The gif! It’s one of the best inventions of the internet-meme era. Gifs are a short animation that uses photo and video to create an image that goes through several frames in just a couple seconds. Remember when images were just plain old photos? Now they move! It seems pretty magical.
Gifs are incredibly effective for businesses because they breathe new life into visual campaigns. Halfway between a photo and a video, a gif is a great way to get a message across. You can use them to react to your customers who post on social media, or as part of your marketing campaigns. This post goes over effective strategies for using gifs, and how to make and upload one into a MailChimp email.
People love gifs for a few reasons. They’re more visually engaging than a photograph, take less space and time than a video, and can be used to tell different kinds of stories. Here are a few ways companies are using gifs to get a point across in an email.
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BONOBOS uses the traditional announcement format in their email, with simple block letters that just say NEW. But they’ve added coloured patterns in the back (presumably some of which are featured in their new line). This simple movement makes the viewer want to watch all the way through for several seconds, giving them time to consider going to BONOBOS’ website rather than deleting the email right away.
P.S., notice the little pointer that pops up at the bottom? That’s a subtle symbol showing the viewer that they can click on the gif and get to their newly-announced collection.
National Express made a gif that does the same thing. Before it was a simple but strong image that made their current deal clear. The fact that they’ve turned it into a gif, with the “Now” sign flashing, makes the viewer realise that the sale is very current (and therefore probably won’t be available later on).
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Pass-Port sent us an email that was almost all just this one gif. But that’s fine, because it says a ton but manages to keep it simple. They’ve simply put what seems like their whole collection in one gif, moving in rapid succession from one frame to the next. Not only does it show a whole lot more product photos than they would have been able to in another format, it almost replicates the feeling of being in a club or other fast-moving and fun environment. Showing off products? Check. Branding? Check. All in one gif.
Kate Spade has a similar concept. They’ve announced a new product line, but use a gif to show all the variations instead of just choosing one. This is a great tactic because they can catch the attention of a lot of their fans without having to know each one’s favourite colour. If they had just sent out a photo of the black one, which may be their best selling one, anyone who is really bored by neutral colours would look at it and be uninterested. If they only put the bright pink bag, it’s likely that they’d turn off quite a few of their customers. Instead, they have put three colours that all appeal to different shoppers.
Gifs are awesome for showing off your collection and giving a particular impression of your brand, rather than just telling people how great you are. They’re also extremely helpful if you want to show tutorials or point out directions.
How To Insert And Use Animated Gifs In Email Newsletters
Mailchimp is good at using gifs to quickly show people step-by-step tutorials, and you can do the same for your company, whatever kind of company it is.
This gif from West Elm is one of my favourites. They just show their lamp collection turning on and off. We all know what a lamp does. It’s not a revalation. But on a product page, we’d likely only see an out-of-use lamp. By animating their products, they’re showing us what they’re meant to do in a way that’s visually appealing but not too jarring.
Many pros use Adobe photoshop to make gifs by adding layers on top of one another that are then transformed into an animation.
Inspiring Animated Newsletter Gifs To Boost Your Email Marketing
If you don’t have the software, knowledge or time there are plenty of free ways to shortcut a gifmaker. From a computer, the two easiest are probably the Giphy gif maker tool and the Gifmaker.me tool. If you’re on your phone, you can film something and turn it into a gif right away with Boomerang.
You’ll have to collect all the images you want to use and upload them, put them in the right order and hit the animate button. You can also upload video to take a segment of it for a gif, or a combination of pictures and video. If you need to design something instead of upload a photo, you can do that for free online using a service like PicMonkey.
Because gifs can be pretty big file sizes, you should see how fast it takes to load and if it can be uploaded at all to your email client. An easy way to make a finished gif load faster is with an online compressor like ImageOptim
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There are So.Many.Gifs already out there, that someone might have made something that works perfectly for you. If you’re announcing your own products, obviously you should make your own. But if you want to add a gif to show off an emotion or reaction, go to giphy and search.
MailChimp even has their own in-house section on giphy, with reaction gifs they’ve made themselves. They’re awesome and made to be used by you (yes, you).
You can also upload or add images through the content manager. Click on any block of content when you’re designing your email campaign, and click “add content”. This takes you to the content manager, where you can upload and insert your gif.
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Gifs are particularly effective when you make them click-able. It’s kind of like when you see something shiny - you want to touch it (I swear it’s not just me). Gifs are so visual, that people are inclined to click on them.
You can add a link that takes people straight from your gif to your product pages. From the edit screen on MailChimp, you can add a URL for your gif. (You should also be doing this for all of your photos, too).
We love helping people make their email content more engaging and professional. And hey, gifs are just the best. If you want more information, contact .Animated Newsletter GIFs are popping up everywhere in email marketing to catch attention and drive sales. In this post we dive into how you can use GIFs to attract attention to your products and services online – via your email newsletter.
Best Practices For Including Animated Gifs In Emails
Animated GIFs are popular on websites, social media, messaging apps and more. Adding animation into static publications using GIFs, can be very engaging. We don’t expect to see movement, so a simple GIF will turn our heads!
It also holds our attention for longer so we stay “in” the email. We just can’t resist watching until they finish. They’re also short, which means we are more likely to look at them, making them an attractive addition to emails, websites and social media posts.
In this post, we’ve rounded up some great examples of animated newsletter GIFs to inspire you and also give you ideas for creating your own with Easil’s GIF Maker.
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The beauty of using GIFs in emails lies in the fact that they catch attention and draw us in. They’re also visual and help to tell a story or explain something.Guess what else? Not many marketers are using GIFs in their email marketing. Which helps you to stand out if you do!
Announcing a retail sale or offer is a match made in heaven when you use GIFs. They catch the eye and draw us in to see what you have to share.
HOT TIP: It doesn’t have to be the text that changes. Changing the graphic and keeping the text static, draws the eye in!
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Here’s another example from T2, announcing their Tea Frenzy with this colorful GIF animation. Notice they have added scarcity by ensuring the date the offer closes is up front and center:
Having a birthday? Celebrating a milestone?Maybe you can combine a celebration for your business with an offer and share it with your customers! Invite them to celebrate (and benefit) by having Free Shipping for a day, like Mecca did:
We love how Mecca have created a subtle effect by increasing then decreasing the size of graphics to create a popping effect against the brightly colored background.
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In the following e-newsletter example, iSubscribe again use the effect of keeping text in place, while animating around it. This simple animation in their newsletter highlights iSubscribe’s upcoming “Flash Sale”
We love this example of how to use Animated Newsletter GIFs from Marcs. With a simple animation, the finished GIF transitions through multiple color options of the same product.
The good news? We’ve got you covered for creating GIFs. Easil’s GIF Maker is super easy to use for non-designers, and allows you top create quality GIFs
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