When designing a customized email template with an embedded link to your video player, it's a good idea to include a thumbnail image in the email to further entice your email recipients to view your content.
In an HTML template, the thumbnail splash screen can be embedded using a simple <img> tag that references the URL to the thumbnail image. The image URL takes the following format:
play.vidyard.com/<UUID>.jpg
Where <UUID> is the universally unique identifier (UUID) of the player you are linking to.
You might want to check out our article on Find the UUID for your player.
The thumbnail for a player with oTDMPlUv--51Th455G5u7Q as a UUID would be located at:
http://play.vidyard.com/oTDMPlUv--51Th455G5u7Q.jpg
Pre-rendered play button graphic
By adding a play button to the image embedded in your email, a clear message is sent to the recipient that there is video content available for them to view by clicking on the image.
You can access a version of the thumbnail image that includes a play button on top of the image by adding the following query string to the thumbnail image URL:
play_button=1
No play button
http://play.vidyard.com/oTDMPlUv--51Th455G5u7Q.jpg
With play button
http://play.vidyard.com/oTDMPlUv--51Th455G5u7Q.jpg?play_button=1
Smaller image for emailing (the below has not been resized)
http://play.vidyard.com/oTDMPlUv--51Th455G5u7Q.jpg?email=1
