that you need to share with your prospects. That tactic keeps them engaged throughout the video content and urges them to hang around until the end and learn everything about it.

Another thing to consider in this type of video newsletter is that there is a thin line between informing your audience of your news and achievements and showing off. So, make sure you stay modest and optimize your videos to showcase how your company wins can help your prospects, not just your sales.

Testimonial video newsletters

Most companies use written reviews to showcase legitimacy and build trust. However, replacing them with testimonial videos will take you one step further. Testimonials in the form of videos appeal to the viewer’s emotions while offering authenticity and transparency. When customers use their own words to explain how your product or service helped them address their biggest pain points, recipients are more likely to listen and get inspired from their case studies.

When it comes to testimonial video content, there are many different aspects that your customers could highlight, from the benefits of your product or service to your highly skilled customer service representatives. Customer testimonials may come in many forms, such as single case studies or a sequence of reviews showing different perspectives. The sky is the limit as long as you foster honest conversations between your brand and customers.

What’s great about testimonial videos is that customers can record them using their preferred device at their own convenience. Good audio and visual quality is a prerequisite, but a genuine message is what should interest you the most.  So, avoid overediting testimonial videos so that they don’t sound come out as scripted. This could lead to recipients questioning their authenticity, which, in turn, could hurt your brand’s credibility.

Dove clicked all the boxes in the above customer testimonial video. You can tell that the consumer uses her own honest words, and there is no exaggeration in the video. It’s authentic and emotional without taking advantage of the woman’s disability.

Extra tips to consider when creating a video newsletter

Converting your traditional newsletter into a video newsletter helps you build trusting relationships with your audience. But only when you do it right. So, let us share a few tips on reaching perfection when creating a video newsletter:

• Add value to your video newsletter. We can’t stress enough that recipients expect valuable content. So, keep your videos authentic and informative so that users know precisely how watching your video will help them address their problems.
• Keep your video content centered around one subject. Having one focus is key for your video to hit its target. Confusing video messages that go on and on without completing a single subject tire users out, making them think you can’t offer specialized knowledge.
• Your text is the element completing your video, not the other way around. Any text you use should work complementary to your video so that viewers don’t lose valuable information that they expect to see inside your video content, not the text below.
• Think carefully about your call to action. Great call to action examples are straightforward, bold, and strategically placed so readers can easily detect them. An excellent video newsletter simply can’t work magic without a relevant and actionable CTA that indicates the action recipients should take.
• Leverage psychology to create engaging and visually appealing video newsletters. From music and color psychology to storytelling, there are various aspects to use for subscribers to relate to the video content. So, before anything, ensure you understand what best resonates with them.

Video Newsletter FAQs

How do you add a video to a newsletter?

There are various ways to add a video to your newsletter, such as embedding it in the newsletter or converting it to an animated GIF (as long as it doesn’t include sound). However, many email clients don’t allow video embedding. In that case, you need to insert an image of a play button and add the video link to it. When it comes to Gmail users, in particular, a Youtube plugin lets you embed videos directly into your emails.

What is the ideal length of a video included in a newsletter?

There is no golden rule here since the ideal video length depends on various factors, like the video type, the marketing objective, the time or resources you want to invest, and more. If we could say one thing for sure, it’s that it shouldn’t be too long so that recipients watch your marketing message from beginning to end.

How often can you send out video newsletters?

Again, the answer depends on your marketing objectives and your content strategy. Videos effectively educate and entertain prospects, but you shouldn’t base your entire content marketing on them. Knowing your audience is key to finding the ideal frequency. Then, you must keep experimenting and let your videos work complementary to other content types.

Final Words

Your newsletter goal is to stand out, and it's hard to do so when you're doing exactly what every other business is doing.

That's where video newsletters come in. Sending a video directly to recipients' inboxes is a bulletproof practice to increase engagement and differentiate your brand from competitors. Just remember to set your video newsletter goal beforehand to determine the most appropriate video content to reach the desired results.

Whatever you do, always test and monitor your video performance to check what’s working and what’s not. Then, optimize your strategy to get the best out of your video newsletter marketing to engage prospects at every stage of your sales lifecycle.