Animated GIFs

Loosen up your email marketing campaigns with animated GIFs in order to get the attention of your subscribers. In this guide, we’ll give you the most important information for an optimal use of animated graphics (GIFs) in email marketing

A GIF (Graphics Interchange Format) is an image format. Besides the standard functionalities of similar formats (JPEG, PNG, etc.), it is possible to store several images within one file. If the respective client or other programs support the file format, the stored images will be displayed in a sequence, which produces an animated graphic. The sequences can not only be played once, but also repeated infinitely.

You can create animated GIFs, for example, in an image editing program such as Adobe Photoshop, as well as other ones that allow you to convert videos to animated graphics. Be sure to check the size of the file. It shouldn’t be too big to avoid long loading times.

Images get more attention than words. By using animated graphics, you can simply stand out from other email marketing campaigns in order to put your product or service in the subscribers‘ focus. Usually only a small movement is enough to loosen up an entire mailing. Effective animations can be created with a minimum of effort. For example, refer to a special offer in your newsletter or focus on important CTAs. More attention at the same time means higher click rates.

Animated graphics give you the opportunity to tell big stories even with limited space. There are plenty of possible applications. In addition to simple animations with small movements to increase attention, it is also possible to integrate more complex usage descriptions or other processes through simplified image sequences into your email marketing campaigns.

The eworx Marketing Suite supports GIFs in all areas of your email marketing software. This means, that you can use them not only in your newsletter template but also for creating forms, landing pages, etc. Create the animated graphic with your desired image editor and upload the .gif file to your media database. The image can be integrated as usual into your email marketing campaign. You can see the preview of your animated graphic already in the campaign editor.

Be sure of a meaningful and appropriate use of animated graphics in your email marketing campaigns. Use animations carefully and do not overload the mailings with too many movements or color changes. Think about where an animated graphic is worthwhile and how you can easily loosen up the campaign. Also, pay attention to the size of your image files. With complex sequences, many colors or a high resolution, the file size can easily take inappropriate dimensions. Particularly in the case of openings on mobile devices, big file sizes can cause very long loading times. Try to keep the file size to a minimum.

Animated GIFs can be displayed in almost all popular email clients – unfortunately, there are a few exceptions. We’ve summarized them here. However, in the use of animated graphics, as well as simple images, you have to make sure that the central message of your mailing is also communicated without the animation or the successful loading of the graphics – some of your subscribers will read your email without displaying images.

The good news is that animated GIFs are supported by most of the clients, so your email marketing campaigns will arrive as desired in your subscribers‘ inbox. The only exceptions are Outlook clients starting from the version 2007 and the Windows Phone 7 – all other desktop, webmail and mobile clients can successfully read and display integrated animations.

If a client does not support animated GIFs, the first frame (the first image of the sequence) is displayed as a static image in the email marketing campaign. So make sure that your campaign also works without the animation and the first picture of your graphic transports the most important information. Do not create dependencies on images within your mailings. Not all of your recipients load images, so you should also communicate the main information in the text.

In the eworx Marketing Suite statistics, you can get an overview of the used clients of your subscribers – we also evaluate the use in our regular email marketing research. Take a quick look at it and see how many of your subscribers can receive animated graphics. In the web version of the mailings, everyone receives the animated graphics correctly – irrespective of the used client.