Thursday, 10 October 2013

Is Using An Animated GIF A Good Idea?

Posted by Unknown at 2:47 pm Labels: , , , , , ,
There are many arguments for and against using Animated GIF’s but as email clients have a lot of limitations an Animated GIF can be just the thing to make your email stand out.

We have listed some of the main pros and cons you need to consider before you get started:

The pros:
  • They are easy to create using Adobe Photoshop or Fireworks. There are also other free programs you can use such as 'Imgflip' or 'GifMaker'.
  • They attract the readers attention to a specific area of your email which can be an ideal way to get your call-to-action noticed.
  • They make great use of space as you can display multiple images within one area.
The cons:
  • If you use too many images then the file size can be large. This may put off those using a mobile as it may take too long to display.
  • Outlook Desktop will only display the first frame of your Animated Gif.
Although there are some cons of using an Animated GIF, we believe the pros outweigh them as Animated GIF's can be really effective. However, before you start to create your own you must consider the cons first, most importantly the first frame (image being displayed) needs to be eye catching and useful for those using Outlook Desktop. 

It is also good practice to provide a link to view your email in the browser, that way those using Outlook Desktop still have the option see your Animated GIF in its full glory.

Here are 3 examples of how Animated GIF’s can be used effectively:




As you can see from the 3 examples above, they are very simple but also very effective. They immediately attract your attention which forces you to read the caption being displayed. 

Hopefully this blog has given you an insight into how you can create some Animated GIF's of your own. If it has helped, then don't forget to share it by clicking here or join us on Facebook to let us know your opinion about using Animated GIF's.

It is also important to remember that the work doesn't stop once you click send. The next step is to check your Reports & Statistics to see how effective your Animated GIF actually was. You can even use our Heatmaps tool to see exactly where your subscribers have clicked within your email. 

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