Imagine the possibilities… being able to track how your people watch your videos!

How To Use Hotspots:

Send your video email to an individual or a group, and then look at the Hotspots data to qualify your prospects for follow-up. Hotspots also work with the Post Link feature, for those of you who are using a mass email marketing systems (e.g. iContact, aWeber, ConstantContact, and Infusionsoft) with your jiveSYSTEMS video email account.

We are still ironing out some kinks with the accuracy of the data. Sometimes when someone watches the entire video, it will only show as 98%. The jiveSYSTEMS techs are working around the clock the get this fixed. Also, it is currently not possible to track mobile device views, at least most mobile devices. We will be implementing an icon that will indicate the viewing device, so you can easily interpret the data.

The Road Ahead:

These features are part of a slew of updates and improvements we will be making to the system in the new few months. We have the second round of usability testing scheduled for early next year, ready for our national and global launch.

Even though we have done no mainstream marketing (print ads, commercials, national press), we still have members signing up from all over the world. We are coming to the end of our 3rd and final beta period and only have 193 lifetime discounted memberships left. So if you are curious about our system, take a moment to watch the new video on our homepage.

To find out more, watch the following short video:

Over the coming weeks, we will be updating all of the video email templates to the new and improved version.

FAQ – Why are the video email templates so basic?

Answer – Video emails are not supposed to be flashy. If the templates looked like a million dollars, the person viewing the video email would feel as though they were about to spend a million dollars! For most businesses, our clean and low-key style works very well. However, if you are running a branding agency or selling high-ticket items, you will likely need something with more polish. This is why we created the option for you to purchase custom templates that can be branded with a logo and website theme.

Quick Recap

• Tri-Transcode: As many of you already know, video emails sent through our system play on Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, and Android devices thanks to our automatic tri-transcode and universal player. This was the major breakthrough that set us apart from other video email providers.

To learn about our core features, read 7 Core Features of jiveSYSTEMS.

New Features

• Auto-Update for Desktop Software: Once you update to the latest version of our software, v7.2.3, you will not have to update it again. We have added a mechanism that will automatically update the software for you.
• Batch Upload: You can now upload 5 videos at once through the back office, which will be a big time saver for power users, who like to record videos on flip-style cameras.

System Updates

• Simple(r) SMTP Setup: A step-by-step setup assistant has been implemented for common email accounts (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, and AOL) to help you configure your video email account to send from your native address.
• Upgraded Video Player: We have updated our video player, which is now primed for bitrate switching technology¹ (the same tech that Hulu and Netflix use to switch the bitrate of the video file based on your internet connection speed).
• Preview Video Templates: When selecting a video template in the back office, you can can now see a live preview as opposed to a static image.

If you have any feedback, comments, or questions, please feel free to leave them below.

Footnotes

New Features

• Video Snapshots: Automatically take a still from the first second of your video email and place it in your email with a play button on it.
• Broadcast Recording: You can now record a jiveMEETING (a Broadcast).
• Customizable Video Email Notification Templates: You can have us customize the area around your video snapshot.

System Updates

• Video Email Icons: We removed the size limit for email icons (they used to be 200×400, and now you can upload any size image).
• Profile Improvements: Titles, phone numbers, and names can now include periods, hyphens, and plus signs.
• Video Email Exit Links: UI improvements to the exit link manager.

5 Minute Video

If you have any feedback, comments, or questions, please feel free to leave them below.

Technology is evolving at an ever increasing pace, why try and keep up? We believe it is much simpler and easier to carve out a niche and excel within it. Nowadays, if you are not an expert, you are a nobody. Our niche here at jiveSYSTEMS is video email marketing. What is yours?

Let’s Look at This Month’s Posts

Snapshot of your Video Email in the Notification Message

If you are on our emailing list, over the past few months you will have noticed that we stopped using email icons and switched to video start slides (what we are now calling “snapshots”). This upgrade has yielded a noticeable improvement in click-throughs when sending to cold leads.

7 Core Features of jiveSYSTEMS (The Secret Sauce Revealed)

There are always a core set of features that represent the backbone of a piece of software – in this post I’ll tell you about the core features of our video email marketing software.

TrafficGrab: Systematic Traffic Grabbing Strategy

TrafficGrab is a “Systematic Traffic Grabbing Strategy” that will teach you how to get traffic by dominating the search results and content distribution channels — REALLY REALLY FAST!!! You can learn more about the course in the post.

Putting Myself on the Chopping Block (Shock, Horror, Imposter)

I just redid my video email tips that we use in our prospect and member education sequences. As part of the process, I reviewed the video email tips that I recorded 10 months ago. This post might as well be called, “Shock, Horror, Imposter!”

Is Video Email the Next Step in the Evolution of Communication?

In my opinion, video email represents communication coming almost full circle. It’s the next logical tool for us to use to communicate with each other. This post will take you on a journey into how our methods of communication have evolved.

The Very Short Story

Initially, I was taking a screenshot of the video and inserting it into the email message to prove my theory. Now it is available as an automated feature for jiveSYSTEMS members within our video email marketing software. Our system automatically takes a snapshot of every video email message and inserts it into the video email notification and post link feature.

Here is How it Works

1. Our system takes a picture 1 second into the video and overlays a play button on that picture
2. The picture is hyperlinked to your video email message in the video email notification
3. Snapshot is also enabled for the post link feature to integrate with your CRM or email marketing platform

This is What is Looks Like

Old “Email Icon”

New “Video Snapshot”

More Details

The mechanism that drives this strategy is getting the video email message to be as personable as possible, so it doesn’t appear like a marketing message or worse yet spam. We received very few complaints about the video email icons, but we did receive complaints about video emails not being watched from 1-2% of our members. The culprit? Video email icons. We realized as video email becomes more mainstream that this number was only going to rise, so we acted quickly and added the video snapshot feature.

In the near future, we will be expanding this feature to include the duration of the video.

The above is an example of a template with some exit links to the right of it.

Video Email Marketing through Exit Links

When using video email in your marketing, you’ll want to drive different groups of people to different places around the web. For example, in a video email template (the place where my video email plays), I might not want to be sending prospects to the same place I’m sending my past customers; I have different strategies for doing business with those two groups. Therefore, I need multiple sets of links. Using jiveSYSTEMS, you can have multiple sets of links and load them into a variety of video templates.

The Process

In order to make this an easier tactic for jiveSYSTEMS members to employ, we separated our templates from our exit links. What this means is that each time you send a video email, you get to choose two things:

1. What template you want to use [the web page that surrounds your video]
2. What set of exit links you want to use [the links that appear on the right side of your video]

Also, jiveSYSTEMS members can have as many sets of exit links as they want. If you look at the example below, I’ve got a set that I’ve titled “Members”, one titled “Prospects”, and a “test” set; the possibilities are limitless.

Application

The video below shows how easy it is to use multiple sets of links with your videos. In it, I show you how to create a link set and email it out.

Here is a 50,000 foot view of the improvements we have made in the last few weeks:

Here is the breakdown of the improvements:

No More Duplicate Template Confusion

• We have separated the video templates from the exit links
• You can create infinite sets of links that can be mapped to any template
• At the time you send your video email you get to choose your template and then your links
• The Post Link will now map to any video  template or link set
• You don’t have to worry about changing your links and affecting previously emailed videos

Full Cloud-Based Video Storage and Delivery

• Faster load times across the world

Better Quality and Faster Encoding

• We have ported our encoding over to a new system
• Encoding times have reduced, significantly (5 to 10 ten times faster)
• The quality was also improved in the transition

Added More Redundant Systems

• Auto-archiving of the last 10 videos for easy re-encoding
• Protection from a dropped internet connection when using the Video Email software (PC only)

Universal Player and Tri-Transcode

• Tri-transcoded videos play on Blackberry, Android OS, iPhone, and iPad devices
• Video player automatically selects the most suitable video files (transparent to you and the viewer)

We are not finished yet by a long-shot.  Next on the list is a completely redesigned user-interface.  This is scheduled for launch in January.  It is not just our software that is improving.  We have added additional training for our video coaches, who are always on standby to assist you.

iPad and iPhone support has almost become a trend with video email and web video marketing companies.  Why?  Because it makes for good marketing.  We have had iPad and iPhone support for a couple of months now.  Plus, we have gone the extra mile and added Droid and Blackberry device support.

Members of jiveSYSTEMS benefit from a tri-transcode and a universal web video player.  Sounds complex doesn’t it?   The cool part is that everything happens automatically behind the scenes.  All our members need to do is hit ‘record’ and then ‘send’ and the viewer need only hit ‘play.’

To do the tri-transcode we actually had to overhaul and port our encoders over to another system.  In the process, we beefed up our processing power and reduced the encoding time significantly.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with web video encoding, it’s not simple task.  A massive amount of processing power, ram, and skill is needed to produce a small file size that is good quality.  Tri-transcoding every video a member creates is a massive task, but it’s an improvement we gladly made for our members at no extra charge.  jiveSYSTEMS is one price, one membership, and we have no hidden fees.  Every member also benefits from 60 minute record time per video, unlimited storage, and unmetered bandwidth.

To learn more, please take a moment to visit our homepage.

Holiday templates can be used in a number of ways:

• Personally to spread holiday cheer to friends and family
• Internally within your team to spice up the regular video email communications
• If you are holding an event (i.e. costume party), the template can build more excitement and increase attendance
• Externally with your clients to add some holiday cheer
• Announce special service/product promotions for the season

By taking advantage of the holiday templates available, you can further differentiate yourself from the competition and build more customer loyalty. After all, if you send them a quick video wishing them a happy holiday, you will position yourself more as their friend and less of a strictly business contact.

If you’ve found a creative way to use the holiday templates, please post a response so we can help others take advantage of these cool templates.

In the past, all video emails from jiveSYSTEMS were being delivered from username@mailvideos.net. We have made an improvement that allows you to use the email address of your choosing.

This will help with your branding, it will also ensure that first time recipients will be able to easily recognize who is sending them a video.

While the Email Account Configuration is not a new setting, we now offer SSL encryption which means that you can even send from your Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and many other email providers.

All you need to get setup is the SMTP information for your email address. If you don’t know this, ask your network administrator for assistance.

For assistance on setting this up, watch the tutorial>>

The following is a list of tutorials that contain the SMTP information for some common free email providers:

Google>>

Yahoo!>>

Hotmail>>