Add Video to an Email

If you’ve switched to our new email builder, some steps in this article may not apply. To learn how to use the new builder, check out Design an Email with the New Builder.

Most email clients can't display embedded video content, and will strip the code from your email. When you create an email in Mailchimp, use our Auto-Convert feature, link an image, insert a Video content block, or use merge tags to share a thumbnail image of the video that links to the video's URL.

In this article, you'll learn about each of these options and how to use them in your email.

Insert video content block

The Video content block overlays a play button icon on the thumbnail image pulled from your Vimeo or YouTube video. Clicking the thumbnail opens the video URL in a new browser window.

For videos not hosted on long-form YouTube or Vimeo, including YouTube Shorts, upload an image to the content studio to be displayed in your email.

Video merge tags

Video merge tags work with popular video hosting services, including Vimeo, YouTube, and Wistia.

Rather than embed video directly into an email, video merge tags generate a thumbnail image of a video player and link it to your video online. Although the video can't play directly in an email program, the video player image mimics an online player, with a play button and progress bar. When a subscriber clicks the thumbnail, they can watch the video in a new browser window.

Basic format

All video merge tags require you to enter some specific information about your video. The video merge tag uses the following format.

*|SERVICE:[$vid=XXXX]|*

Where SERVICE is replaced with the service name where your video is hosted, and XXXX is the unique identifier for the video.

Services and unique identifiers

Several services are supported in Mailchimp's video merge tags. Use the following list to find the service name and how to locate your video's unique identifier.

• BLIPTV
  This unique identifier is found in BlipTV's embed code. Click the share option to get the embed code for the video. The video ID comes just after the iframe src= part of the code. In the following example, the video ID is AYLljHwC:

  <iframe src="http://blip.tv/play/AYLljHwC.html?p=1" width="550" height="339" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#AYLljHwC" style="display:none"></embed>
  

• VIMEO
  The video ID is the number at the end of the video page URL. For example, 6223439:
  http://vimeo.com/6223439

• WISTIA
  As long as your Wistia video is public, the video's share link will include the unique ID at the end of the URL. For example mcLUn: http://home.wistia.com/m/msLUn
• YOUTUBE
  YouTube's unique ID is found at end of the URL. For example, fj77lSG6Bl8:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fj77lSG6Bl8

Center the video merge tag

By default, the merge tag aligns your video's thumbnail image on the left side of the content block. To center the video, you will need to add some code to the content block's HTML code.

To do this in the Email Builder, select the content block where you want the thumbnail for your video. Then click the Source icon (< >) in the editor toolbar, and add the following code where you want your video to appear.

<table align="center">

<tbody>

<tr>

<td>

*|SERVICE:[$vid=XXXX]|*

</td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

Replace SERVICE with the service name where your video is hosted and XXXX with your video's unique identifier.

Video merge tag options

In addition to the basic video merge tag, you can set other parameters for how the thumbnail image will appear in your email. Some video-hosting services don't recognize all of the merge tag options, so check the following table to make sure your service supports the tags you add.

$max_width

Sets the width of the thumbnail in pixels. Defaults to the width of the thumbnail provided by the hosting service. Maximum value is 450. Can only be used to reduce the thumbnail size.

$title

Sets video title visibility. Y/N value. Defaults to Y to display the video title. Set to N to hide title.

$border

Sets thumbnail image border. Y/N value. Defaults to Y to include border. Set to N for no border.

$trim_border

Sets whether extra space is trimmed from the thumbnail. Y/N value. Defaults to Y to trim edges. Set to N to keep.

$ratings

Show or hide video ratings, stars or likes. Y/N value. Defaults to Y to display. Set to N to hide.

$views

Show or hide video views. Y/N value. Defaults to Y to display number of views. Set to N to hide.

$watch_URL

For Wistia only. Specify the URL for tracking subscriber interaction.

Here's an example YouTube merge tag with all of the supported parameters specified.

*|YOUTUBE:[$vid=fj77lSG6Bl8, $max_width=300, $ratings=N, $views=N, $border=N, $title=N, $trim_border=N]|*

Which services support which options?

Some services support certain parameters, and others don't. This handy chart identifies which parameters can be used in a particular service's video merge tag.

Examples

Blip.tv

On the top, just the video ID is provided: *|BLIPTV:[$vid=XXX]|*
On the bottom, the optional parameters are all set to "N": *|BLIPTV:[$vid=XXX, $max_width=250, $title=N, $border=N, $trim_border=N]|*

Vimeo

On the top, just the video ID is provided: *|VIMEO:[$vid=XXX]|*
On the bottom, the optional parameters are all set to "N": *|VIMEO:[$vid=XXX, $max_width=250, $title=N, $border=N, $trim_border=N, $ratings=N]|*

Wistia

On the left, just the video ID is provided: *|WISTIA:[$vid=XXX]|*
On the right, the optional parameters are all set to "N": *|WISTIA:[$vid=XXX, $max_width=250, $title=N, $border=N, $trim_border=N, $watch_url=http://mailchimp.wistia.com/m/6f2zqA]|*

YouTube

On the top, just the video ID is provided: *|YOUTUBE:[$vid=XXX]|*
On the bottom, the optional parameters are all set to "N": *|YOUTUBE:[$vid=XXX, $max_width=250, $title=N, $border=N, $trim_border=N, $ratings=N, $views=N]|*

In the past, you may have used video merge tags that look like *|YOUTUBE:xxxx:max_width|*—these will continue to work, but you should use the tags above for new emails and templates.

Manually link to video

Even though users can't play a video directly in their email inbox, you can design your email to look like there's a video in it. In the Email Builder, upload a screenshot of your video player and add a link to the video's URL. When the user clicks on the image, the video will open in a new browser window.

Auto-convert embedded videos

Our Auto-convert video feature finds embedded videos in your email and converts them to linked screenshots. This feature is useful for content imported from HTML or RSS feeds.

To turn on Auto-convert video, navigate to the Email Builder and check the box next to Auto-convert video in the Settings & Tracking section.