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GIFs in E-mail Marketing: vi Brands with Great Ideas

Effective emails engage the reader and motivate them to accept activeness. At that place are plenty of ways to try and practice that, but GIFs in email marketing have something almost magical about them.

Why? For one matter, people don't really expect to run across moving images in an electronic mail.

Just it's also considering images are more than powerful and more memorable than words. They get attention. They elicit emotion. GIFs in email marketing can communicate a cardinal idea quickly and finer.

GIFs aren't just for social media. Yes, they practice well at getting attention in that crowded landscape. But the email inbox is crowded too, and when readers scan through an electronic mail after opening it, a GIF is sure to catch their attention and make them spend more time with your email.

Of form, information technology'due south most more than merely throwing in random finds from Giphy. You'll get the nearly out of adding and creating animated GIFs for electronic mail campaigns if you do then strategically. We're going to explore some brands that are using GIFs to make their emails more than impactful.

But first – let's answer a few questions about GIFs in email.

Are GIFs in e-mail supported?

You would think that past now, supporting GIFs would be pretty standard among email clients. And y'all would be right… except for some versions of Outlook.

Desktop versions of Outlook (2007 – 2016) do not support animated GIFs. Outlook 2022 plays an animated GIF once and so produces a play button to see it again. However, GIFs volition piece of work just fine for subscribers using Outlook.com and on the app using iOS or Android.

Electronic mail developers can address Outlook GIF back up issues with some conditional code that creates a GIF fallback, which displays a static image instead. The other choice is to make certain the first frame of a GIF has the most important data, since that's what desktop versions of Outlook will brandish.

Don't miss our other tips for fixing Outlook e-mail rendering issues.

One way around this is to write code that tells Outlook how to handle GIFs in your email. That doesn't completely solve the trouble, simply it does provide a better experience for the reader.

Why use GIFs in emails?

A better question might exist, why not use GIFs in email marketing? Let's be honest, it'south a cracking (and pretty easy) way to bring static emails to life. Simply that'due south non the only reason.

Ways to utilise GIFs in email:

Create an animated call-to-action (CTA)
Include as an alternative to video in email
Show how something works with an animation
Add sense of humor to an email campaign
Draw attention to something of import in an electronic mail
Showcase multiple products in one image

When Dell used GIFs in one of their email campaigns, they saw a 42% increase in clicks. More importantly, they earned a 109% increase in acquirement. Granted, that was back in 2014. However, it's even so an example of how email design changes tin brand a big difference.

Let's look at the strategy from five brands that accept used GIFs in emails more than recently.

half dozen brands using GIFs in email creatively

It'due south pretty simple to head over to Giphy and wait for pre-made GIFs referencing popular culture, current events, animals, and plenty more. And there's nada incorrect with that — so if you find something that fits within the tenor of your email, go with information technology.

But in terms of marketing that nudges customers and subscribers to take action and receive true value from your e-mail, you usually want to brand your own GIF images. Permit's look at a few examples.

1. Apple: GIF every bit how-to content

Apple sent an email showing subscribers how to manage and simplify their iTunes subscriptions. The email included a GIF, shown below, that walked subscribers through exactly how to locate the right settings on their device.

This GIF delivered value to users by giving helpful data and solving a specific trouble many faced.

ii. Adobe: GIF illustrates a feature

To spread the news of one of their coolest product features, Adobe used a GIF to bring their email to life. Their subscribers could immediately run into the power of the tool. For their existing customers, this could further solidify their reliance on and loyalty to Adobe. And for many of their potential customers, the "wow factor" of this demonstration was probable enough to convert them.

3. EPIC: GIF promotes a sale

A mutual utilise of GIFs is just to draw attending. Epic sent out an email promoting large discounts. People get these sorts of emails all the time and discounts lone often don't get plenty attention. But anyone who opened this e-mail would be drawn to the colorful GIF animation and give the bulletin above-average consideration.

In this case, Ballsy's email GIF isn't what nigh of recollect of every bit a typical GIF. The brand used the GIF file format to add a moving background to a graphic. There's no popular culture reference, no products, non even any blithe text. Information technology'southward simple, simply it'south also kind of… hypnotizing.

4. Loom: GIF as an alternative to video

Another effective way to use GIF animation in emails is to preview or promote an actual video — like what Loom did here. Videos don't usually play in emails, but if y'all create a GIF from the one with a 'play' button overlaying the paradigm, it tin attract more clicks to the real thing.

five. Everlane: GIF showcases multiple products

Here's an email example from Everlane where the GIF does the selling. This sort of animation works well for products that are very similar simply come in a variety of colors, shapes, flavors, sizes, etc. In this case, the GIF shows different t-shirts worn by different models.

Then, right in the email, without even clicking, the subscriber has already started the shopping process.

6. Starbucks: GIF to assist create fizz

When you've got a special upshot or a large annunciation, a little animation can spice up your email campaign, making information technology more memorable. Starbucks did this with an original animated GIF to promote pop-up parties where subscribers could become free java.

If the news you're sharing is heady, it only makes sense to create a more exciting email!

Quick tips for using GIFs in email marketing

GIFs are a keen add-on to your e-mail design, merely that doesn't mean yous can throw a few in and call information technology a day. Here are some tips to get the most from using GIFs.

1. Don't overdo it

Putting a GIF in every email will, in the end, be like putting a GIF in no emails. In marketing, if y'all do something all the time, it inevitably ends up becoming groundwork noise. Utilize GIFs smartly, strategically, and selectively.

2. Consider e-mail accessibility

Animations that are besides fast and flashy can really crusade harm to people who suffer from seizures. So get easy on the movement.

And if y'all bury important copy inside the GIF image itself — as with whatsoever other image — you run the chance of people non seeing that text if the GIF doesn't show up for some reason. And for people with visual impairments, including colour incomprehension, yous run the risk of them missing your message.

So be conscientious when including central messaging on the actual GIF unless yous repeat the same message elsewhere in the email.

3. Include fallbacks

Anytime you add together complex elements to an electronic mail, you increase the chances of it not working. While there is much you can do to minimize this, as you'll encounter in a scrap, you do want to include a static image that will show up in identify of the GIF if for some reason it doesn't function.

4. Apply GIFs to tease video content

You lot saw this earlier in the Loom case. Video typically doesn't play in emails. It can be done, only information technology's catchy and not universally supported past electronic mail clients. There's a proficient chance many subscribers won't see information technology.

And so if you want to send a video via email, you unremarkably have to just include a screenshot with a play button that clicks through to the video. With GIFs, you lot tin can make the video announced to exist playing, which tin can increase clicks.

5. Watch the file size of GIFs in email

This again is true with whatsoever graphics. Large file sizes increase load time, and subscribers speedily lose patience if they accept to sit at that place while the epitome slowly comes into view.

Only similar y'all want to reduce file sizes for regular photos and graphics, be sure to go on your GIF file sizes modest too.

Optimizing GIFs for the email inbox

Dull load times. GIF animations not showing up or not animating (Outlook!). Incorrect image placement. There are a variety of ways your GIFs and other graphics can testify up incorrectly when your subscribers open your emails on the dozens and dozens of possible devices and platforms.

Email on Acid's Campaign Precheck automated checklist includes the Image Validation step, which tests load time for images, ensures correct borders and widths, and confirms that your GIFs are working properly.

We even make it easy to do the workaround mentioned earlier for subscribers who may be opening your emails in Outlook. You can rapidly choose the frame in your GIF that you want to show upwards equally an image for Outlook users, in instance the blitheness doesn't function.

Go on in mind that when you lot test with Email on Acrid, you won't be able to encounter the GIFs in activity, as our previews are static. Odds are the platform will take hold of them mid-blitheness, only balance assured this is perfectly normal. It ways they're animative just fine!

Explore everything else Email on Acid has to offer when you sign upward for a free trial today.

Author: The Email on Acid Team

The Email on Acid content team is made up of digital marketers, content creators, and straight-upwards email geeks.

Connect with us on LinkedIn, follow us on Facebook, and tweet at @EmailonAcid on Twitter for more sugariness stuff and bully convos on email marketing.

Author: The E-mail on Acrid Squad

The Email on Acid content team is made up of digital marketers, content creators, and straight-up email geeks.

Connect with united states of america on LinkedIn, follow us on Facebook, and tweet at @EmailonAcid on Twitter for more than sweetness stuff and great convos on email marketing.

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Source: https://www.emailonacid.com/blog/article/email-marketing/5-brands-that-are-using-gifs-to-elevate-their-email-marketing/