One small step for Outlook, one giant leap for B2B email

I was pleasantly surprised today to stumbled upon Kevin Mandeville’s tweet while scrolling through Twitter.
“Animated GIF support comes to Windows 10 Mail.” How amazing is that? It’s really the little things that make you happy.
Then again, it’s not really a little thing, is it?
Certainly not in the B2B industry which largely depends on Outlook.com & Office 365.
As Kevin mentions,
“Previously, Windows 10 Mail would show only the first frame of the animated GIF, which would appear as a static image.”
AKA, designers in the industry had to make sure that the first frame of an animation had all the necessary information in it, or that the animation didn’t actually hold any important information.
In lieu of those complications, and the fact that a large majority of the B2B audience is using some version of Outlook, clients typically chose to shy away from animated GIFs altogether.

Finally though, it looks like B2B email industry can rejoice and start to get excited about animated GIFs. (That’s GIF, by the way, as in “giftware”, not JIF as in.. “mom’s like you”)
So, what’s now?
Animated GIFs are 100% trending in consumer email, and there’s no reason why we can’t use them in the B2B industry.. Especially given this amazing bug fix.
Movement has the ability capture a user’s attention from the moment they open your email. Take a look at the emails below:

I’ll venture a guess that your eye (and attention) was drawn to the one on the left; the one with the animated GIF.
Let’s consider that proof that it works, and move on to 3 strategies for using animated GIFs in B2B email.
1. The ‘Simple but Effective’ Strategy

Sure, without the animations in the email everything would still make sense. Users could still read the message, and click the different buttons.
What the animated GIF does is add something visually different to your email. More than likely, it now stands out from the rest of the 700 emails the user received between the time they went home and came back to the office.
Give it a shot! Maybe even A/B test it if you have doubters in the room.
2. The ‘CTA Button’ Strategy

You can also use animated GIFs to draw attention to your CTAs.
Word to the wise here, remember what the end goal is; getting users to click. The animation shouldn’t get in the way of legibility, nor should it be too overwhelming. Think along the lines of a pulsing action, or as seen above, an animated highlight.
3. The ‘Product Demo’ Strategy

If you’re in the position where you can feature your product, do it. Show the user what they can do through the magic of an animated GIF. This doesn’t mean showcasing every part of your latest feature, after all, it’s not a video. Instead, create something that gets the point across and interests the user enough to click.
Invite them to learn more with the help of an animated product demo.
So, you see, that seemingly small bug fix actually breathes new life into the possibilities for B2B emails. Join the fight, help us make B2B email better.

Shameless Plug
If you’re attending #LitmusLive Boston next week, join me at 10:45 on Friday for “Catching Up With Consumer Trends: B2B Email Marketing”
