10 GIFS That Can Replace Most of Your Emails
Don’t feel like typing that email? A GIF will probably work better anyways. No seriously.
If you’ve ever worked with me, there’s pretty much a 100% chance you’ve received an email that contained a GIF. The GIF was either hyperlinked from the text to highlight a particular point (“Nice work! That’s a catchy title!”) or embedded straight in the email in place of text (See above).
Why do I do something that, at the surface, seems pretty unprofessional? Well, the full explanation can wait for another article. For now, let’s just say GIFs are handy because:
- They can convey expressions/reactions/emotions text cannot
- They say what it would take 10x as many words to say
- They will make your recipient smile
Over the years, I’ve created a handful of GIFs that I send most frequently. They’ve become sort of “visual canned responses” that save me the time of typing out full messages.
They come in handy for me on a daily basis so I figured I’d share them with you! Oh, and a quick note: if you’ve never embedded a GIF in an email before, here is a helpful how-to.
When Somebody Asks for a File
It seems like a half dozen times a day I receive an email asking for a particular file or folder. Attaching a file is easy, but adding the obligatory “Here is your file! Let me know….” copy can be annoying. Try using one of these GIFS instead:
When Somebody Asks for a link
Sometimes people will ask for links to larger files or a particular live webpage or asset. In that situation, I find these to be very helpful:
When You Need Feedback on Something
Asking for feedback or thoughts is pretty common in most positions, especially a marketing one like mine. If you need the approval of somebody who has a pretty full plate, asking with the GIF below can brighten their day and move you to the front of the queue.
When That Feedback is Late
Even with the best GIFs, sometimes feedback or projects slip through the cracks. Asking for an update can feel pushy, so sometimes I just use the GIF below as a playful nudge.
When There’s Too Much Feedback
On the other end of the spectrum, sometimes there is too much feedback and too many cooks in the kitchen. Sometimes this GIF is a good way to straighten out your stakeholders, but this one is high in snark factor so use VERY warily.
When There’s Email Confusion
We all know email is a perfect communication medium right? Yeah… In the even that an email thread results in no clear action steps or division of work, this GIF is an easy way to ask for clarity.
When Conference Calls Happen…
We’ve all been there. Conference calls are a mess.
When Somebody Compliments Your GIFs
GIFs are still incredibly novel, so there’s a high likely hood of you getting some nice compliments on your mad GIFing skills. When that happens, you can accept the praise graciously… or this way:
