We’ve all seen the uptick in animation in email over the last few years. Maybe you’ve tried it yourself! And while it definitely looks amazing when used tastefully, you might be wondering does it work? And if so how exactly does it improve my email program?

At Zembula we are fortunate enough to have a front row seat to brands experimenting with animations because it is in fact one of our offerings. We’ve learned a lot since we launched our animation features, and we want to share some things with you! These learnings might surprise you – they surprised us! 

First off, let’s define animation in email.

Animation in email is anything that moves in an email whether it’s doing so based on an action or by itself (think hover activated versus a GIF). A GIF is the most common type of email animation and it’s the one that we recommend pretty much exclusively. This is because it is simplest to execute and has the flexibility to work with pretty much any email client that might be used. You can’t really say the same for more “interactive” types of animations. 

At Zembula, we’ve divided email animations into two categories- animated email for revenue and animated email for experience. Let’s dive into what those are and some examples. 

Animated Email for Revenue

We believe that this is the most important type of animated email content because it increases revenue – duh! This type of animation is high value and usually contains information that is pertinent to the sale and moves a buyer along in the buying process. It’s probably not the animation you think of when you think “animated email”. 

Here are some examples:

Rotating product images: gives buyers multiple views of the same product or show multiple products to increase revenue.

Rotating product reviews: gives buyers more than one review to educate further.

Animated Email for Experience

Most of the animation you see out in the inbox today is animated email for experience. This type of animation is not always directly tied to KPIs so while it looks awesome, you might want to start with revenue driving animation first to start seeing some impact for your effort. 

Here are some examples: 

Loyalty graph/bar animation: this is a fun way to display information about a user but doesn’t drive them to buy.

Animated first name: this grabs attention of the reader but isn’t linked to a direct action to buy. 

Shipment tracking: shows buyers where their order is in transit, but also has a “halo effect” on KPIs throughout email if used as a Smart Banner™.

All in all, animation for email can be a great way to increase revenue if you do it right. The key with animation, like most things in marketing, is to test. We were able to learn all these pieces of information from our customers doing just that. If you’re looking for ways to add animation to your email, set up a demo. We’d love to chat.