This can be kind of tricky to setup correctly but it would definitely be worthwhile to do so for our canned response emails that we want to include in our Smart Campaigns. 


The challenges with videos 

You have only three viable options for sending videos in emails, anywhere. 

Some email providers have special tools for embedding videos with HTML5, which is pretty complicated to do manually for your every day computer user. If you really want to go that route, you can figure it out if you're technically inclined with a quick google search . 

The other way, though less fancy, tends to work for everything. You begin by embedding a picture into your email, and then linking that picture to a video. Works pretty much everywhere and is less of a spam risk. This is what we will show you in this article as it's what most of you are looking for. 

A third, "express" option is also available. If the video is on YouTube, simply drop the youtube link into your email. Most email providers will auto-embed your video! Especially on mobile devices. This is the least risky and also the fastest option. 

If you attempt to use the "embed code" from YouTube, you will find that your video never shows up in a lot of inboxes. This is not really an option. 


Part 1: How to Embed Images 

A consideration: Image Size 
No matter what method you use below, be sure to keep your images smaller for emails. Nobody will thank you when they are trying to load an email on their phone where they have a slow connection and it takes forever to load! Try to keep your images 400px wide or less. 


Step 1: Image Hosting 

There are a few basic ways you can host your images. 

Option 1: Free Hosting 

There are lots of free sites out there like imgur.com, and photobucket. If you use  https://postimages.org/  they have a handy tool to auto-resize your image into an email-friendly format: 

 


If you use a free hosting service, you will specifically need the Image URL or Direct Link after it's uploaded. Try to make sure that your images are smaller for emails, usually not more than 400px wide. Most of these free image hosting options have built in photo editors. 


Option 2: Using Google 


If you want to permanently store your images within your Google account, we have a specific guide for that here . Although not the most straightforward option, it will keep all your pictures where you can find them easily.  


Option 3: Using kvCORE 

A bit faster to do than using Google, you can use the blog image uploader to grab an image link! This is kind of a workaround but it works! 

Before proceeding, make sure that the image you want to upload is already re-sized to a maximum width of 400px.


  1. Click "Web & IDX" on the left: 


     


  2. Click "Blog" at the top: 


     


  3. Click "Add Post" to the right: 


     


  4. Click on the "Insert/edit Image" button on the blog post tool: 


     


  5. Click the "Upload" tab, then click the "Browse" button: 


     


  6. Pick your photo to upload. After doing so, you'll see that you immediately get a source URL for the picture! Select it, and save it! 


     


  7. At this stage, you have your URL copied (and hopefully pasted somewhere safe) so you can close the blog tool. 

     

Step 2: Embedding 


These steps are the same regardless of if you are saving an email template or sending an email. 


In the body of the email there is a <> button which stands for "code." Clicking it will bring up an empty box that allows you to directly edit the source code of the email.  

 


Ideally, you should write your email to the point where you want to embed your image. When you're ready, you click the Source Code button and you'll need to add a piece of HTML to embed your image. 

  1. <img src="image URL" alt="image description" />

image URL and image description need to be replaced with the proper information, as seen below:



Step 2: Linking To A Video

This is the easiest part.


1. Click on the Image.

2. Click the Link Button.

3. Paste your video URL.

4. Set the target to new window.


That's it! You can save your template or send your email, whichever you are doing. You now have an email that will contain a preview image, that when clicked links to a video, and it will work on all email providers.