For the last number of months I have been considering a video email marketing software called BombBomb and I have finally decided to take the plunge.  After having done so much research I thought GEB readers would like to get the cliff notes version of what I learned and why I decided to do this.

I originally learned of the service from the Champagne and Parisi team, one of the leading marketers of luxury property in the Boca Raton market.

Below is a written interview I did with Ethan Beute, The Chief Marketing Officer for BombBomb.

What is Bomb Bomb in your view?

BombBomb is a complete email marketing platform.  We make it easy for you to send traditional emails and video emails to one person. to a segment of people, or to everyone in your database.  Then, of course, you can track all your results.

How is it different than using any other email service like Constant Contact or Mail Chimp?

It’s quite similar, except we allow you to easily add videos to your emails whenever you like.  Though we don’t market the service this way, we’re also a complete video hosting service – with unlimited encoding and storage.

Can Your competitors send embedded Videos as well?

None of them do it natively.  Some may sell you a third-party plug-in that allows you to do it.  Video’s no upgrade, new feature, or additional cost with us – we’ve been video since day one.

What kind of analytics does your service offer?

When you send traditional emails and video emails, you’ll know who’s opening emails, clicking links, playing videos, and viewing documents.  You can see that for the history of an email, for an individual send, and – of course – for every individual person.  You can see exactly who’s doing what with your emails.

What camera do you recommend to the average agent that want to use BombBomb?

I highly recommend iPhones and iPads, because they’re with you everywhere you go.  We have an app that makes it very easy to shoot straight into your account or grab videos from your mobile device and put them into your account.  There are many add-ons, including microphones and mounts, that allow you to shoot good video with iPhones and iPads – and you’ve got iMovie on deck if you want it.

I also like webcams, especially for your office or home office.  Our favorite PC webcam is the Logitech C920.  Our favorite Mac webcam is the Logitech C910.  They’re both full HD with great microphones.  Both cost under $100 and are widely available from places like Amazon.  They are, however, tethered to your laptop or desktop computer.

Finally, I shoot with a simple, handheld Sony camcorder.  I picked it up for about $300 at Costco, so it’s not anything incredibly special.  Sony, Canon, and Panasonic all make good models for $300-900.  This will give you great flexibility, good zooming, image stabilization, an external microphone jack, touchscreen controls, and other advantages over mobile devices and webcams.  Do look for the mic jack in whatever model you choose.

Do videos sent through BombBomb play differently on a mobile device than on a desktop?  In other words, does it include any kind of responsive technology?

Yes.  When you upload a video into your BombBomb account, we encode it into more than a dozen different file formats and store those for you.  As you send it out in emails, we automatically detect the device and connection speed of each recipient at the time of open.  Then, we serve the most appropriate format.

So, when you send me a video email and I first open it on my Android, I’ll get a smaller version than I’ll get when I open it again later on my nice laptop with a solid internet connection.  We’ll deliver up to 720 HD video.

Do you have any stats on the response rates from recipients of video email vs traditional email?

We’ve not done formal traditional verses video email tests.  We do have many customer testimonials about the power of video to connect with people in a stronger, more complete way.  The benefit of video is also intuitive – you should add it to email for the same reason you’d add it to your website, blog, landing pages, social sites, and anywhere else you’re doing online marketing.  It brings your message to life and allows you to add personality and expertise.

What are two of the best video strategies you have seen implemented?

Speaking only about email and very broadly, I really like video email drip campaigns based on FAQs.  Make a series of short videos, drop them into emails, and tie the emails together to automatically go out at specified times.  In one week, a potential home buyer could get 5 video emails breaking down the main neighborhoods in town and what’s available at different price points.

Speaking very specifically, I just learned about one of our most clever and passionate customers adding video to the lead gen forms he builds in BombBomb.  He then ties them to Craigslist ads.  Connected to the video home tour, then, he’s offering a buying guide to his market and collecting leads straight into BombBomb.  Of course, he’s got an autoresponder or drip campaign going out to these people based on the form fill – including the buying guide.

Can BombBomb send regular email as effectively as companies like Mail chimp?  What are the design capabilities for traditional email?  Can I make it look like anything I want or are there limits?

There really are no limits.  We offer access to the full HTML code of the email.  So if you or a team member of yours has design skills, you can make it look however you like.  We also offer custom email template design services, like the other email companies.  Finally, we provide free, pre-branded template sets for 10 or 12 real estate companies so you have something to work with immediately.  We’re also happy to make more of those sets.

If you can think of any other questions you would have liked to answer or any other info the GEB audience should have please feel free to tell us about it now.

Thanks for reaching out about it!  Happy to share this info, obviously.  I think we hit on most of the top questions.

Many people are uncomfortable about the idea of appearing in their videos. I tell them a few things.  First, getting comfortable on camera is simply a matter of practice – like anything else in which you’d like to have a basic proficiency, whether that’s a foreign language, musical instrument, new sport or activity.  Also, people you’ve worked with before and are currently working with already know what you look like – and those people you hope to work with in the future will find out soon enough.  This should not be an obstacle.  Video marketing and video email is about being real, being transparent, displaying personality, demonstrating expertise, and connecting with other people in a real way.