Seems GIFs aren’t only for reacting to tweets — they’re additionally a improbable approach to drive engagement in your electronic mail advertising and marketing.
There are many manufacturers driving eye-catching outcomes through the use of GIFs in emails. As an example, tech big Dell ran a GIF-centered electronic mail marketing campaign that, when in comparison with quarterly benchmarks, delivered a:
- 42 % improve in click on price
- 103 % improve in conversion price
- 109 % improve in income
So it’s no shock that over half of entrepreneurs use animated GIFs in emails at the very least among the time.
Taken with becoming a member of them? You’re in the best place. On this article, I’ll clarify methods to put GIFs in emails, speak via 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 methods to add GIFs in emails, you is perhaps 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 price or ship income via 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 attention-grabbing by including a component of movement to in any other case static content material.
2. Motion is Eye-Catching
Except you’re including dozens of animated GIFs to a single electronic mail, your GIF will probably stand out in opposition to the remainder of the (non-animated) content material. This helps GIFs to attract the attention. Use this strategy to information readers towards a very powerful stuff in your electronic mail — like a name to motion or promotion.
3. GIFs Work When Movies Don’t
Typically talking, if an electronic mail consumer helps embedded picture information (JPGs and PNGs), it’ll additionally help GIFs. Nonetheless, lots of purchasers — together with Apple Mail, Gmail, and Outlook — don’t help embedded video information. So in order for you a dynamic format with widespread help, GIFs are a secure wager.
4. Showcase A number of Merchandise in a Small Area
GIFs are like a flipbook, as a result of they’re made up of a lot of particular person photos spliced collectively. Which means you should utilize them to show a number of merchandise inside a single “ingredient”, with out taking on a ton of house in your electronic mail.
Learn how to Insert a GIF Into an E-mail
The method of inserting GIFs into emails is fairly easy, however varies relying in your electronic mail service supplier. Right here’s methods to do it with Drip:
- Click on Picture inside our electronic 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 appears.
For those who’re pleased with the outcomes, that’s all there may be to it. If not, return and mess around with the GIF location, vertical spacing, alignment, and dimension.
Learn how to Create Your Personal GIFs (6 GIF Creation Instruments)
Creating your individual GIFs is straightforward, with loads of instruments to do all of the onerous be just right for you. Listed here are a few of our favorites…
1. PixTeller
Worth: From free; paid plans begin at $7 monthly
PixTeller is an easy on-line picture and animation-maker that permits customers to create GIFs, logos, video thumbnails, and extra. All of it works straight out of your browser, without having to obtain any extra animation software program.
The animation editor makes it straightforward to tinker with particular person components of your animation, resembling altering the dimensions and place or including completely different filters.
When you’ve completed modifying, you’ll be able to 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 varied websites, together with Vimeo, YouTube, and—in fact—GIPHY itself. The software permits you to create GIFs and backdrops, then elevate them by including filters, stickers, and captions. It really works with varied file codecs, together with GIFs, JPGs, PNGs, and MP4s.
3. Gifs.com
Worth: From free; paid plans begin at $1.99 monthly
Large 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 via the platform may be as much as 15 seconds lengthy.
Whereas Gifs.com is a wonderful software, bear in mind that the free product tier provides watermarks to any GIFs you create and doesn’t help you embody premium results.
4. Ezgif
Worth: Free
A easy on-line GIF-maker and fundamental animated GIF editor, Ezgif helps you create, edit, and convert GIF, APNG, WebP, and AVIF animations. The platform additionally contains 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 customized watermarks, add social hyperlinks, and extra.
6. Superior Screenshot
Worth: From free; paid plans begin at $5 monthly
Superior Screenshot isn’t truly a GIF-maker, however you should utilize its screen-recording performance to seize video footage and convert it into GIF format utilizing among the different instruments on this listing.
The free plan permits you to report as much as 20 movies a month at 720p decision, with limitless recording size. Improve to a paid plan to unlock extra annotation instruments and improve the decision to 4k.
Learn how to Use GIFs in Emails Successfully (with Examples)
1. Promote Your Merchandise
Your market dictates the way you market your merchandise within the electronic mail. For those who’re in a distinct segment like cruelty-free make-up, values will take priority over, say, product advertising and marketing.
However should you’re in ecommerce — an trade that maybe is finest identified for its use of GIFs in its emails — then you’ll probably focus extra on persona and why the customer wants to purchase you from over a competitor.
Some of the frequent methods to make use of GIFs in advertising and marketing emails, based mostly on my analysis, is selling a number of merchandise directly. Listed here are 3 ways to do this utilizing actual manufacturers as examples.
a. Promote New Arrivals
When asking for a customer’s electronic mail deal with, it’s frequent for a lot of ecommerce web sites to phase new guests by gender, such because the under instance from Calvin Klein.
Nonetheless, manufacturers that don’t leverage electronic mail popups, resembling Ralph Lauren, use an opt-in type to gather emails, leading to emails to enchantment to each women and men.
To avoid wasting on its emails restricted actual property, Ralph Lauren not too long ago leveraged a GIF to advertise its new arrivals. The GIF featured a person and a girl modeling the brand new vary.
Previous Navy leveraged a GIF in a current electronic 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 submit concentrate on the product in query. However others, as with the instance under from Flat Tummy Co., concentrate on 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
Slightly than promote a spread of merchandise, it’s frequent to generally wish to promote one product, however showcase its vary in coloration. That’s precisely what Violet Gray did in a current electronic mail.
Whereas the opposite merchandise featured within the electronic mail had been promoted with photos, Violet Gray’s alternative of highlighting one in every of its objects with a GIF was sufficient to rivet my consideration and skim extra.
2. Present Merchandise in Motion
A typical finest follow 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 surroundings.
One model that goes past that finest follow is Sweaty Betty. In a current electronic mail selling its new gymnasium tools, the model used a GIF to showcase its gymnasium ball.
My favourite instance, although, belongs to one in every of our favourite manufacturers, Barkbox. From its copywriting to its unmistakable humor, the model all the time goes the additional mile, and its electronic mail advertising and marketing is not any exception.
In a current electronic mail selling a limited-time deal to assert a free splash pad, the model used a GIF to point out 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 Opinions
To this point, we’ve seen manufacturers leveraging GIFs to advertise new arrivals or discounted merchandise, which is the frequent strategy to utilizing GIFs in emails.
One other means, which Hollister expertly leverages, is utilizing a GIF to spotlight buyer evaluations. In a current electronic mail, the model featured a jigsaw-like GIF, selling its bestsellers, full with testimonials.
The testimonials, principally praising the supplies the model makes use of, vary from informative and useful (“Ridiculously comfy”) to memorable and humorous, “The fabric is so gentle I simply wish to rub my face on it.”
Including the customer’s location, in addition to 5 stars (maybe to reveal social proof), provides to conveying the model is favored, identified, and trusted by a far-reaching fanbase.
4. Create Urgency
It’s no secret that urgency drives folks to behave. If there’s restricted availability or a finite window to snag a cut price, 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 out a countdown timer (3.79 %) by 112.93 %.
It’s no shock, then, that emails that talk urgency — via copy and even higher, a countdown timer — are inclined to carry out properly at driving patrons to take motion.
In a current electronic mail from Brooklinen, the model leveraged a GIF of a clock counting down to indicate the top of a promotion to get a free candle with orders over $150+.
Mattress Tub & 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.
Despite the fact that each of the above examples aren’t counting right down to a deadline, the GIF mixed with compelling copy is a intelligent approach to drive potential clients to take motion.
5. Increase E-mail Engagement
Many manufacturers leverage GIFs as an afterthought, a way of perhaps getting fun or two. The very best manufacturers, although, leverage GIFs as a way of driving engagement.
Listed here are 3 ways to do this.
a. Pull the Reader Down the E-mail
Copywriter Joseph Sugarman as soon as wrote, “Your readers needs 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 very related to electronic mail advertising and marketing campaigns.
Gone are the times of getting one name to motion (CTA) on the backside of an electronic mail. At this time, e-commerce emails, specifically, have a number of CTAs, every pertaining to completely different provides at completely different worth factors.
Writing magnetic copy is one approach to pull the reader down an electronic 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 delivery 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 approach 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 approach to interact the reader, as we noticed within the above instance from Sweet Membership, is utilizing GIFs to drag the reader down an electronic mail. One other ingenious means is to make the GIF interactive.
In a current electronic mail Seray discovered throughout her analysis into humorous electronic 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 electronic 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 under.
When clicked, the model redirected you to the product web page for the product talked about above within the electronic mail, serving as a closing 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 consider 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 electronic 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 once you add a button, and make that button a GIF, it’s onerous to not ignore, and extra importantly, click on.
Conclusion
GIFs are one in every of many instruments and media varieties you should utilize to jazz up your emails, promote your merchandise, and compel readers to take motion.
With Drip’s highly effective advertising and marketing automation platform, you’ll be able to 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 brand, colours, fonts, and extra. And perceive what resonates finest together with your viewers by testing as much as 4 content material variations at a time.
See what Drip can do on your electronic mail advertising and marketing campaigns by signing up on your 14-day free trial immediately.
