GIF Help and GIF Fallbacks in Outlook Emails

Your electronic mail designer or electronic mail advertising and marketing colleague has approached you with a request: they need to embody an animated GIF of their subsequent electronic mail. Good! Graphics Interchange Codecs (GIFs) are an simple means of including one thing enjoyable to your digital advertising and marketing.

So what’s the roadblock? Properly, not all electronic mail shoppers, like Microsoft Outlook, totally assist GIFs after they render your emails. Let’s check out why you need to use GIFs in your emails, which electronic mail shoppers assist GIFs, and the way to make sure a great inbox expertise – even in Outlook.

Why ought to I exploit animated GIFs in my emails?

Massive manufacturers are utilizing GIFs to create efficient electronic mail campaigns. We’ve mentioned supercharging your electronic mail campaigns with photos and a few finest practices. However GIFs go above and past your common static picture. 

GIFs are an animated lossless format with an 8-bit colour palette. They’re nice for showcasing a number of merchandise utilizing much less room or for calling consideration to necessary data utilizing animation. That mentioned, GIF recordsdata are additionally fairly giant, and their 8-bit palette means you possibly can anticipate some colour discount.

Listed below are some advantages of utilizing GIFs in your emails:

Give your electronic mail added character

If plain textual content emails are the usual for boring, animated GIFs and movies lie on the opposite finish of the spectrum. Don’t be afraid to make use of a GIF to loosen up your electronic mail template or add a bit additional pizzazz. We’d advocate sticking to 1 per electronic mail, although – you need to use GIFs tastefully and never overwhelm your subscribers.

Exchange movies that particular electronic mail shoppers don’t assist

Not all shoppers assist electronic mail GIFs, and never all shoppers assist movies in emails. Take a look at the necessities for every consumer and see if a GIF may resolve your video points.

Get your reader’s consideration – quick 

We’re used to the social media onslaught, and our consideration spans are often one Tik-Tok video or Twitter GIF lengthy. Utilizing a GIF in your electronic mail advertising and marketing is a robust method to seize your reader’s consideration, even when their eyes glaze over at your intelligent copy.

Stand out from the gang

Any electronic mail marketer will inform you the key sauce to click-throughs and conversion charges is getting your person’s consideration and maintaining it. Use GIFs creatively in your electronic mail template to develop your visible model id and differentiate your electronic mail out of your rivals.

Swap it up

At all times sticking to the identical electronic mail designs? Design new electronic mail templates with GIFs to supply entrepreneurs with completely different choices for his or her campaigns.

However earlier than we run away with this, keep in mind: not all electronic mail shoppers assist GIFs.

Which electronic mail shoppers assist GIFs?

Most electronic mail shoppers assist using GIFs. As the newest from Can I E-mail reveals us, solely sure variations of Outlook are problematic and have partial assist.

That’s proper. Desktop variations of Outlook are the would-be downside youngster for GIF-support in emails since Microsoft Outlook desktop purposes from 2007 and after use Microsoft Phrase to render HTML emails. Actually, the desktop variations of Outlook 2007+ solely show the primary body of a GIF. With none animation, that just about defeats the aim of a GIF. Outlook 2019 will play an animated GIF as soon as. Then, it shows a play button over the picture, which subscribers can click on to play it once more.

As well as, animated GIF photos are already supported in Outlook’s cellular apps and their webmail consumer, Outlook.com. Microsoft notes the next for Outlook variations with GIF assist:

• GIFs play routinely. Looping GIFs play 3 times after which pause. Customers can manually click on them to replay.
• There aren’t any file measurement limitations for animated GIF recordsdata.
• Animations are enabled by default however will be turned off within the person’s Outlook settings.

GIF fallbacks to your Outlook subscribers

GIFS are nice for electronic mail advertising and marketing, and your entrepreneurs are clamoring for them. Only one snag: your electronic mail recipients use a model of Outlook which doesn’t totally assist GIFs. 

Notice: None of those options really permit you to work round Outlook’s lack of GIF assist, however they provide you a method to create efficient emails that are the same-same-but-different variations of their GIF-supported counterparts.

1. Use the primary body of your GIF

Ensure that your call-to-action (CTA), or a very powerful data, is on the primary body of the GIF. That’s probably the most generally supplied recommendation for coping with electronic mail shoppers which don’t assist GIFs.

It’s not unhealthy recommendation, and it doesn’t require a lot additional work in your half, however it’s extremely limiting and offers your subscribers a sub-par person expertise. Use this in a pinch, however your customers deserve higher!

If you happen to select this feature, what you need to keep away from is an ugly first body. When your animated GIF begins with clean white house, that’s what subscribers will see. If somebody is making an ungainly face within the first body, your electronic mail shall be awkward too.

2. Use conditional code to satisfy your subscribers’ electronic mail consumer specs

One other resolution is that you could goal subscribers who use GIF-supporting electronic mail shoppers in addition to those that don’t. 

Use conditional code to point out GIF-supporting electronic mail shoppers your animated GIF whereas offering non-GIF-supporting shoppers with a static picture that gives the identical data, look, and really feel as your animation. The conditional reveals Outlook desktop shoppers the static fallback picture whereas all different subscribers see your GIF. 

To take action, create a brand new message and embody the next code:

<!--[if !mso]><!-->

<img class="outlookcomIMG" src="https://www.emailonacid.com/weblog/article/email-development/gifs-and-outlook-what-can-we-do/ANIMATED.gif">

<!--<![endif]-->

<!--[if gte mso 9]>

<img src="STATIC.jpg">

<![endif]-->

Now, nearly all of your Corgi-loving subscribers will see an animated GIF like this:

However subscribers viewing the e-mail on desktop variations of Outlook see the static fallback picture you outlined:

Conditional code permits for a extra focused expertise with out compromising the design or selection of a GIF in your electronic mail advertising and marketing marketing campaign. Discover out extra about concentrating on Outlook with conditional formatting on Stack Overflow

Testing GIFs in E-mail on Acid

Whenever you view electronic mail previews throughout electronic mail testing in E-mail on Acid, take into account that our previews are static screenshots of your marketing campaign. Which means you received’t see any animations in motion. However it is possible for you to to see if the GIF is displaying. 

Odds are, the screen-capture course of will seize GIFs in mid-animation, however relaxation assured that is completely regular. It means they’re animating simply high-quality! If you happen to use the conditional code above, you’ll see the Outlook previews exhibiting the static picture you selected for subscribers who don’t have GIF assist.

If you happen to don’t set a fallback picture, you should utilize E-mail on Acid’s Picture Validation options to set the primary body of your GIF. That means, you keep away from having one thing blurry or awkward seem in some Outlook inboxes.

Don’t hesitate to attain out if you happen to want extra assist. 

This text was up to date on Might 3, 2022. It was first printed in September of 2018.

Creator: The E-mail on Acid Staff

The E-mail on Acid content material crew is made up of digital entrepreneurs, content material creators, and straight-up electronic mail geeks.

Join with us on LinkedIn, observe us on Fb, and tweet at @EmailonAcid on Twitter for extra candy stuff and nice convos on electronic mail advertising and marketing.

Creator: The E-mail on Acid Staff

The E-mail on Acid content material crew is made up of digital entrepreneurs, content material creators, and straight-up electronic mail geeks.

Join with us on LinkedIn, observe us on Fb, and tweet at @EmailonAcid on Twitter for extra candy stuff and nice convos on electronic mail advertising and marketing.