Looking to send videos embedded in email? You've come to the right spot.
Here, we'll cover everything you need to know about sending embedded videos in emails, including:
- Why email clients matter
- Which platforms send video emails
- What email clients play embedded video
- How to send a video email for any email client
- Best platform to make embedded video emails
Why it matters which email clients support videos?
If you want recipients to watch an embedded video in their email, two things matter:
- How you send the embedded video email
- What email client your recipient is using to receive the video
In order for your video to actually play in email for your recipient, BOTH your email sending platform and your viewer's email client have to support embedded video.
I know that seems tricky to align...
Of course, you can control the way you send the email.
But, how can you control the email client your recipients use to to view the video? You don't know if the use Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, or something else.
Your video email needs to render well in every email client.
Have no fear... It is still possible for you to send out video emails to your entire email list, and be confident that EVERYONE will have an amazing viewing experience. Let's dive in.
What email platforms support sending embedded video?
To send an embedded video, you need to be able to add an HTML snippet to your email. This means that you need to use an email platform that lets you edit the HTML of your email.
You CAN send embedded video emails with these platforms:
- Hubspot (Marketing)
- Outreach
- Quickmail
- Platformly
- Mailchimp
- Klaviyo
- Intercom
- MailerLite
- ActiveCampaign
- Sendfox
- And most other marketing automation platforms
You CANNOT send embedded video emails with these platforms:
- Gmail
- Outlook
- Apple Mail
- Superhuman
- And most 1-to-1 email sending platforms.
The general rule for sending embedded video emails is that you need to use a marketing automation platform — or some other tool — that's going to let you edit the HTML of your email.
What email clients support embedded videos?
These email clients DO support videos embedded in emails:
- Apple Mail (Mac and iOS)
- Superhuman
- Outlook on Mac
- iOS Mail
- Samsung Mail
- Thunderbird
These email platforms do NOT support videos embedded in emails:
- Gmail
- Outlook (everywhere except Mac)
- Android
- AOL Mail
- Lotus Notes
- Yahoo! Mail
Yes... you read that correctly. Both Gmail and Outlook (not-Mac) — which make up ~60% of the market — do not support embedded videos.
But, no need to fret! There is a good workaround to ensure all of your recipients have great viewing experiences.
How to send a video email for any email client
The key to sending embedded video emails that will render well everywhere is to support fallback logic.
Basically, you want to include a series of fallbacks, depending on which email client your viewer is using:
- Best case scenario: You video plays in the email client!
- Otherwise, if supported: Your viewer sees an animated GIF preview of your video, and can click a "play" button to watch the full video in their browser.
- Otherwise, if supported: Your recipient sees a still thumbnail of your video, and can click to watch the video online.
- Otherwise, if they block all images: They just see a link with the anchor text "watch video" and click to watch the full video.
To write this code yourself, check out our article on how to embed a video in email.
If you'd rather just record or upload a video and then instantly have everything you need to embed a video in email, check out Sendspark!
Sendspark - #1 easiest way to embed videos in emails
With Sendspark, you can send a personalized video emails in just 5 minutes.
You just record or upload a video, and instantly get an email embed code snippet.
Then, you can paste that code snippet into any email platform that supports sending video emails (listed above).
And even better — you can create customized video landings pages, use dynamic variables to personalize videos at scale, and get detailed analytics on who's watching your videos, and for how long they're watching.
Sendspark is the best way to create embedded video emails. Get started free!
