Hotmail has recently become the first major webmail provider to allow video displays in emails via HTML5 as part of their new beta client testing. This development could greatly alter the status quo for videos in email sends, if this roll-out becomes a standard feature and more widespread.

Experienced direct marketers know that promotions via embedded videos have the highest click-through rate of any email media. Before Hotmail’s support for HTML5 video, B2C retail email marketers could deliver HTML5 video in email only to iOS devices and some other less prominent email clients, which made the typical email video penetration rate a little trifling.

(Videos are potent sources of attraction. Before you noticed the headline, or any other text on this page, chances are your attention was first drawn straight to the video feed above.)

The possibility for HTML5 videos to be displayed correctly will depend on the web browser used by the email subscriber:

•    Firefox 4 and more recent versions of Chrome also support HTML5.

•    Internet Explorer 9 supports HTML5 videos, however earlier versions of IE do not.

Email marketers who push video feeds into their newsletter templates will need to tread carefully and not build campaigns that rely on the assumption that their recipients are using the latest versions of a mainstream browser.

Marketers should also do a survey to see what the most popular browsers are among their audience and weigh the benefits of HTML5 videos against the risks.

•    Use off-page video links and include suitable ALT text in case the videos do not display, or in the event that these do not render perfectly well.

Even though there has been some debate about the attention value of the lower page playing field, above the fold is still always the ideal perch for anything you want your readers to see and take an interest in first.

Because most people don’t like to read, email videos will definitely add more charm to your newsletters.

Time will tell if their solution withstands the rigors of the Internet, thought it will be exciting to watch the developments and performance of Hotmail’s video-friendly beta. Keep in mind that most email clients do not have the rendering capabilities to handle videos yet, as these are built on text dominant engines. Hotmail, on the other hand, is a browser client, and has created the scripting environment that can handle the basic rendering and audio needs. Of course, you can expect that other major webmail clients will begin to imitate this feature if it does prove to be reliably successful.