Ever since digital content has become popular, most if not all marketing content has become much more visual. According to research by the Content Marketing Institute, 73% of content creators plan to prioritize creating more engaging content this year, while 55% plan to prioritize creating visual content. Blog posts with images see much higher engagement than those without. So, it’s no surprise that more and more people prefer emails with visual content as well. However, these days we have so many visual content options to choose from, where do we start? How can you be sure you’re using the right one? Well, today we are going to go over the most popular forms of visual content used in emails to help you choose.
Image
Usually photographs, brand logo, and product shots. Static images are good for showing off a product or an idea. For example, shoe store can display a photo of a model wearing their shoes to display their product. Or, a sporting goods store could show an image of kids playing soccer to advertise their soccer gear. ELF Cosmetics uses a static image in their promotional email campaign.
Video
Videos are useful for introducing a product or service. Many videos show a problem and then show a solution that the product or service can offer. There are many different types of video that can enhance your email campaign including: how-to videos, explainer videos, demonstrations, testimonials, animated, or live-action. It’s important to note that some email clients won’t play an embedded video in an email, so you will need to link out to your video. An effective way to do this is by taking a screenshot from your video that links to the video itself. Blogilates includes a button that says “Watch It Now” with a video screenshot which links to their YouTube page where you can watch more of their videos.
GIFs
GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format, AKA a moving image. Using GIFs in email campaigns are great because they don’t take up much space, they’re simple yet eye-catching, and they can tell a story or demonstrate something more easily than a still image. GIFs are very popular amongst email marketers. Size matters when it comes to GIFs. It is recommended to keep emails under 125KB in size. If it is bigger than that, the GIF may not load completely, causing it to freeze or not load at all. Here’s a GIF that Spaceland, a local Los Angeles venue, used to advertise their upcoming shows.
It’s important to remember that many email clients do not display visual content by default, but don’t let that get you down. Pick a type of visual content that best fits your email marketing and test it out. Make sure the visuals load and display correctly and that they are responsive to different kinds of devices. However, as much as we encourage using visual content in your email, don’t go overboard. Try to limit the visual content – use one of the above, not all three. Don’t overwhelm. If your email has too many images, it could get marked as spam. If you’re interested in starting an email campaign, call US Data Corporation at (888) 578-3282.