Email-ready video thumbnails

Trying to embed a video within an email? You’re not alone.

Embedding video is another email-specific headache that doesn’t mirror how the web approaches it. Discouraged by experienced email creators due to its limited support from email clients, marketers face a few potential workarounds to simulate a “video-like appearance” when the email hits the inbox.

GIFs, known for their short recurring loops of a few frames of a video are one approach that is more supported by email clients than videos themselves, and can prove as a potential workaround. But second and safest are thumbnails, aka images.

Create email-ready video thumbnails with Parcel’s new tool by pasting in the link of the video, adding an optional play button, and allowing Parcel to auto-generate a screengrab of the video.

Download, insert, link out to where your video is hosted, and voila, you’ve successfully created a workaround for embedding video within an email!