Email marketing is a great way to promote your products and services to an ever-increasing audience. However, enticing subscribers to engage with your emails can be incredibly difficult, especially for small and medium-sized businesses. Sure, adding images to your email can help. Yet, since most companies do the same, your email will still struggle to encourage engagement.
That’s where GIFs come in! These animated images that repeat on a loop are beloved by people all over the world. But, if you’re still on the fence about integrating GIFs into your emails, we’ve got you covered.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at a few ways that GIFs can boost engagement for email marketing and figure out if they are truly worth your time.
They Are Attractive
Consumers who spend most of their days browsing through emails and staring at a screen will have the tendency to ignore still images. That’s because this form of content is easy to skip and can become boring quickly.
In contrast, the movement of GIFs makes them more interesting than static images. As a matter of fact, they are more likely to draw the attention of your consumers, increasing the chance that they’ll stop to check it out! And while they won’t guarantee a purchase, GIFs will at least ensure that people glance over your email a bit more than they would normally.
They Boost User Interaction
Convincing your consumers to interact with your email can be one of the hardest challenges that you might come across. But, as established previously, GIFs can make people check out the rest of your email too. GIFs also increase the likelihood that consumers will click on them or other elements such as links and forms.
For instance, your audience might open your email with the intent of deleting it afterwards. However, they’ll notice your engaging GIFs and feel the urge to investigate further. That will help get your foot in the door and give you an opportunity to turn leads into loyal customers.
They Help Showcase Your Products
Launching a new product might seem easy enough. After all, you just need to update your website and promotional materials and send a couple of emails. However, the most difficult part of product launches is drawing in the interest of your audience and turning them into customers. Fortunately, GIFs can help with this too!
Let’s assume that you want to market a new and innovative custom pen. What better way to do it than by adding in a GIF of someone using your product? Not only will the animated format captivate your audience, but it will also showcase the design and functionality of the pen.
In fact, GIFs are also perfect for showing people how to use products that are more complicated. So, as an example, think of items that involve complex use processes. A GIF is able to show people a quick step-by-step tutorial without taking up too much time. To put it simply, it’s much easier for people to pay attention to a couple of how-to GIFs than written instructions. That’s why, when it comes to emails, we advise all brands to replace their traditional, in-depth instructions with short yet useful GIFs.
They Can Create Hype
As noted earlier, GIFs can draw the attention of your recipients. Thus, they are a great way to create hype for future products and events. Think of content teasers, sales announcements, product releases, and similar marketing strategies.
It’s important to understand that consumers are bombarded with advertisements all day long. Therefore, you need to do your best to make yours stand out. Try to put a lot of emphasis on creating hype with short teases.
What’s also amazing about GIFs is that they are more memorable than still images. So, even if your recipients don’t immediately check out your website or buy a product, they will still remember your ad and come back to your brand later.
They Are Always Trendy
Trends are unpredictable and constantly changing. However, GIFs seem to last forever, only becoming more popular with each passing year. Actually, their success has pushed GIFs into all forms of media, from emails to social media and multiple areas of entertainment, especially those related to humour. As a result, if you want to capitalise on fads and make your company seem trendy, GIFs are the way to go!
They Provide Countless Creative Opportunities
Creating original content can be very challenging, especially when there are so many ideas out there. But, unlike traditional images and graphics, GIFs provide the perfect environment to showcase your creativity without having to spend money on full video commercials. Plus, if you attached a video to your email, few people would actually watch it.
Keep in mind that you need to create something unique for your consumers to stop and engage with your email. GIFs can add that special touch to your emails, particularly if you incorporate them in a fun and interesting way. You can even combine GIFs with other forms of media, as long as you don’t overcrowd your emails.
When Should I Use GIFs in Emails?
As with any marketing strategy, you need to tackle GIFs the right way. When you use them effectively, you’ll be able to engage and strengthen your connection with your audience. Here are a few types of emails that can make use of GIFs without feeling too out of place:
- Promotional emails
- Newsletters
- Discount emails
- Event invitations
- Subscription or purchase reminder emails
- Service announcement emails
But no matter which approach you choose, your goal should be to create interesting and appealing content for your email campaigns. Whether you send out newsletters or promotional emails, your visual content needs to be relevant, high-quality, and relatable.
Related content:
The Importance of Subject Lines in Email Marketing
Conclusion
Setting your company apart from your competitors can be hard. So why make it harder by relying on the same strategies used by other businesses? Instead, you should think outside the box and give modern forms of media like GIFs a shot.
Sure, it might take a while until you figure out their most effective usage. But once you do, you’ll be able to take your company to the next level and become a unique and beloved player in the industry!
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Elevate your email marketing with the power of promotional items brought to life through captivating GIFs! Your dynamic GIFs can feature a range of promotional products which includes printed notepads, novelties, and drawstring backpacks that will certainly grab attention, boost open rates, and drive click-throughs. Choose GoPromotional today to transform your email marketing and leave a lasting impression with promotional products and GIFs that truly shine. Give us a call at 0800 0148 970 or simply email us today.
