Most people know GIFs as images that “move”. While that’s true, it’s not completely accurate. GIF is a loss-less image format that supports both static and animated images. For those who are still not sure what a GIF is, look below.
Now that you’re familiar with GIFs, you are probably already thinking about cool ways to use them. Let’s take a look at real-life functional uses of GIFs in emails from some recognizable brands including Converse, Birchbox, and more.
WARNING
Before we get started, keep in mind that animated GIF support is pretty much universal across the major email clients… except, Outlook 2007, 2010 & 2013. In Outlook, only the first frame displays – which means that if your animation contains any important information, it has to feature on the first frame or risk being lost.
Real-life examples of GIFs in email campaigns
Converse Example
Converse used an animated GIF in this colorful and engaging email to announce their new Blank Canvas Monochromatic Collection. It’s an attention grabber that begs to be clicked on. It also gets the message across.
Birchbox Example
Birchbox uses an animated GIF to deliver an engaging experience highlighting items from their most recent sample box in an effort to get recipients to purchase the full-size product.
Lyft Example
Pictures are worth a thousand words. Animated GIFs are worth more. Lyft used animated GIFs to showcase their app’s new hot features.
Pandora Example
Pandora used a slick animated GIF when it came to promoting their new iWatch app. The cool thing about this email is it very simply states the key benefits of using the iWatch app and clearly showcases how the app works with an animated GIF.
Now that we got your brain flooded with GIFs ideas, feel free to use them in your TouchBasePro email campaigns. The cool thing about GIFs is that they are not just another gimmick that everyone on the internet uses to make silly jokes (actually they are), but they can be used in clever ways to convey your messages with minimum complexity. This ensures that your audience gets the message. We think that’s the most important thing.
