Your e-mail designer or e-mail advertising and marketing colleague has approached you with a request: they need to embrace an animated GIF of their subsequent e-mail. Good! Graphics Interchange Codecs (GIFs) are an simple approach of including one thing enjoyable to your digital advertising and marketing.
So what’s the roadblock? Properly, not all e-mail shoppers, like Microsoft Outlook, totally assist GIFs once they render your emails. Let’s check out why you need to use GIFs in your emails, which e-mail shoppers assist GIFs, and the way to make sure an excellent inbox expertise – even in Outlook.
Why ought to I take advantage of animated GIFs in my emails?
Huge manufacturers are utilizing GIFs to create efficient e-mail campaigns. We’ve mentioned supercharging your e-mail campaigns with pictures and a few finest practices. However GIFs go above and past your common static picture.
GIFs are an animated lossless format with an 8-bit coloration palette. They’re nice for showcasing a number of merchandise utilizing much less room or for calling consideration to necessary info utilizing animation. That mentioned, GIF recordsdata are additionally fairly giant, and their 8-bit palette means you may anticipate some coloration discount.
Listed here are some advantages of utilizing GIFs in your emails:
Give your e-mail added character
If plain textual content emails are the usual for boring, animated GIFs and movies lie on the opposite finish of the spectrum. Don’t be afraid to make use of a GIF to loosen up your e-mail template or add slightly additional pizzazz. We’d suggest sticking to 1 per e-mail, although – you need to use GIFs tastefully and never overwhelm your subscribers.
Substitute movies that particular e-mail shoppers don’t assist
Not all shoppers assist e-mail GIFs, and never all shoppers assist movies in emails. Take a look at the necessities for every consumer and see if a GIF would possibly resolve your video points.
Get your reader’s consideration – quick
We’re used to the social media onslaught, and our consideration spans are often one Tik-Tok video or Twitter GIF lengthy. Utilizing a GIF in your e-mail advertising and marketing is a strong technique to seize your reader’s consideration, even when their eyes glaze over at your intelligent copy.
Stand out from the gang
Any e-mail marketer will inform you the key sauce to click-throughs and conversion charges is getting your consumer’s consideration and protecting it. Use GIFs creatively in your e-mail template to develop your visible model identification and differentiate your e-mail out of your opponents.
Change it up
All the time sticking to the identical e-mail designs? Design new e-mail templates with GIFs to offer entrepreneurs with completely different choices for his or her campaigns.
However earlier than we run away with this, bear in mind: not all e-mail shoppers assist GIFs.
Which e-mail shoppers assist GIFs?
Most e-mail shoppers assist using GIFs. As the most recent from Can I E-mail exhibits us, solely sure variations of Outlook are problematic and have partial assist.
That’s proper. Desktop variations of Outlook are the would-be drawback baby for GIF-support in emails since Microsoft Outlook desktop purposes from 2007 and after use Microsoft Phrase to render HTML emails. In reality, the desktop variations of Outlook 2007+ solely show the primary body of a GIF. With none animation, that just about defeats the aim of a GIF. Outlook 2019 will play an animated GIF as soon as. Then, it shows a play button over the picture, which subscribers can click on to play it once more.
As well as, animated GIF pictures are already supported in Outlook’s cellular apps and their webmail consumer, Outlook.com. Microsoft notes the next for Outlook variations with GIF assist:
- GIFs play routinely. Looping GIFs play thrice after which pause. Customers can manually click on them to replay.
- There aren’t any file dimension limitations for animated GIF recordsdata.
- Animations are enabled by default however could be turned off within the consumer’s Outlook settings.
GIF fallbacks on your Outlook subscribers
GIFS are nice for e-mail advertising and marketing, and your entrepreneurs are clamoring for them. Only one snag: your e-mail recipients use a model of Outlook which doesn’t totally assist GIFs.
Be aware: None of those options truly mean you can work round Outlook’s lack of GIF assist, however they offer you a technique to create efficient emails that are the same-same-but-different variations of their GIF-supported counterparts.
1. Use the primary body of your GIF
Be certain that your call-to-action (CTA), or an important info, is on the primary body of the GIF. That’s probably the most generally supplied recommendation for coping with e-mail shoppers which don’t assist GIFs.
It’s not unhealthy recommendation, and it doesn’t require a lot additional work in your half, but it surely’s extremely limiting and offers your subscribers a sub-par consumer expertise. Use this in a pinch, however your customers deserve higher!
When you select this feature, what you need to keep away from is an ugly first body. When your animated GIF begins with clean white area, that’s what subscribers will see. If somebody is making an ungainly face within the first body, your e-mail will probably be awkward too.
2. Use conditional code to satisfy your subscribers’ e-mail consumer specs
One other answer is you can goal subscribers who use GIF-supporting e-mail shoppers in addition to those that don’t.
Use conditional code to indicate GIF-supporting e-mail shoppers your animated GIF whereas offering non-GIF-supporting shoppers with a static picture that gives the identical info, look, and really feel as your animation. The conditional exhibits Outlook desktop shoppers the static fallback picture whereas all different subscribers see your GIF.
To take action, create a brand new message and embrace the next code:
<!--[if !mso]><!-->
<img class="outlookcomIMG" src="https://www.emailonacid.com/weblog/article/email-development/gifs-and-outlook-what-can-we-do/ANIMATED.gif">
<!--<![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]>
<img src="STATIC.jpg">
<![endif]-->
Now, nearly all of your Corgi-loving subscribers will see an animated GIF like this:
However subscribers viewing the e-mail on desktop variations of Outlook see the static fallback picture you outlined:
Conditional code permits for a extra focused expertise with out compromising the design or selection of a GIF in your e-mail advertising and marketing marketing campaign. Discover out extra about focusing on Outlook with conditional formatting on Stack Overflow
Testing GIFs in E-mail on Acid
While you view e-mail previews throughout e-mail testing in E-mail on Acid, remember that our previews are static screenshots of your marketing campaign. Which means you received’t see any animations in motion. However it is possible for you to to see if the GIF is displaying.
Odds are, the screen-capture course of will seize GIFs in mid-animation, however relaxation assured that is completely regular. It means they’re animating simply wonderful! When you use the conditional code above, you’ll see the Outlook previews displaying the static picture you selected for subscribers who don’t have GIF assist.
When you don’t set a fallback picture, you should utilize E-mail on Acid’s Picture Validation options to set the primary body of your GIF. That approach, you keep away from having one thing blurry or awkward seem in some Outlook inboxes.
Don’t hesitate to attain out in case you want extra assist.
This text was up to date on Might 3, 2022. It was first printed in September of 2018.
Writer: The E-mail on Acid Workforce
The E-mail on Acid content material staff is made up of digital entrepreneurs, content material creators, and straight-up e-mail geeks.
Join with us on LinkedIn, comply with us on Fb, and tweet at @EmailonAcid on Twitter for extra candy stuff and nice convos on e-mail advertising and marketing.
Writer: The E-mail on Acid Workforce
The E-mail on Acid content material staff is made up of digital entrepreneurs, content material creators, and straight-up e-mail geeks.
Join with us on LinkedIn, comply with us on Fb, and tweet at @EmailonAcid on Twitter for extra candy stuff and nice convos on e-mail advertising and marketing.
