The simplest way to include video in email campaigns in 2026
Video does not play inline in most email clients — Gmail, Outlook, Apple Mail, and Yahoo all block embedded video and iframe content for security reasons. The workaround is a thumbnail image that links to the video on a landing page. But generating a good thumbnail, hosting the video, and tracking clicks across email campaigns requires stitching together multiple tools. YouTube links in emails open in YouTube (with ads and suggestions), pulling recipients out of your funnel. Wistia and Vidyard offer email-specific features but at premium pricing tiers with per-video or per-seat costs.
Upload the video you want to feature in your email campaign. host.video auto-generates poster thumbnails you can use as the email image.
Download the auto-generated poster image and copy the video URL. The URL can use your custom domain for brand consistency.
In your email platform (Mailchimp, HubSpot, Sendgrid, etc.), add the thumbnail as an image with a play button overlay, and link it to the video URL. Recipients click the image to watch.
Monitor views and watch time from your host.video dashboard. Compare with email click-through rates to measure the full funnel from open to watch.
Email campaigns with video thumbnails see higher click-through rates than text-only emails. But the experience after the click determines whether the recipient engages or bounces. A branded landing page with a fast, ad-free player converts better than a YouTube page with pre-roll ads and suggested videos. View tracking closes the loop between email engagement and actual video consumption.
YouTube links open in YouTube with ads. Wistia offers email-specific tools at $79+/mo. Vidyard has email integrations but per-seat pricing. Manually creating thumbnails and hosting on a landing page works but is time-intensive.