The set-up / scenario:    Say that I met a fellow seminar attendee yesterday named Steve.  We talked / networked during a break.  In briefly learning about each others’ company and services, we realized our companies were in a related, but not-directly competing fields within similar industries.

OR  …  SKIP  RIGHT  DOWN  TO  THE  TEST

The initial outcome of that short conversation was that we both saw partnering potential:

1. Marketing each others services to our own client base, or
2. Putting a service offering together to grow both of our businesses into yet untapped local / regional target industries and customer segments.

Knowing he’ll be out of town for a week, to follow up on that conversation with Steve in a way which:

1. Stands out from any other person/entity he’s networked with, including those he already knows who communicate with him via email,
2. Helps him remember me (who he just met briefly at a seminar prior to a business trip), and
3. Gives him the opportunity to learn more / know more about me and my company and its services.

That way, when we do next meet or speak by phone, more time can be spent on the topic / goal / next steps … the potential partnering opportunities … and less about learning / re-learning what it is that I do.   He will have “experienced the ‘power of video’ ” for himself via ”Video Email” in a way that continues “building the relationship” in ways mere thoughts conveyed in text form could ever do.

SO  ….  HERE’S  THE  TEST:

STEP 1 - Watch the two videos on my follow up effort:

1A  -  TYPE  /  SEND  A  TEXT  EMAIL

Note:  I’m no more than an average typist.  This video is real-time in the sense that start to finish, composing as I type including corrections all the way up to hitting the send button … takes 4 minutes, 42 seconds … and no editing tricks were used. 

(Feel free to stop the video or fast forward through if you’re so led, as it’s the same all the way through … watching me type.)

Follow-up:   What did you think?  I hope you didn’t watch the entire video when it takes about 15 seconds and you know that you can relate somewhat, as text emailing is a nearly universal experience shared by most internet users who’d be visiting this site / post.

1B  -  RECORD  /  SEND  A  VIDEO  EMAIL

Again, with no editing tricks involved here either, this next video is also real-time.  The entire start to finish time to record and send a video email through the system via the Desktop Recorder  … is all of 3 minutes, 3 seconds, which includes 45 seconds of video upload time. 

And since you can do any number of other activities, including other applications on your computer for that 45 seconds, work on some other tasks … review/complete paperwork, return a phone call, etc., the actual record/send time goes down to 2 minutes, 18 seconds … one-half the total time it took to type the same thoughts out via the text email scenario above (1A). 

Follow Up:   What did you think this time?  

I don’t claim to be the most dynamic on-camera personality; I’m fairly low-key and reserved.  But despite my personality, I’m betting you found watching / listening to be more engaging, interesting, and useful to you.

STEP 2  -  COMPARE WHAT YOUR EMAIL RECIPIENT RECEIVES

AND …  In watching the video in 1B, did you catch a glimpse of a simple but powerful feature?  It’s the “Notify me when recipient sees video” checkbox right there above the “Email Video” button on the “options” dialog box.

As you may know, traditional email delivery / read receipts may or may not come back to you depending on email server and/or specific email client software setting on your recipient’s computer or that recipient has to be told that you asked for one, and do they want to send one back to you.   Or it could be automatic to not send any receipts to you … ever; or it defaults to sending all receipts back (never asking them at all).  And most important, if receipts are sent, they are only sent back to you once.

Rather, and this is what’s very powerful about the CoVideo or Globalpreneurs Video Email service:  Check that “Notify me …” box above when the email is sent, and a notification like this is sent from the video delivery servers to you; it has nothing to do with email servers and software settings on their computer … JUST whether they clicked the icon to launch the video.

A nice aspect to this feature is that if your account’s email address is connected to a mobile PDA / cell phone with email access, you don’t even have to be near your computer; you can always know when your video email is played).

It’s usually sent in just a minute or two … EACH and EVERY time the video is launched.   The email message date/timestamp serves as a record, but please know that whether or not you checked the box, viewing information is always stored and available through your online account.

This allows you to guage what the next most appropriate follow up effort should be and when.  For example, 5 views in the first hour after sending might merit a personal phone call from an account rep as the recipient may have viewed it once or twice and forwarded it and/or shown others; however, no views 3 days later might get trigger resending the same video email and follow up by phone two days later if it’s not been viewed yet.

The system stores if a video as been viewed, when last viewed, the number of views, and if it was forwarded via the “Forward to Friend” link at the bottom, the number of recipients forwarded and to whom it was forwarded.

View of Video Libarary Showing View / Forward Stats:   click image to show full size

SUMMARY  /  FINAL  THOUGHTS:

If you and I were the ones who had met at some seminar, among many other people you might have run into, wouldn’t a video email delivered in a custom template branded to my company with up to seven targeted URL links help me stand out to you, help you remember me and also learn more about my company’s services?    (Those were my 3 goals as originally laid out.)

While text emailing will always be around and have a place and may even be preferable for certain  routine types of messages to known contacts where a relationship and trust has already been built, there’s no mistaking the value of video-enhanced email (Video Email).  Video can … and will … enhance communication, “build trust / relationships”, and help you and your message stand out from the competition.

How much more likely is the literal intended meaning of your communication to be correctly interpreted when accompanied by vocal intonation, facial expressions, hand gestures, smiles, and “virtual eye contact”?

If “a picture is worth a thousand words”, then … what’s a video worth? 

A constant struggle with written communication is that you often have to use more words to help convey certain concepts like importance, relevance and context … exactly what you mean.  Finding just the right words to communicate anything can be time-consuming.  Note that in my side by side comparison: 

• text email = 4 mintes, 42 second
• video email = 2 minutes, 18 seconds

Why is the same essential message that much faster?  I didn’t speak fast in the video … nor slow my typing down for dramatic effect.  Think back to any class or seminar where a presenter speaks and puts up slides on a projector screen; that’s the equivalent to video and audio.  What happens when you try to take notes?  Chances are that unless you use shorthand, you capture a very small portion of the total content … and probably not all that accurately.

When thoughts stay verbal and don’t have to be written, it gets said faster and received / understood faster than when.  Do you find that it usually takes more time to compose your thoughts to written form than it is to expess them verbally?  The time consuming part is that the sender’s brain has to convert his thoughts to written words … only for the recipient’s brain to convert it back to “thought” and hopefully understanding.

Studies show that retention and comprehension from reading alone (sight & no sound) is very low and when you add non-verbal (other sensory) input into the mix, learning, retention and comprehension increase.  Studies also show that a significant portion of person-t0-person communication is non-verbal.

That’s why video-enhanced email communcation can be so effective; it’s usually faster and increases viewer retention and comprehension of your message. 

For additional examples on the effectiveness of video over text, feel free to check out the CoVideo 60-Second Tip of the Week posts, where I transcribed each week’s video to text and present it next to the video player … and ask there as well, “Which do you prefer … reading text or watching / listening?”

Visit the lower third of the Video Email page for a full library of Custom Templates by industry, special occasion templates, and sample Email Icons.

Notes about video recording quality: 

1. This recording was made with the more robust CoVideo and Globalpreneurs Video Email Desktop Recorder application.  This record in native WMV (Windows Media Video).  This should almost always produce better video quality than the Web Recorder, which records real-time via a Flash webcam session (Flash Video or FLV) directly into your video library.  WMV is usually better than FLV video output.
   • See blog post about the differences.
2. Any lag of video behind audio in the 1B video is likely due to the fact that I am making a recording of a webcam recording.  Video processing is a very memory and processor intensive task for a CPU/processor.
3. Internet bandwidth, or should I say insufficient bandwidth would more negatively affect the FLV recording via the Web Recorder because it is a real-time process uploading your video as it’s being recorded.