EyeMail Technology: Reshaping the Communication Experience

“Inspiration is always lying around the corner waiting to be discovered, to show you a new perspective. The key is to be open to the possibilities”.  Lisa S. Jones found her inspiration when scrolling through the never-ending emails in her inbox.

While still developing her corporate career, Lisa was dedicated to creating a legacy in honour of her mother. As she was scrolling through her emails, she noticed all the emails looked the same. It didn’t matter if the emails were from fortune 50 or fortune 500 companies, the static email messages were not engaging, they were all the same, and provided no inspiration. At this pivotal moment in time, Lisa envisioned how email could be reimagined to be more compelling and more engaging with audio and video. In 2004, the concept for EyeMail technology was born. Later in that same year, she filed her first patent focused on email innovation.

EyeMail Technology

Lisa is the Chief EyeMail Officer of EyeMail Inc. and for more than a decade continues to be a catalyst for innovation with multiple, patent-pending technologies in the video-in-email marketing communications industry. She is the board member of the Technology Association of Georgia Diversity and Inclusion and volunteers at the local chapter of the Women in Technology Association. Lisa is a trailblazer for women in technology. She is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences, is considered an industry thought leader, and   a top global email expert. Lisa has also been recognized with prestigious awards including the Stevie Award for ‘Innovator of Year’ and Delta Air Lines ‘Catalyst of the Year’, awarded for EyeMail’s impact to their digital email strategy.

Why has this revolutionized email marketing?

The question can be answered from our own personal experiences with email. What kind of email would you prefer; an email with several paragraphs of black and white text or a full high-definition (HD) video that immediately captures your interest and attention? EyeMail brings the best visual and engaging email experience directly to your inbox.

Before EyeMail, the personal or corporate brand experience, could achieve high engagement through television or the internet, but that is where it stopped. That same level of engagement could not transfer into traditional email campaigns. Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% of the message when reading it in text. (Insivia).

Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, EyeMail Inc. is a multi-patent pending communications technology company.  It is the only company, to enable a 60+ second high-definition (HD) video to play automatically across all email, webmail, and mobile platforms delivering at 15K in size, with no downloads or hyperlinks to external sites. This next-generation email experience will increase existing unique click-through rates to an average of 60% and call-to-action rates to an average of 38%, all while bringing your email to life!  In a recent study from getresponse.com, the average email open-rates currently achieved across all industries is 22.8% and 3.7% average click-through rates.

Everyone deserves the best engagement experience they can receive in email. With EyeMail now you can,” says Lisa.

Enhancing Communication Experience

EyeMail’s vision is to reshape the communication experience. The team is achieving this by continuing to innovate at a record pace. They are committed to improving interpersonal connections by uniting our global community through engaging and compelling email experiences.  Lisa confidently states the EyeMail team has never wavered from this vision, after 17+ years of relentless pursuit and commitment to creating impactful value.

EyeMail collaborates with clients to outline short and long-term goals with objectives to drive measurable campaign results and deliverables. The portfolio comprises of the following offerings:

  • EyeMail: The founding technology enabling 60+ second HD video to play automatically in email, webmail, and mobile devices. EyeMail is technology agnostic and can be used with any Email Service Provider (ESP).
  • EyeCon Logo: This product offering delivers a compelling first impression to reinforce brand excitement, generated from your brand logo. Presently, customers enjoy adding this expressive brand touchpoint which increases the brand experience to everyday emails. EyeCon can be expanded into other areas such as websites, banners, etc.
  • Closed Captioning: EyeMail is a purpose drive organization focused on inclusion and accessibility to ensure everyone can experience the best video-in-email experience possible. More than 466 million people worldwide have some level of hearing loss, according to the World Health Organization, it is both our duty and honor to deliver accessible innovation to all. Closed captioning in all languages is a standard feature for EyeMail and increases our client’s reach into a global community that is often missed.

The 2020 State of Multichannel Marketing Survey, summarized Email ranked 1st for its use to reach a wider audience but ranked 4th for its effectiveness. Clients are ultimately interested in increasing their unique open-rates and click-through rates. As these rates increase, so does the potential opportunity for the clients to increase their revenue. As a result, a top priority for EyeMail, is helping clients develop a more compelling story that can lead to an increase in conversion rates and return on investment.

Fruitful Chain of Events

Initially, Lisa struggled to find the right technical resources. She adds, “I mean, how do you find resources to work on a technology I am only just now inventing.  I kept hearing ‘why would you want to add video into an email’ or ‘email is just fine the way it is now; it serves its purpose’.” Lisa worked with seven different technology teams before she could find the right blend of skills and diverse team dynamics who also embrace the EyeMail vision for innovation.

EyeMail landed its very first project in Atlanta, GA with the Georgia Women’s Business Council, as a pro-bono opportunity to showcase the EyeMail technology. The team knew the best way to sell something no one has seen before, is to show it. The first project was indeed a success and after the campaign launched, Time Warner contacted her and became the very first paying customer of EyeMail. EyeMail signed with Coca-Cola Company and from there, experienced a chain reaction of other Fortune 200 corporations jumping on board, as welcomed early adopters. This chain of events was also a reason for Lisa to leave her corporate career and focus on her venture 100% in 2009.

Unprecedented challenges of 2020

The year 2020 has been a time of reflection for numerous businesses around the world, including email marketing. The average return on investment for email has always been a good investment of marketing dollars, but the decline in the traditional in-person conferences and events reduced the immediate need for marketing communications and a shift in the budgeting allocation for marketing dollars.

EyeMail campaigns average 60% unique open-rates and 38% average click-through rates. These kinds of measurable statistics were unheard of in traditional email campaigns, but EyeMail proved video-in-email marketing was a reality, engaging, and could accelerate conversions for an immediate call to action.

EyeMail continues to focus on listening to the needs of the customer and to deliver value. EyeMail quickly pivoted to look at other areas within the organization, virtual conferences and events. If EyeMail saw a decrease in external communications, the team swiftly saw an increase in corporate internal communications, supporting videos that outlined new safety protocols, employee support, and work from home guidelines.

New Era, New Services & Solutions

The post-pandemic world taught us many lessons. Being ahead of the curve, Lisa and her team have several exciting developments planned both in exceptional services and solutions to further advance and support market leaders and early adopters.

Clients will benefit from services like the EyeMail Self-service Portal, where clients can quickly access the EyeMail technology by uploading their HD video and receive their 60+ second EyeMail video in ~15K in size. Additionally, a Subscription Model will be available as an expansion to the self-service portal providing discounted monthly pricing base on frequency of use.

The EyeMail solutions portfolio will also be expanding this year to include:

  1. Video in Text: This will further expand the brand experience to include a 60+ second HD video delivered across all texting platforms.
  2. EyeViewer Assistant or EVA: A seamless technology to enable the use of keywords to prioritize which emails should remain at the top of the inbox, so they are not buried and forgotten. Currently, the inbox supports a series of rules based on the email address or subject line, etc. EVA takes that to the next level so you can prioritize the same topic regardless of where and who the email originates from.
  3. EyeBrand Icon is a creative way to experience a consistent brand engagement before opening an email message. When an email sits in your inbox unread, an EyeBrand Icon is visible to viewers letting them this email is an EyeMail and to expect something different. Just like the paper clip icon is used to identify an attachment in an email, the EyeBrand Icon would be visible before opening the email. On the EyeMail roadmap, the EyeBrand Icon can represent the company logo or other types of branding icons.

The team at EyeMail is also exploring machine language and AI technologies which can be leveraged to further enhance EyeMail innovations and continue to deliver value we all deserve in our email messaging.  “Our next goal is to build on a solid foundation to continue to deliver innovation at its best and to create a long-lasting legacy; to change how emails can be communicated and received,” concludes Lisa.

EyeMail Technology

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