Slate Video allows admissions staff to create and send personalized video messages to email recipients, including prospects, applicants, current students, and alums. Create and send videos from wherever a one-off communication can be sent, including person records, call lists, and from within Slate Voice.

Email and SMS videos enable admissions staff to personalize messages and reminders directly to prospective students, helping to keep them engaged throughout the admissions process. Dynamic content snippets are customized content that can be included in messages, including those sent through Deliver.

Slate Video with Email

To send a video message in an email, navigate to a person’s record and click their email address in the Connect section of their Dashboard tab.

Type your message, and when you’re ready to add the personalized video:

1. Click the Video Camera icon. This opens the video preview from which you can start recording. Be sure to check that your computer/browser has access to both your audio and video connections.

2. To start recording, click the Record button

3. When you’ve finished recording, click the Stop button

4. Should you need to do another take, simply click the Restart button and repeat the processes.
   
   

5. When you’re satisfied with the video, select one of the three automatically generated frames to serve as the thumbnail image for use within your email. Thumbnail options, from left to right, include the first frame of the video, a frame taken around the middle of the recording, and the last frame of the video.

6. Click Insert.
   

When you click Send, the message immediately begins to be transcoded. When the recipient clicks the video thumbnail, they are taken to a standard portal page, styled with your institutional branding, where they can watch the video message.

See an example below:

Slate Video with SMS

Send a personalized video message through SMS from anywhere the one-off SMS message popup is found—including on a person’s record, within Slate Voice, and within Slate Voice as part of a call campaign.

To support overall deliverability, a shortened link will appear in place of a thumbnail image, directing the recipient to a portal where they can watch the video.

To send a video message with SMS:

1. Within the Send Message SMS popup, type a message.

2. Place your cursor where you’d like the video link to appear and click the Video Camera icon.

   Be sure to check that your computer/browser has access to both your audio and video connections.

3. To start recording, click the Record button.

4. When you’re finished recording, click the Stop button.

5. Should you need another take, simply click the Restart button and repeat the process.

   

6. When you’re satisfied with the video, select one of the three automatically generated frames. While not included as a thumbnail in the SMS message, this will be the cover image when the video is loaded in the Slate Video portal.

7. Click the Insert button
   

When the recipient of the message clicks the link, they're taken to a standard portal page, styled with your institutional branding, where they can watch the video message.

📝 Note

Only one video message may be included per message. If you wish to replace existing video content with a new message, you must first remove the existing Slate Video link.

Incorporate Slate Video into Snippets to:

• Embed video content in context of other personalized merge fields within a message

• Pre-design the layout, copy, and branding of a message

• Direct video recipients to a customized portal, rather than the standard Slate Video portal

To send Slate Video as part of a dynamic content snippet:

1. Under Inbox, select Snippets.

2. Click New Snippet to create a new snippet, or click an existing snippet to edit it.

3. In the snippet editor, click Export.

4. Search for and select the export Portal Link with Slate Video. Click Continue.
   
   

5. Double click the export. Under Configuration, select your desired destination portal from the list. Click Save. 
   
   

6. In the body of the snippet message, insert the merge field {{Person-Portal-Link-with-Slate-Video}}​ at the point where you want your video link (if using SMS) or thumbnail (if using email) to appear. Click Save.

7. Navigate to a record to which you'd like to send a SMS or email video message.
   
   

8. From the right-hand navigation in the Send SMS Message or Send Email popup, select the desired snippet from the list (ours features the Video Camera icon. A video preview window appears.

9. Record your video message. Be sure to check that your computer/browser has access to both your audio and video connections.
   
   

10. Click Insert. The link (if using email) or thumbnail (if using SMS) merges dynamically into the appropriate place within the snippet.
    

Slate Video with Deliver

To add Slate Video content to a Deliver mailing:

1. Select Deliver from the top navigation. 

2. Click New Mailing, or edit an existing mailing.

3. Click Edit Message on the right.

4. In the message text, place your cursor where you'd like your video thumbnail to appear. Then, click the Video Camera icon. The video preview window appears.

5. Record your video message. Be sure to check that your computer/browser has access to both your audio and video connections.
   
   

6. If your Deliver campaign is an email, select one of the three automatically generated frames to serve as the thumbnail image for use within your email. Thumbnail options, from left to right, include the first frame of the video, a frame taken around the middle of the recording, and the last frame of the video.
   
   

7. Click Insert. The thumbnail of your choice is inserted at your cursor position.

8. Click Save.