What is a GIF?
GIF is an image file in PNG and JPEG file format, and you can still make images. But Gif images comprise special features, and they can be used to create animated images. Since the early days, GIFs in email have been a popular image format on the internet.
Although, GIfs can be animated, displaying a series of images to generate the illusion of motion. Gifs were the primary method of adding movement to web pages in the early days of the internet.
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2. Advantages of animated GIFs in the email
4. Ways to use animated GIFs in email
Earlier, animated GIFs were a novelty, and it was a silly and funny experiment on the internet. Nowadays, Gif images are widely accepted, and it is the most effective means of communication. You can inject the animated Gifs in your emails, when you want to use more than words and static images in your email campaigns.
Advantages of animated GIFs in the email
Gif in email has been the latest trend in the digital marketing world, and it is becoming viral on different social media platforms and blogs.
We receive multiple emails regularly, and it becomes harder for email marketers to come up with something surprising and unusual. In this article, we would convey the benefits of animated Gifs:
1 . Grab attention: You can add motion to your email to grab the attention of your subscribers. You can point them towards an action you want to take the final point and keep scrolling to ensure that you get the whole message.
2. Show your products: You have to make sure that your subscribers understand that your product is excellent. There is nothing like an animated Gif to show off your product.
3. Take a complex idea: Basically, a picture speaks a thousand words, an animated image is worth even more. You can use an animated GIF to describe a challenging idea for showing it to your subscribers.
4. Give a new teaser: You have to create an animated Gif for generating awareness about your product or service through emails. You have to make an exciting teaser so that your subscribers’ lookout for the following email.
Brands using GIFs in email
Here are some brands that have proven how effective to use Gif in email.
1 . Nike: Nike has used animated elements in their emails to make the content interactive and bring an exciting feature to the message. When we open the email, it feels like promotional content, but slowly the sweeping pattern grabs the attention and keeps the audience engaged.
2. Kate Spade: Kate Spade uses animated Gif in the email to demonstrate the multi-functionality of women accessories and clothing retailers.
3. Boden: Boden has done an incredible job by entering their designs in animated Gifs. It only conveys quick sales but also appealingly projects the animated images.
Ways to use animated GIFs in email
Through this article, you will understand the best possible ways to deploy the various forms of Gifs in your email marketing campaigns.
1. Add GIF images
If you use Gifs in emails to present your product, you can convert more qualified leads into loyal customers. Gif in email is the most trending in marketing, and it makes the content more engaging.
When Gifs are added to the content, it adds energy and movement as it becomes easier to stand out among other competitors. Customers love to see Gifs images in email, blogs, and other social media platforms. Gifs show action and enhance learning. Gif file size is smaller than videos, and it is easy to add it in the blog.
2. Take Gif support for email clients
Modern clients take the support of animated Gif in email. So, your subscribers who will check the email in Outlook won’t see the GIF and find a broken image.
Subscribers who can see your animated Gif images and those who cannot view your image as it varies from email services.
So, you have to check the Google analytics of your WordPress site.log to analyze what technology, devices, and browsers your subscribers are using.
3) Create a sense of curiosity
Basically, animated Gifs take your content to the next level and add a sense of curiosity for the readers. When you add Gifs, it adds a sense of delight to your emails and helps the marketers convey the story visually to grab the readers’ attention.
Gif emails help to polish the brand’s personality by setting the right mood. It is the best alternative to videos in emails as they tell the story to the subscribers without grabbing too much of the subscribers’ data.
Ensure to create proper Gifs so that it means the entire story in the first frame.
4) Add GIF as a teaser
You can use Gif as a teaser in the content to grab the readers’ attention. You have to motivate your subscribers to click on the trailer or tutorials after seeing the Gifs images. It instills fear of missing out on the email content and helps to set the right mood for your subscribers.
Gif in email gains popularity as it is helpful to communicate emotions, jokes, and ideas. You can easily create Gif images with the help of Gyfcat, GIPHY and integrate these services into apps like Facebook Messenger, Twitter.
5) Purpose of GIF images
Gif images are not there to make the content look extra appetizing. Gif images become the star of the content when deployed, and nothing can challenge your HTML emails.
You have to think about the purpose of Gif images, like introducing a new feature of a product, announcing the sale for a brand, enhancing the overall mood of content, and previewing new video content.
It’s better to add a Gif image in every email which you are sending. Even you can save them for special occasions. You have to define the purpose of your animated Gif file clearly.
6) Include CTA in Gif
Don’t miss adding a call-to-action button in every email you send to your subscribers. You can make a plan to include call-to-action and Gif together in an email to guide the subscribers to carry forward the desired action.
Email marketers have several ways to incorporate Gifs and CTAs together in an email. A Gif image preview is still from the video with a play button icon and encourages your readers to act quickly.
7) Check the file size
It takes a longer time to load a larger file image and causes more significant problems in emails as we are pretty well-conditioned to expect immediate gratification. Although, Gif file sizes have the full potential to become more critical for impacting the customer experience.
Subscribers may delete your email if it takes a long time to load. You can crop the image to make it smaller, and you don’t have to worry about fancy gradients and borders while creating Gifs.
8) Embed files properly
You have to spend a good amount of time ensuring that your Gifs are properly embedded into your email templates. You can test your emails prolifically to do it easily and it is the good tip for writing any email. Gif images cause several issues to display it incorrectly, so you have to test it ahead of time to embed it properly.
9) Remember accessibility recommendations
It’s essential to not miss accessibility recommendations when you are embedding Gifs into your email. So, you have to use alt text along with your Gif into your email when you are describing the images.
You have to be clear and descriptive and straightforward. You can use alt text to access your wordpress website or email. Make sure that your alt text uses Gif in a couple of sentences.
10) Careful about creating your GIFs
You have to check the multiple ways for creating GIFs as they are not equal. You will get many free GIF creation services like GIPHY for specific terms of services.
Conclusion
Animated Gifs have become a meaningful way to communicate with your subscribers through emails. You cannot deny that Gif in email is a good form of strategy to boost customer engagement.
So, you need to take some time now to master the animated Gifs for increasing the open and click-through rates of email campaigns.
Great article; I’m glad that you have shared an article on animated Gifs in the email, and you have mentioned its advantages for creating attractive, responsive email copies.