[Note: This is the second of a two-part series on using HTML5 in email. In this article, we look at the audio and video tags.]

In HTML5, the tag that sparks the greatest interest to many marketers is the new video tag. The tag is designed to embed videos in web pages, but wouldn’t it be great if we could do likewise with email? That way, a recipient could see your video without being redirected to a web page. Over the years, marketers have attempted to accomplish this in a variety of ways. Some have tried embedding Base64 encoded versions of video files into email—a technique that bloats email worse than mosaics and is not recommended by any ESP on the planet. Another technique that some have tried is to offer a plug-in that enables video in email, but this means that with every video email you send, you must also send a link to a third-party solution that requires the user to install new software. Right off the bat, you’ve already lost your audience.

The most common and effective way to add video to an email is by inserting a frame grab from the video into the email and then linking it to the page on YouTube, Vimeo, or your own website:

Often, people add a play button to the image—as we have done—to help identify the image as a link to a video, but it still requires people to move away from their email to another site. With the video tag, the recipient stays in your email. This is preferable, but, as with the HTML5 tags we discussed in the previous post, when, how, or even if it works is contingent on several factors.

Compatibility issues

First of all, your email marketing software may not recognize video tags and will eliminate the code from the email. Even if your software allows the code to be included (and Symphonie is one of those that will), there’s still no guarantee that the email clients will display the video. Gmail and Yahoo, for instance, ignore the video sources listed within the tags, but this doesn’t mean video tags are useless. Other standard HTML information such as text and img tags can be inserted between the tags and an email viewer will default to this information if it can’t play the video.

On top of all this, the way the different devices handle video tags also widely varies. iPhones, for instance, provide a play button, while Outlook.com and Thunderbird require you to right-click on the image and choose play, and only Outlook.com is compatible with the “autoplay” attribute. All other email viewers disable this feature. At first, the inability to play the video without first right-clicking to choose play looks as if it might be a problem. After all, what good is a video if no one can figure out how to play it? But another feature of the video tag is the ability to include a display image of your choosing, allowing you to insert the necessary instructions to make the video work:

If you are interested in using video tags you’ll need to prepare the email to cover all the possible exigencies. This includes providing the display image for the email clients that can play videos, and alternative links for the ones that can’t. It requires some familiarity with basic HTML, but nothing too difficult. If you want to use videos in email, we recommend reading our white paper, Video in Email, available here.

Sound Advice

Audio works in even fewer places than video. Only Outlook.com allowed the MP3 file to play. In most of the other clients, the audio tag defaulted to the alternative link. In Thunderbird, both the audio controls and the alternative link disappeared, but the program allowed the Ogg file to play if autoplay is on, but provides no way to pause it. If the file is not set to autoplay, there are no visible controls to make it play at all. On the iPhone, the file will play as long as “display images” is turned on (the default on the iPhone). When “display images” is turned off, a message appears that reads “cannot play this audio file.” Outlook.com was the only email viewer in our tests that worked with both the autoplay and loop attributes, making it possible to create an email that begins making noise as soon as you open it. This is definitely not recommended.

Ready or Not?

In part one of this series, we decided that none of the tags listed were worth using at this time. With the audio and video tags, we found that, while audio is not useful, the video tag provides enough flexibility and compatibility to be a good way to include videos in email for nearly every platform, but may require some file preparation. Click here to download the PDF version of our Video in Email white paper.