Enabler provide best practice advice around utilising GIFs within your email marketing templates for your B2B and B2C email marketing communications.

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Quick Guide to GIFs In Emails

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The Graphics Interchange Format or GIF (although some people say ‘JIF’), turned the big 3-0 this year (2017), so we thought we’d say Happy Birthday – but now we feel old!

When someone says ‘GIF’ to me, it still conjures up images of 1980’s Space Invader icons waving their little pixelated arms, but now that we’re 30 years on, the GIF has taken on a new form and is slowly taking over the world of email campaigns.

A Brief History of GIF

As simplistic as the animated GIF once when the Space Invaders were all the rage, the GIF has now developed into something that doesn’t have to look so simplistic.  GIFs today are, as Daft Punk once said, are harder, better, faster, stronger. They have stood the test of time, and are now more detailed, bettered designed and better developed.  The GIF, simply put, is the underdog image-equivalent of Rocky Balboa, that always comes out fighting and on top.

GIF hasn’t always had the ring to itself when it comes to animated imagery.  Some early GIF contenders included MNG (Multiple Image Network Graphics) and APNG (Animated Portable Network Graphics).  Both used animated image graphics based around PNG, but were knocked out in the first round by development issues that hindered their progression.
Next on the scene was Adobe Flash, who went the full 12 rounds, threatening GIF’s title as the go-to animated image. Luckily for GIF however, Adobe Flash retired early due to security flaws and restricted mobile performance.

Today, GIF is being pitted against the new kid on the block – HTML5.  This newbie is the most current markup language that utilises new animated elements like the <video> tag for the display of short, silent, looping, moving picture files – examples of which can be found on Gfycat and Imgur.

However, even with this new contender, the GIF is still fighting strong after 30 years as one of, if not the most successful animated image, thanks not only to its versatility but also its accessibility.  You can find a GIF of almost anything, and with so many sites offering up high quality, easily downloadable and shareable GIFs (our personal favourite is giphy.com by the way), there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be using GIFs.

So Why Use GIF In Your Emails?

Over the years, the animated GIF naturally progressed out video games and into our emails. These little video gems act as the perfect format to capture someone’s attention within the inbox, as Dell discovered when they launched their XPS 12 Convertible Ultrabook™, using an animated GIF to show off it’s flip function.

In fact, an animated GIF incorporated into your emails can help increase click-through rates by up to 42%.

How Will You Use Yours?

Depending on your email content, GIFs can be utilised in a variety of ways: for fun, style or informative. Here’s some examples below:

Fun Promotions

One of the most ‘must-watch’ TV shows right now is the NETFLIX Original Series “Stranger Things”.  To promote the launch of the new season, Netflix used a creepy GIF in their email marketing timed perfectly with the show’s backdrop and released just before Halloween.

Another creepy example comes from Email Monks, who showcased a creative yet spooky CSS3 which featured an interactive GIF for their “Annabelle Creation” email, with clever animation, click response and some extra eerie added sound.

Style

Big brands like Nike are known for producing some very clean, stylish emails featuring  big images and subtle GIF animations.

Uber produced a simple but very effective looping GIF for their email marketing campaigns, featuring a great branding style combined with some simple animation.  Just goes to show that your GIFS don’t have to be hugely elaborate – sometimes clean and simple (if done right) can look stylish.

Informative

Show off their new VW Beetle, Lego used an animated GIF carousel within their email campaign, showcasing image comparisons, different viewpoints and workings of their beach bug. So remember, sometimes a simple carousel of images can be the most effective GIF, rather than something elaborately complicated.

Everyone loves a ‘How-To’ video, which is why the GIF in Harry’s Instagram email campaign is so effective, with its short run-through of their Instagram account featuring an interactive behind-the-scenes experience. Simple but informative.

So Now To The Eternal Debate…

Is GIF Pronounced With A Hard ‘G’ or Soft ‘G’? – that is the question.

Apparently the GIF developer, Steve Wilhite intended a soft G, saying it deliberately echoed the American Peanut Butter JIF. Personally I would say hard G, as the G does stand for ‘Graphics’ after all. Even the former President of the US, Barack Obama had his say on the matter:

“A GIF, I’m all on top of it. That is my official position”
Barack Obama

What Does The Future Hold For GIFs?

Brought up on the Netscape streets, the GIF fought it’s way through many a animated battle to become a legend graphic amongst its peers.  From kids to professional marketers, everyone loves using a GIF.  These little snippets of animation can capture your attention and your emotions in a way that a still JPEG just can’t – and it’s for that exact reason that email marketers love the GIF so dearly.  The GIF has adapted to its competitors to become the champion of the animated image, and just like the JIF/GIF debate, the GIF will be around for a long time to come.

So, with the festive holidays approaching, I will leave you with the full GIF movie of ELF.

Enjoy!

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Localisation in email marketing: the basics

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Did you know that more than 70% of the world’s internet users are not native English speakers? Or that 85% of internet users don’t purchase products unless the descriptions are provided for them in their native language? With statistics like these, it’s incredibly important to make sure you’re not only segmenting your emails properly but also making sure your customers receive your emails in a way they can digest.

It can seem daunting to think about getting the same campaign right in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Turkish or Chinese, but it’s important to get your head around how to do this and how to do it effectively – especially as studies have shown that it can have a direct impact upon ROI. Luckily, we’re here to help!

Adapting your email campaigns to accommodate different languages is just another way of making your emails accessible to your customers. The time and effort you put into making sure that your emails are mobile responsive and your CTA’s are clearly visible should be no different to the time you spend making sure your customers can read your emails… and that they make sense. It’s not simply a case of having a translator translate the emails word for word. You also have to consider how that would read back to someone who not only uses a different language but comes from a different culture to you.

Here’s an example. In this campaign, Ralph Lauren had to adapt the copy ‘CHRISTMAS EXPERIENCE’ in the English version into several different languages, including Turkish. Here is the top banner of the Turkish version.

You’ll see that they have used the word ‘KIŞ’ which means ‘Winter’. This is because Turkey is not a Christian country. What Ralph Lauren have done here is not only translated their email into the relevant language for the country it’s being sent to, but have also made it culturally relevant to the customers receiving it.

A key thing that Ralph Lauren did here was ask the question you should all be asking when marketing to a new country: ‘will they get it’? You need to ask this question no matter what area of marketing you’re in. What should the people in your emails be wearing that’s culturally relevant? What sort of language should you be using? What events should you be promoting? Not only this, but you’ll have to do it all whilst promoting the same product. So how can you approach this?

The first thing to do is look at managing your data. If you’ve already segmented your subscribers by language or country – great job, you’re halfway there! If not, you’ll need to focus on campaigns which survey your customers (for example, by using a simple preference centre) before you start sending localised campaigns. Having said this, there are ways to send localised campaigns without having perfect data lists.

Check out this campaign from Global Eyes Production. They used a GIF as the hero image of their campaign which scrolls through the different language options. It’s a simple message with the call to action to click on their language preference. This subsequently took the customer to a form where they could update their language preference.

The next thing to think about is exactly what content you’re going to have in your emails – specifically the copy. When translating from English to many other language s, you’ll find the amount of characters required in languages such as Spanish far surpass the requirement for the English language. This means you’ll need to keep an eye on the length of your subject lines and pre-headers, as well as the overall design and content length of your emails.

This also applies to CTAs. A call to action like ‘find an outlet store’ is short enough in English but in Spanish this becomes ‘Buscar una tienda outlet.’ Of course, you can always go down the route of using different copy for different languages.
You may also find you run into problems with character encoding. If you try and put an e acute (é) into HTML, it will often throw an error at you. There are a number of ways to get around this. Firstly, make sure you’re using UTF-8 character encoding where possible, and also make sure you’re using the correct codes for special characters.

Time zones are also something to bear in mind when sending worldwide emails. Just as working days in China won’t be the same as working days in the UK for obvious reasons, even countries in the EU can be a problem. Consider the Spanish working day, there’s usually a siesta break in the afternoon, so it’s always useful to consider this sort of information. Asking a native usually helps!

It’s also important to understand the legal side of sending. Laws around data and when you can and can’t send to customers vary in different countries . For example, in the US there’s the CAN-SPAM Act which will provide you with guidelines on when you can and can’t send. In Canada there’s the CASL, which is more strict on opt-in consent than other countries. The EU deals primarily with only emailing subscribers with which you hold an existing business relationship. Australia has a Spam Act, and China is definitely one to watch as it’s incredibly strict – especially when it comes to subject lines. It’s definitely worth looking into the laws of anywhere you’re planning on sending to before you do.

Finally, if you’re going to attempt any sort of email marketing strategy involving localisation, I implore you to make sure it runs through the rest of your marketing. For example, there’s nothing more frustrating than receiving an email in your native language, then clicking through to find a landing page that’s only in English.

Overall, localising your emails can be of great value to both you and your customers. Even just taking steps towards localising your emails can help you build richer data on your customers. This is a win-win situation for everyone. Customers will receive more targeted and relevant emails and this should, in turn, boost your results. So, if you’re going to attempt localisation in your emails remember to be legal, content clever, have a great translator, and be really consistent with the overall customer journey. Ciao!

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Top tips for using rich media in your email marketing

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Email marketing must be engaging. While you can achieve this through great copywriting, you can also enhance your email campaigns with attention-grabbing and interactive visuals. This is worth doing – as long as you get it right.

Often, companies make the mistake of putting rich media content into their emails with very little idea about how it will display on different email clients. Each email client has its own quirks and it’s important to understand these before sending out emails that only half your list will be able to appreciate.

 

Luckily, we’re here to help! Here’s the low down on when and when not to use rich media content in your emails…

GIFS: What are they?

Otherwise known as ‘Graphics Interchange Format’, they’ve been around since the 80’s, but weren’t widely used in email until much later. GIF supports both animated and static images and have been used extensively in email campaigns due to their wide support across browsers and email clients.

Why would you use them?

For starters, animated GIFs add an instant element of delight to any campaign, which typically is not possible with static email designs. They give the user a sense of excitement and can be useful to inject humour and showcase products. One brand who does this really well is Buzzfeed. They have embraced the use of GIF in their emails, especially in recent years. I receive a weekly email about cats from them which always features a funny cat GIF – I open it every single week and usually end up clicking through to the site as a result.

Another example is Sprout Social, who used an animated GIF to show off their latest functionality and interaction with their redesigned iPhone app. West Elm also used a clever GIF to display a selection of lamps; they used each frame to display a lamp turning on and off, it was really eyecatching.

How do they work?

GIFs operate on a frame-by-frame basis. To make one, you need to provide all the frames of your animation. Each frame is its own bitmap image, this means that the file size can get very large, very quickly which will cause loading problems in many email clients. With GIFs, the best thing to do is to use as few frames as possible to convey your message.

How do you create one?

There are many online gif creators, but if you want a slightly more technical approach, you can edit your images further in a programme like Adobe Photoshop and then create your frames through their timeline option.

Are there any limitations?

With anything technical, there are going to be limitations. Some email clients do not support GIF – for example, Outlook will freeze a GIF on its first frame upon arrivals in your inbox. The way to get around this is to make sure the first frame of your GIF is one you’re happy for your clients to see, or you could use dynamic content and segment your data into what clients they are using. This way, you could send your fancy GIFs to everyone using an email client that supports them and send a different static GIF/JPG/PNG to everyone else who wouldn’t be able to fully appreciate your GIF.

Here’s a handy infographic to show you which email clients support which functionality.

Video
Hosting video in email is a tricky business because two of the main email clients (Gmail and Outlook) don’t support video playback. This isn’t a reason to avoid using it altogether, as long as you are prepared to segment your data accordingly. There are also a number of ways to get around this and still give your customer an interactive experience… without your emails breaking.

1. You can include an image from your video and put a play button over the top so it looks like a video player. When your users click on the image they will be taken to a landing page where the video will play for them. This creates the illusion of video within an email without actually facing the potential breaks. It will save you time as you don’t have to segment your data by email client and you can rest easy that all your users will enjoy your email. It could look something like this (below).

2. Use a GIF. This is my favourite work around for video. It involves taking multiple screenshots of the video you are going to link to, and setting them up frame by frame with a play button over the top. The GIF will then scroll through the different screen shots giving the effect of a video playing. Ideally you would set it to loop so the effect was continuous while your customer viewed the email. Ralph Lauren have done some excellent work with these which you can view here.

Is your content responsive friendly?

Another thing to keep in mind when creating emails with rich media is how it will respond on mobile as well as desktop. With the rise in people opening emails on their mobiles, mobile design is more important than ever. There are a number of things you can do to content to make sure your users get the best experience.

Some brands choose to hide some content on mobile and keep the message as short as possible to avoid users having to scroll down the email. This can allow users to get to the call to action faster and avoid wandering attention spans. Other brands choose to stack images so content and images that were next to each other appear one after the other, as if in a list. Others use shrinking down which can work really well with images containing large text that could not be stacked but resolution will suffer with smaller images on mobile and in many cases it is better to hide these. You can use a combination of all of these things within one email, determined by your CSS (cascading style sheet).

So, for your next campaign why not try some of these methods? It can vastly improve user experience and make your emails the emails your customers look forward to receiving.

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