Ever since invented in 1987, GIFs have fascinated us alongside other multimedia formats, and even the Metaverse. GIF in email is proven to be a great graphic element for email marketing in beating the monotony of bland text that was a point of concern due to the lack of technological support for GIFs from inbox providers.
In the early 2000s, emails and websites were at par but as time passed, email stayed stagnant while the latter made tremendous progress. This was rooted in the privacy concerns faced by mailbox service users which resulted in a bland user experience. However, smart email marketers have started incorporating the use of GIFs in emails to drive their campaign results.
Experian has stated that 72% of the surveyed email marketers registered a higher transaction-to-click rate when they used GIFs. They say that an image equals a thousand words but when it comes to email marketing, a GIF can do much more than a static image in emails.
In this article, the experts at Sootra Consulting have curated the top six smart ways you can incorporate GIFs in your HTML email templates.
Let’s get started:
#1 Use GIFs for “Show Don’t Tell” Scenarios
You can show more information through GIFs while adding to the overall visual appeal. This makes a very convincing use case for ‘show don’t tell’ scenarios as they are generally trickier for content developers but GIFs can turn the tables for good. In the below example, you can find a beautiful example of using GIFs to show instead of telling (irony included):
#2 Use GIFs for the ‘How-to Content for Wooing Users Instantly
Reading a long email to learn how to perform a particular task can be tedious. However, learning with the help of GIFs can be an easier to consume content for your readers. Learning with images can be confusing at times but GIFs deliver video-like learning without requiring the reader to use a high-speed internet connection:
As apparent in the above example from Asana, how a bland email with huge chunks of email copy is made interesting by using GIFs. The same impact is noticeable in the email Ilia:
#3 When Using GIFs in Sales-Focused Emails, Leverage Them to Amplify Emotions
One thing worth remembering is that GIFs are used to express emotions that still images often fail to convey; on the other hand, videos can be overkill. Using GIFs in sales-oriented emails can be extremely effective since it helps make the email appear interesting without appearing too persuasive or pushy:
#4 Experimenting: Use GIFs as CTA Buttons
Not using an image as a CTA button has been a thumb-rule among email marketers for decades, but the use of GIFs has helped email marketers in creating visually compelling CTA buttons. All you need is to take some precautionary measures like optimizing the first frame for rendering issues, inserting fallback font, and some formatting choices. Implementing these techniques can help your CTA button stand out among the rest of the email templates, making it all the more tempting to click:
#5 Use GIFs as an Added Emphasis to Typical Hero Images
As we go through some of the interesting use cases for GIFs in email marketing, it is important to note that there is no reason why you can’t use them as a replacement for other rich multimedia. Though it may not have a huge impact on the conversion rates, using a GIF instead of a typical hero image may give your readers a good reason to have a second look at the message like in this example:
#6 Use GIFs When Other Formats Fail to Grab Attention
The last tip falls under the ‘last resort’ category. Sometimes, no matter how hard you think, it isn’t possible to justify the message with a copy or images. Not because the message is monotonous but because it is difficult to express the idea rightfully. Lyft faced a similar situation but using a GIF helped them create an aesthetically beautiful email that fits the bill:
Best Practices for Sending GIF-Savvy Emails
Go through the quick overview for acing at emails with GIFs:
- When choosing a GIF for email marketing, you must ascertain that it resonates with your brand.
- Ideally, the GIF should be relatable to your business and product/service so that it stays relevant to your audience.
- The GIFs should have a handful of colors as it helps declutter the information.
- Your GIFs in your emails shouldn’t be longer than six seconds for best results.
Things to keep in mind when using GIFs in emails
In this section, we will have a look at a couple of aspects that you must look out for to ensure a good reader experience for your recipients:
- Microsoft Outlook continues to be the non-marketer-friendly mailbox provider as it doesn’t support the full rendering of GIFs. It merely loads the first frame of the GIF and thus, you must ensure that the first frame is self-sufficient in explaining its entire purpose.
- you must limit the GIF file size to 200 kb for ensuring optimal deliverability rates.
- Sending the GIF as an attachment is a common mistake so ensure that you embed it into the HTML email template.
- Refrain from using too many elements/concepts within a single GIF. Instead, use it to communicate the most important message in a simple, lucid manner.
- Like hero images, you should insert the GIFs in the upper fold of the email to maximize engagement once the subscriber opens your image.
Wrap Up
Humans love seeing and listening to stories more than reading them as we are neurologically wired to grasp information visually with paintings dating 35,000 years back in time reinforcing the observation. Moreover, we can process graphical information 60000 times faster than text, making it important for email marketers to steer away from content-heavy strategies.
We hope that the six GIF embedding strategies described here help you get better results in 2023 and beyond. You can find more awesome blogs like this over here.