A picture is worth a thousand words, right? So how much would a video be? By adding images to marketing campaigns, you create interest for the reader. Imagine what adding video email animations would do. However, regular video files are often too large for emails and could even affect your sender’s reputation and have emails labeled as spam. A solution to this is using animated GIFs in emails. Keep reading to find out more about leveling up your email marketing campaigns by using an animated GIF.
What are GIFs?
GIFs or graphics interchange format files are animated images that can be embedded in other formats, such as email. GIFs are typically short, animated videos that are only a couple of seconds long. They can be humorous, informative, or just a great way to grab your reader’s attention while conveying your message.
Animated GIFs in emails are a great tool to secure the viewer’s interest. However, adding videos to emails is a challenge. This is due to file size restrictions and the potential negative effects, such as damaging your sender’s reputation and labeling your emails getting misidentified as junk. However, animated GIFs have a much smaller file size, which means they can easily be embedded without issues.
Where Can You Find GIFs?
There are numerous sources where you can find GIFs to add to your animated emails. Giphy is one of the most popular and is also one of the first-ever GIF platforms. Other alternatives include Gfycat, Tenor, and Imgur.
However, when you’re looking for GIFs to download, you need to ensure they’re the right size for your emails. Captions can also be a problem if they don’t match the message you’re trying to send. This is the case in many meme-GIFs. In these cases, you should consider using a GIF creator with templates, so you customize it to ensure it meets all of your needs.
You can also use a GIF maker like Giphy or Visme to create your own animated GIFs for emails. This is great for introducing new products or sharing useful how-to tips, or even just improving your brand awareness.
5 Ways to Use GIFs in Email
Let’s take a look at some of the ways you can use email GIF animation.
Way 1: Promote a Sales Campaign
You can use a sales animation for emails to draw the reader’s attention to upcoming promotions and specials. This is a great way to draw attention to your sales amongst the numerous other sales emails readers receive.
Way 2: Create a How-To Guide
Instead of just having a lengthy text-based how-to manual, why not create your own how-to GIF? This will quickly show users how to use your products in a fun and exciting way.
Way 3: Introduce New Features or Products
You can effectively use an animated GIF for emails to demonstrate new features or products. By visually demonstrating how new features work, you pique the reader’s curiosity.
Way 4: Tease New Releases and Offers
Emailing animated GIFs is a great way to share new products or offers with potential clients. Because GIFs are short, they can be used effectively as teasers to get readers interested. Using a big bounce reveal GIF-styled animation is a great way to keep the mystery while also intriguing your readers so they just have to find out more.
Way 5: Animate Charts and Infographics
Understanding and going through technical charts, statistics, and even infographics isn’t easy for everyone. However, by using animated email GIFs, you can make the information easier to understand and more visually appealing.
How to Add GIFs in Emails
The process of adding an animated GIF in an email is actually very simple and doesn’t really change much between different email clients. Follow the below steps to start adding animations for emails:
- Download the appropriate images.gif file to your device
- Add the body content to your email
- In your email, click on ‘Insert photo’
- Select your downloaded GIF
- Send your animated email GIF
Best Practices When Using GIFs in Emails
When it comes to using animation in email, there are a few things to keep in mind. Firstly, ensure your email animation is effective; it’s recommended that you only use one GIF per message and only use it on a section of your email instead of the whole message. Only animating a section of your email will keep the file size lower, meaning it can be sent more efficiently.
Your animation for emails should also include a clear call-to-action (CTA). CTAs are essential in any email campaign as they guide the reader to the next step and clarify the goal of your email. It’s even better if you can add the CTA directly to your mailing GIF. This can be done using a GIF maker tool to make your own email-animated GIF.
It’s also a good practice to use a branded email GIF to set you apart from other competitors. Creating a standout brand is more than just choosing a logo, colors, and font. You can also use it to convey important messages related to your business.
While images are instrumental in specific campaigns, animated GIFs emails can tell a story better and convey more significant concepts in a time-efficient manner. These short, animated clips are highly effective for sharing a large amount of information.
When you email a GIF, you need to do the same research as any other email campaign. Keep in mind who your audience is and what their preferences are, and only use animation in emails that are true to your brand.
Final Thoughts
Adding images and animations in emails is a great way to make your messages stand out. Creating an animated GIF email campaign is also not difficult, and the process just involves adding an image to the body of your message. To monitor the effectiveness of your animation email campaigns, try the Free Email Tracker for Gmail by PandaDoc. This Chrome extension works directly in your Gmail inbox and allows you to track your sent emails.
