How to embed a YouTube Video into a Mailchimp email campaigns
Playable is fully integrated with Mailchimp, making it quick and easy to add YouTube videos to your emails
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Step-by-step Tutorial: How to embed YouTube video into your Mailchimp video emails using Playable
In this tutorial, you will learn how to use your YouTube videos to create and send video emails using Mailchimp and Playable.
The video email plays automatically at the moment of opening the email – like these examples.
If you want to use an MP4 video specifically, or videos from Facebook, Vimeo, TikTok, Instagram, or other channels, you may prefer our other tutorials and video guides.
Prepare your email template in Mailchimp
1. Log into your Mailchimp account
Once logged in simply follow the process to commence setting up a new campaign:
- Click the Create Campaign button toward the top right-hand side of the welcome page.
- You will now see the Create An Email page.
- Choose the Regular Campaign type from the tabs at the head of the page
- Enter your Campaign Name into the form field.
- Click the Begin button.
2. Set up Mailchimp campaign
Using the options in the dropdown, select the Recipient List for this email campaign.
Complete the fields to configure the rest of the details of your campaign, including Campaign Name, Subject Line, Preview Text, and From Name.
3. Select template for the video email campaign
When selecting your template you’ll need to consider where you wish to position the video within it.
Select a template, from the Mailchimp templates, that you wish to use for your campaign. You can select from Layouts, Themes, Saved Templates, and Campaigns.
In the majority of cases, we find that placing the video at the top of the template is most effective in driving audience engagement and post-click activity.
Make your selection then click Next Step Design.
If your preference is to upload your HTML templates to Mailchimp our tutorial on adding the Playable HTML clip to your template will help.
4. Add content to your template
Add your content using the Classic Mailchimp Editor.
Having decided on the position of your video within the email, simply place an Image Block in that position, as a placeholder. Alternatively, you can use one of the Image Blocks already in position, within the preset templates.
It is this Image Block Placeholder that will be replaced with your video.
Once you have finished adding content click the Save & Close button.
Import your YouTube video into Playable
5. Create your Playable account
If you are new to Playable you need to create a new account.
During signup, you will be asked to connect your Mailchimp and Playable accounts. This enables access to your Mailchimp templates via Playable which makes it even easier & faster to create video email campaigns.
Please note that Playable offers a 30-day free trial account to test drive the platform. After which you can upgrade your plan or purchase extra plays as required.
6. Your Playable account
This is the home page of your Playable account. To create a new video email from this homepage simply click Videos in the left-hand menu.
7. Adding your YouTube video
To commence the process of creating a new video for use in your email simply click + Add Video.
8. Upload your YouTube video to Playable
Create a title for your video, this will be used to locate it in the future in your Playable account and in reporting. Enter the Width Size as the video will appear in the email, or keep the optimum size as suggested by Playable.
To add your YouTube video simply paste the URL/link of the video’s YouTube location.
Playable accepts content from all the major video platforms including Facebook, Vimeo, Brightcove, TikTok, and Instagram. Alternatively, you can upload the original video file from your computer. All video formats are accepted, i.e. MP4, AVI, & MOV.
Once you have entered your YouTube video URL/link, click the Apply button to upload.
9. Automatic video preview
As your video is uploaded Playable creates a 10-second preview. You can choose to use this version of the video or create your own version using our Online Editor.
If you wish to use the video created by Playable, select Click Action from the menu to continue preparing the video.
If you prefer to create your own version of the video select Editor from the menu.
10. Edit your email video
Having completed the configuration of your video it is now time to edit your video. To commence this click Editor.
Our Online Editor is designed to enable you to create a video clip from the full-length video you uploaded. It is this edit that will be played in your video email. In the Editor, you can crop the video to focus on key content and select multiple scenes to change the duration of the video.
As you are creating your video email the Editor will show you the total duration and allow you to preview the edits, and re-edit until you are happy with your final cut. Once you are happy with your edit click the Continue button.
11. Enhance your email video
You are now ready to add enhancements to your video, including Captions, Watermark, Endcard, or Footer. Simply select the enhancement you wish to add and follow the onscreen prompts to add it to your video.
You now have completed creating your video clip, so click the Compile button to continue.
Playable now compiles this video, creating multiple versions, which will be used to ensure each recipient receives an optimized video most suitable for their device, bandwidth, and connection.
12. Add a Call-To-Action (CTA) link
As the video is playing within the recipients’ email the option exists to include a Call-To-Action (CTA) link within the video.
To set your Click Action, add the link/URL of the destination page you want any clickers of the video to be re-directed to, and save it.
13. Preview & sample your video email
Preview how your video email plays in the major email clients by using the drop-down above the preview window.
You can also send a sample of your video email for internal review. Click the Sample button, complete the form, and hit Send. You can add a message to the sample. This is useful when circulating for internal feedback.
Once you are happy with the sample click Embed in the left-hand menu to continue.
Copy the Embed Code from Playable
14. Embed the video into your Mailchimp campaign
To embed the video into your email template select Mailchimp from the drop-down list of email providers, on the Embed page.
The HTML Embed Code, optimized to Mailchimp, will appear below. Always use the latest Embed Code to ensure capturing all changes made to the video and settings.
The 2 options to embed the video into your Mailchimp template:
- Click the Copy to Clipboard button to grab all the Embed Code and paste it into a Code Block within your Mailchimp email template.
- If you have connected your Mailchimp & Playable accounts via the API Key (refer below), click the Select Campaign button.
Paste the Embed Code into Mailchimp
15. Use API Key to link your Mailchimp account
You can skip this step if your accounts are already linked.
The basic steps are:
- On the Embed page within Playable, you will be prompted to add your Mailchimp API Key.
- In your Mailchimp account settings select Extras, then API Keys.
- Click the Create A Key button to generate the API Key, and then label it Playable.
- Copy the API Key and return to Playable’s Embed page to paste it into the field provided and Save.
- The new Select Campaign button will now appear, giving you access to your Mailchimp templates.
Linking your Mailchimp & Playable accounts enables an efficient & easy way to add videos to your recent Mailchimp templates. The video tutorial in this step will take you through all the steps and show you all the screens involved in setting this up.
16. Click to add videos to your template
Click the Select Campaign button to see a list of your most recent Mailchimp templates. Select the campaign with the Image Block Placeholder, as per our previous steps.
Simply click the Image Block Placeholder to replace it with your video.
Please note, any email block which has a red glowing border, when hovering over it, can be replaced with a video.
Continue to design, test, and send your campaign using Mailchimp
17. Create a new video campaign
If you are happy with what you see click the Create New Campaign > button.
To publish this template with your video embedded within it to Mailchimp simply click on the link Click to view your new campaign in Mailchimp. You will need to be logged in to Mailchimp to move to the next step.
18. Preview your video email & prepare to send
Preview your new video email campaign within Mailchimp’s dashboard.
Next, add your recipient list and your test email addresses. Proceed to test and then you’re ready to send your video email campaign live!
Seeing Is Believing
Enter your email address to send a sample video email to your inbox. Mouseover the video to preview the full campaign.
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Learn More
Add video to your emails using the Playable Video app from the Mailchimp Marketplace
