Seems GIFs aren’t only for reacting to tweets — they’re additionally a incredible technique to drive engagement in your e-mail advertising.
There are many manufacturers driving eye-catching outcomes through the use of GIFs in emails. For example, tech large Dell ran a GIF-centered e-mail marketing campaign that, when in comparison with quarterly benchmarks, delivered a:
- 42 % improve in click on fee
- 103 % improve in conversion fee
- 109 % improve in income
So it’s no shock that over half of entrepreneurs use animated GIFs in emails not less than a number of the time.
Keen on becoming a member of them? You’re in the fitting place. On this article, I’ll clarify tips on how to put GIFs in emails, discuss by the advantages of doing so, and share a few of my favourite real-world examples.
4 Causes You Ought to Use GIFs in Emails
Earlier than we get into the practicalities of tips on how to add GIFs in emails, you could be questioning: “Do GIFs work in emails?”
That’s a very good query. In spite of everything, the very last thing you need is to embed a bunch of non-functioning GIFs in your emails, or make investments a ton of effort and time with out producing any outcomes.
Whereas I can’t assure that together with a pair GIFs in your subsequent marketing campaign will double your click-through fee or ship income by the roof, there are some fairly compelling advantages to doing so:
1. GIFs Add Visible Curiosity to Emails
The obvious profit to utilizing GIFs in emails is that they make your emails look extra fascinating by including a component of movement to in any other case static content material.
2. Motion is Eye-Catching
Until you’re including dozens of animated GIFs to a single e-mail, your GIF will seemingly stand out towards the remainder of the (non-animated) content material. This helps GIFs to attract the attention. Use this method to information readers towards a very powerful stuff in your e-mail — like a name to motion or promotion.
3. GIFs Work When Movies Don’t
Typically talking, if an e-mail consumer helps embedded picture information (JPGs and PNGs), it’ll additionally help GIFs. Nevertheless, quite a lot of purchasers — together with Apple Mail, Gmail, and Outlook — don’t help embedded video information. So if you need a dynamic format with widespread help, GIFs are a protected guess.
4. Showcase A number of Merchandise in a Small Area
GIFs are like a flipbook, as a result of they’re made up of numerous particular person photos spliced collectively. Which means you need to use them to show a number of merchandise inside a single “ingredient”, with out taking on a ton of house in your e-mail.
The way to Insert a GIF Into an E-mail
The method of inserting GIFs into emails is fairly easy, however varies relying in your e-mail service supplier. Right here’s tips on how to do it with Drip:
- Click on Picture inside our e-mail builder.
- Click on Select picture to insert an animated GIF out of your native drive, or enter a URL to embed a web based GIF utilizing the Enter a URL bar.
- Select your GIF file.
- Use the Place picture software to maneuver your GIF to the specified place.
- See the way it all seems to be.
If you happen to’re pleased with the outcomes, that’s all there’s to it. If not, return and mess around with the GIF location, vertical spacing, alignment, and dimension.
The way to Create Your Personal GIFs (6 GIF Creation Instruments)
Creating your individual GIFs is straightforward, with loads of instruments to do all of the laborious give you the results you want. Listed below are a few of our favorites…
1. PixTeller
Worth: From free; paid plans begin at $7 per thirty days
PixTeller is an easy on-line picture and animation-maker that enables customers to create GIFs, logos, video thumbnails, and extra. All of it works instantly out of your browser, without having to obtain any further animation software program.
The animation editor makes it straightforward to tinker with particular person parts of your animation, comparable to altering the dimensions and place or including totally different filters.
When you’ve completed modifying, you may obtain your work as a GIF or MP4 video.
2. GIPHY Create
Worth: Free
GIPHY Create is GIPHY’s built-in GIF-maker. Customers can import media from numerous websites, together with Vimeo, YouTube, and—after all—GIPHY itself. The software permits you to create GIFs and backdrops, then elevate them by including filters, stickers, and captions. It really works with numerous file codecs, together with GIFs, JPGs, PNGs, and MP4s.
3. Gifs.com
Worth: From free; paid plans begin at $1.99 per thirty days
Massive manufacturers like Google and Netflix use Gifs.com to create animated GIFs from video information. Simply copy-paste any video URL and the software will remodel it into an animated GIF, WebM, or MP4 file. Uploads may be as much as 150 MB, whereas GIFs created by the platform may be as much as 15 seconds lengthy.
Whereas Gifs.com is a wonderful software, remember that the free product tier provides watermarks to any GIFs you create and doesn’t will let you embody premium results.
4. Ezgif
Worth: Free
A easy on-line GIF-maker and primary animated GIF editor, Ezgif helps you create, edit, and convert GIF, APNG, WebP, and AVIF animations. The platform additionally includes a video-to-GIF converter.
5. Make A GIF
Worth: Free
Use Make A GIF to create GIFs from a number of static photos, YouTube or Fb URLs, uploaded video information, and even from footage captured in your webcam. Join a (free) premium account to entry high-definition GIFs, add personalised watermarks, add social hyperlinks, and extra.
6. Superior Screenshot
Worth: From free; paid plans begin at $5 per thirty days
Superior Screenshot isn’t really a GIF-maker, however you need to use its screen-recording performance to seize video footage and convert it into GIF format utilizing a number of the different instruments on this checklist.
The free plan permits you to document as much as 20 movies a month at 720p decision, with limitless recording size. Improve to a paid plan to unlock further annotation instruments and improve the decision to 4k.
The way to Use GIFs in Emails Successfully (with Examples)
1. Promote Your Merchandise
Your market dictates the way you market your merchandise within the e-mail. If you happen to’re in a distinct segment like cruelty-free make-up, values will take priority over, say, product advertising.
However in case you’re in ecommerce — an business that maybe is finest identified for its use of GIFs in its emails — then you’ll seemingly focus extra on persona and why the customer wants to purchase you from over a competitor.
Probably the most frequent methods to make use of GIFs in advertising emails, based mostly on my analysis, is selling a number of merchandise without delay. Listed below are 3 ways to do this utilizing actual manufacturers as examples.
a. Promote New Arrivals
When asking for a customer’s e-mail deal with, it’s frequent for a lot of ecommerce web sites to phase new guests by gender, such because the beneath instance from Calvin Klein.
Nevertheless, manufacturers that don’t leverage e-mail popups, comparable to Ralph Lauren, use an opt-in type to gather emails, leading to emails to attraction to each women and men.
To avoid wasting on its emails restricted actual property, Ralph Lauren just lately leveraged a GIF to advertise its new arrivals. The GIF featured a person and a lady modeling the brand new vary.
Previous Navy leveraged a GIF in a current e-mail of its personal, going one step additional than Ralph Lauren and including the merchandise’s worth to advertise its newly discounted objects.
b. Promote a Bundle
Most of the GIFs I discovered whereas researching this put up give attention to the product in query. However others, as with the instance beneath from Flat Tummy Co., give attention to a promotion’s specificity.
Not solely that, however the model additionally included a countdown timer beneath the above GIF to drive urgency for the promotion, counting down from the ultimate hour.
c. Promote a Shade Vary
Fairly than promote a variety of merchandise, it’s frequent to typically wish to promote one product, however showcase its vary in shade. That’s precisely what Violet Gray did in a current e-mail.
Whereas the opposite merchandise featured within the e-mail had been promoted with photos, Violet Gray’s alternative of highlighting one among its objects with a GIF was sufficient to rivet my consideration and skim extra.
2. Present Merchandise in Motion
A typical finest observe when photographing merchandise is to {photograph} them in context. In spite of everything, it’s simpler to ascertain proudly owning a product after seeing it in its meant setting.
One model that goes past that finest observe is Sweaty Betty. In a current e-mail selling its new health club gear, the model used a GIF to showcase its health club ball.
My favourite instance, although, belongs to one among our favourite manufacturers, Barkbox. From its copywriting to its unmistakable humor, the model all the time goes the additional mile, and its e-mail advertising isn’t any exception.
In a current e-mail selling a limited-time deal to assert a free splash pad, the model used a GIF to indicate the mat in motion, full with a cheerful canine.
Utilizing a GIF is an efficient means of selling the freebie. Plus, including a greenback quantity to spice up the merchandise’s perceived worth was a very good contact.
3. Showcase Buyer Evaluations
Up to now, we’ve seen manufacturers leveraging GIFs to advertise new arrivals or discounted merchandise, which is the frequent method to utilizing GIFs in emails.
One other means, which Hollister expertly leverages, is utilizing a GIF to spotlight buyer evaluations. In a current e-mail, the model featured a jigsaw-like GIF, selling its bestsellers, full with testimonials.
The testimonials, largely praising the supplies the model makes use of, vary from informative and useful (“Ridiculously comfy”) to memorable and humorous, “The fabric is so comfortable I simply wish to rub my face on it.”
Including the customer’s location, in addition to 5 stars (maybe to show social proof), provides to conveying the model is preferred, identified, and trusted by a far-reaching fanbase.
4. Create Urgency
It’s no secret that urgency drives individuals to behave. If there’s restricted availability or a finite window to snag a discount, we will’t assist however take motion.
In our analysis from 1+ billion popup periods, we discovered that popups with a countdown timer (8.07 %) convert higher than campaigns with no countdown timer (3.79 %) by 112.93 %.
It’s no shock, then, that emails that talk urgency — by copy and even higher, a countdown timer — are inclined to carry out effectively at driving patrons to take motion.
In a current e-mail from Brooklinen, the model leveraged a GIF of a clock counting down to indicate the tip of a promotion to get a free candle with orders over $150+.
Mattress Bathtub & Past, against this, leverages a GIF of half a clock — maybe to emphasise how restricted the time actually is — to drive additional urgency for its day by day deal.
Though each of the above examples aren’t counting right down to a deadline, the GIF mixed with compelling copy is a intelligent technique to drive potential prospects to take motion.
5. Enhance E-mail Engagement
Many manufacturers leverage GIFs as an afterthought, a method of possibly getting amusing or two. One of the best manufacturers, although, leverage GIFs as a method of driving engagement.
Listed below are 3 ways to do this.
a. Pull the Reader Down the E-mail
Copywriter Joseph Sugarman as soon as wrote, “Your readers ought to be so compelled to learn your copy that they can’t cease studying till they learn all of it as if sliding down a slippery slide.”
Whereas Sugarman’s axiom was written with adverts in thoughts, inviting the reader to maintain studying is particularly related to e-mail advertising campaigns.
Gone are the times of getting one name to motion (CTA) on the backside of an e-mail. Immediately, e-commerce emails, particularly, have a number of CTAs, every pertaining to totally different gives at totally different worth factors.
Writing magnetic copy is one technique to pull the reader down an e-mail. One other, as Sweet Membership has found, is utilizing a GIF to direct the reader down the e-mail.
The e-mail, selling free transport and 50 % off all purchases, leverages a GIF of Swedish fish “swimming” right down to a name to motion to “Store.”
The accompanying pun-based copy (“This technique to the candy life”) cleverly spaced out helps to additional information the reader down the e-mail and hopefully, make a purchase order.
b. Make Your Emails Interactive
One technique to interact the reader, as we noticed within the above instance from Sweet Membership, is utilizing GIFs to tug the reader down an e-mail. One other ingenious means is to make the GIF interactive.
In a current e-mail Seray discovered throughout her analysis into humorous e-mail examples, Shinesty invited its readers to reply questions within the model of Who Desires to Be a Millionaire?
After clicking a solution, no matter whether or not it was appropriate, the model redirected you to a product web page selling its face masks assortment, together with these featured within the e-mail.
One other means Shinesty makes use of GIFs to drive engagement is by opening an data hole on the backside of every of its emails. Oftentimes, the model will shut its emails with a cryptic headline and GIF as with the instance beneath.
When clicked, the model redirected you to the product web page for the product talked about above within the e-mail, serving as a ultimate reminder to take a look at its merchandise.
c. Create Highly effective CTAs
While you consider a name to motion, you have a tendency to think about both an anchor, that’s, a hyperlinked phrase, or a button (as is usually the case with e-commerce emails).
One model that goes past that’s Tarte, who, in a current cart restoration e-mail for contour concealer, used a GIF name to motion, flashing the phrase, “Okay. I Need It.”
Writing a compelling name to motion is highly effective. However whenever you add a button, and make that button a GIF, it’s laborious to not ignore, and extra importantly, click on.
Conclusion
GIFs are one among many instruments and media sorts you need to use to jazz up your emails, promote your merchandise, and compel readers to take motion.
With Drip’s highly effective advertising automation platform, you may unlock a wealth of options that can assist you design lovely, high-converting emails time after time.
Select from 50+ professionally designed, ecommerce-friendly templates—then customise to your coronary heart’s content material by syncing your model emblem, colours, fonts, and extra. And perceive what resonates finest along with your viewers by testing as much as 4 content material variations at a time.
See what Drip can do on your e-mail advertising campaigns by signing up on your 14-day free trial right now.
