Email Einstein Ingenious eCommerce Email Marketing by Flowium

Animated GIFs for Emails: A Brief Guide For Marketers (with Examples & Resources)

• Vira Sadlak & Andriy Boychuk • Season 1 • Episode 182

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182 - Gone are the days when GIFs were only used for a quick laugh. The truth is, they’re a great engagement and conversion tool, and in this episode, we’ll break down how to use them strategically to captivate your audience and boost conversion rates.

Watch the full video here!

You’ll Learn

  • Understanding GIFs: pros, cons, and strategic moves for successful email marketing
  • Increase clicks: how to craft compelling emails with GIFs
  • GIFs that pass spam filters: Ensure deliverability without losing engagement
  • Weighing the pros and cons of GIFs in email signatures
  • GIFs demystified: Top resources for impactful and relevant content
  • And more!

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

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Vira:

We are your host, Vira Sadlak and Andriy Boychuk, and we are happy to welcome you back in this episode number two of this year. 2024 How is your year going so far? Andriy, are you sticking to your New Year's resolution so far?

Andriy:

This is probably the first year I'm doing some experiment, not doing any, actually, not like not doing resolutions, but it's I'm late with them. So I have it in my planner to finish this year. This week, some new year's resolutions. But there are very, simple comparison to the other other years. It's nothing extraordinary, one of them, just to give you an example, to burn 1000 calories per day.

Vira:

Okay, that's a dishes. It's it's a lot.

Andriy:

No, it's not. I mean, my goal, like, on average, was like 1500 per day. But I'm like, lowering because I never had that. I mean, sorry, sometimes I had, like, even 2000 but typically I was heading like 1100 so now I'm like, slowing down, but make sure, like, I'm walking a lot, because by walking, you burn the most calories. But I already missed what? Today's January 3. I already missed two days of gym.

Vira:

So like, what is your success rate? It's like the third day you missed two. So your success rate is like 33% so far, so far, so good.

Andriy:

The first of the January 1 was a vacation, so it doesn't but I also don't feel guilty about it, so I'm not like, since I'm going to gym, but sometimes I give myself free day.

Vira:

I'm just not doing anything, right? You're just going and hanging out. There are this, like, memes, you know, on the internet, like January the first with this, like, all of the funny things that people who have no idea what to do in gems are doing. Obviously, it's not you. I just like, love those memes, you know, where, where everyone shows up in January 1 to the gym and doing like, all kinds of weird stuff. Yeah, that's getting.

Andriy:

I'm very excited about this this month, actually, first of all, I probably will see you in person if, I mean, yes, you have time, and maybe you will record in person podcast.

Vira:

Yeah, actually, actually, like, I'm recording right now from this studio. I can show you. It's, can I show you? Yeah, you guys can probably see but it has like, two mics and everything, and it's in co working space. So I'm, like, still like a working homeless person, because we got the keys from our apartment on December 18. Today, it's like January the third, and we still don't have internet in our place, so I'm like, recording podcasts from different places. But let's do this. Like, next time you're here, just like, come to this amazing studio and let's make it happen. Andriy, it's gonna be so fun.

Andriy:

Let's do it. Let's do it. How was your new year one?

Vira:

My new year, it was hectic. My plan and plans have changed. I was supposed to go to Ukraine for New Year's, but then we had some family issues, and we didn't, we didn't go in with with everything that is happening in Ukraine. So I had an unplanned New Year and Christmas with my husband, because he was supposed to be alone for Christmas day because I was supposed to travel to Ukraine, but we ended up having, like, a really good time together. Internetless Christmas. We got to catch up on some reading, on some walking, explore our new city, where we live now, and it was amazing. Yeah, so I'm happy to be back. Today is actually my first official day back at work. So let's see how it how it's gonna roll up. So, yeah.

Andriy:

Okay, so what we'll be talking today, Vira?

Vira:

Yeah, we're gonna start with like, a very fun and entertaining topic that you guys keep asking about. And today's topic is all about animated emails or animated GIFs. I'm sure you've seen them in your inboxes. You probably you love them. Most of you, some of you might not be big fans, but you definitely can't ignore them, because there's like animated GIFs are everywhere. What's your Andriy How do you feel about GIFs?

Andriy:

Yeah, so first, first question before we start, is it GIF or GIF?

Vira:

Yeah, I don't think we'll be able to settle this debate. Andriy, because I know, yeah. I mean, we had this conversation with our Flowium team, with designers and everyone. I don't know. I say GIF, well. Your way to pronounce it?

Andriy:

No, I said GIF as well. But do you know the backstory and what it's all about?

Vira:

I have no idea. I know that some very knowledgeable people call it GIF. Some call it GIF. I don't think there is like, a proper, like way to pronounce it. My personal thinking. I call it GIF because, basically the word GIF, it stands for graphic interchange format. So it's like, not graphic, is graphic, that's why I say GIF. But I've, I've heard like, all kinds of ways to pronounce it.

Unknown:

The story started when they they call it this format of image, like soft g, and then it becomes, somehow, the name from the peanut butter, Jeff, j, i, f, right, the day that they want, when they Call it soft g, they converted to gift. Was a key, so like, gifting, and they dropped the key. So it's like, become a GIF. So it's like, honestly, most versions, like, right? Because originally it was GIF, and then it was converted to GIF.

Vira:

Yeah. Andriy, I don't think we will be able to settle the debate on how to pronounce it correctly today.

Andriy:

Yeah, it's a right pronunciation in both cases. Like, you know, Potato Potato.

Vira:

Speaking of Potato Potato. That's like, I'm, I'm practicing my best like British pronunciation here now. So that's like, something, um, that's something on my bucket list as well to learn to sound British this year. So let's see.

Andriy:

Are you 1987 like, about a year or more. Like, when did you born?

Vira:

1991 but thank you for adding five years to my date of birth, 1991.

Andriy:

I'm sorry. No, I'm 1987 sorry. Like, for some reason I thought we are the same age.

Vira:

I'm the 90s kid. Yeah.

Andriy:

No, no, because that gif was invented in 1987 so yeah, for me, it's easier, easier.

Vira:

That's insane. Yeah, it was like, one of the actually first ways to, like, introduce some animations into the web page, back in the old days of 80s and 90s, back in the dark ages of 80s and 90s. But, I mean, we still use it. We still use this amazing format. This is probably, like the main and the easiest way to animate your emails. What's your take on that? Andriy, do you? Do you love having this, like, animated parts of the emails, like, Are they too distracting for you? What's your take here?

Andriy:

It depends. So everything, what you just named is all correct, but it depends on some brands use it like, wisely. For example, we have few examples, and if you're watching this on YouTube, will show show it to you, but somebody like headspace headspace or Asana headspace or Asana, they have, like, very nice GIF layout so so they have well designed emails and strategically placed gifs which support their message, versus there's other brands who they think they they just need to place a GIF, and they either place too many gifts or it's not relevant to the contest context of the email. And it's it's distracting, but distracting in the bad way, not distracting to capture your attention, but distract you to kind of like move on with to another email.

Vira:

Yeah, no, I totally see your point. And first of all, I think this, like Asana, is doing an amazing job with their like animations and headspace. They are so cool because like, headspace is, for those of you who don't know, this is like a meditation app, and in their like emails with the use of this, like little cute animations, they explain like complex topics, like, how would you explain like visually anxiety, or, how would you explain like meditation or something in in the form of an image? And they are doing an excellent job of like, doing that with like the picture, with the medium of this like picture, which is amazing. But let's go back to the basics. Let's talk in general, about all of the benefits of animated GIF or of animated GIFs in emails. Andriy what's your number one reason to use gifs in the emails. Why do you think people should use them when used correctly?

Unknown:

I would say it's a new it's an advanced version of call to action, or like, advanced version, so it's not a button or static tags or image. It's animated, so it's. CTA, but on steroids, which supposed to the hypothesis to improve click through rate in your email. So after person opens your email, be it sees the animation they want to click on it, if it's designed properly.

Vira:

Right, right. They say that the picture, like picture says 1000 words. I think the animated picture can say even more. So I'm just like looking at this like, really cool example by this brand called Moo. And I really love how they used their like animated images for grabbing your subscription. Subscription, your subscribers attention. So I really, really love what they've done here. You guys, if you're watching us on YouTube, go and check it out. For those of you who are not watching, the email says, chop that melon in the in the header, and then they're like, two moving hands that are like, showing how they chop the melon or whatever. It's just like a really cool attention grabbing tool, I think, in their case. So I really like what they've done there.

Andriy:

First of all, is disruption, because you like, it stops you, and you're like, Oh, hold on, what is all about? Because it's like, first of all, like, extremely cool design, simple, but cool design. And I love the call to action. Like, hi. How do you like, even like, say hi. Like, like, you know, when you chop something with your hands, like, karate, you make that sound like, hey-ya.

Vira:

No, it's super cool. I really love what they've done. And it's like, it's different. Like, when you open something like this, and it like you see it in your inbox, it grabs your attention immediately, because it's so clean, yet different. And I love that.

Andriy:

I don't like one thing about that, this example that we're showing, like, in terms of gifts, it's perfect, but in terms of like, email, like, there's what, like, five, seven, there's seven call to action in the Hatter. So it's like, I mean, come on, people, can you just move that menu style, website, menu style to the bottom of the email, yeah? Like, I don't know why, why people do that. It's like, Oh, more is better. But it's, yeah, less is more.

Vira:

Well, I kind of can't understand why they're doing that. They think that by giving their customers more more option to click on, they will increase the click through rates. And in some cases, it does work, but in majority of the cases, it's just like, a paradox of choice, right? When you have, like, a lot of a lot of things to choose from, you just like, choose neither. And yeah, and you move on to your next email.

Andriy:

I don't know the statistics, but how long does people typically take to read the email? Like, few seconds. And when you have few seconds to grab people's attention, do not distract them. Do not distract with like, what help and FAQ. Like, what are you serious? Like, why do you need that in the header of this email?

Vira:

Right. I mean, this email in general, I don't use this service move. I don't know what they are actually doing, but I necessarily, don't necessarily understand what this email is about. But maybe their customers do, so, yeah, but that's like a topic of the another, the whole another email, the the CDA is where to place or another podcast, the CDA is where to place them, what to do and what not to do. But I think they actually did an amazing job with like, grabbing your customers attention through this app.

Andriy:

Another benefit of using gifs in your email is to showcase your product, especially products where you need to see how they work. I love the example, solostos, the brand which just purchased year or two ago, Chubbies, the shirt. Chubbies, and we spoke about them a lot on this podcast. But I love how they show their fire pits and how they burn. If a static image, it looks like just any other fire pit. But when you see how it burns and it's smokeless, you see that it's like the fire, but there's no smoke, and fire goes kind of inside, so it's like that picture, nice fire. And you, I mean, the family sits around this. So this is one of the way to show how your product works.

Vira:

Right. Or even, like, some brands are using gifts to, like, show how to use the product. For example, there's this like brand that sells reusable plastic bags, or like reusable bags for shopping. So basically, their entire idea is to create this, like bags to have long, useful, useful lives and but you need to take, like, a special care of this bags because of the material they made off. And this company called bagu, they actually created this super cool. Full email where they show how to wash their back. So they show, like, step one, machine wash in like a cold water. Step two, like, don't dry them in the dryer machine, but put them on like a drying line. Or, like, step three, this is how to fold them. Step four, this is how to use them. And it's all done in this, like form of a, like a really cute, fun animated video. So instead of providing you this, like, long and boring, you know, like instructions on how to use it, they just, like animated it and made it fun. And I love that. I love that.

Andriy:

So also give us all about movement. So your by including GIFs, you can make it more your email more dynamic, since not many, actually, majority of inbox providers do not support video, this GIF is a closest thing to the video, and when you add movement, it's your as I said, before your click through, rate will be increased, and it's easier to tell the story about what you're trying to say in the email.

Vira:

Yeah, you can, you can fit so much in the in the visual, right when it's like, animated. I really love this example by Strava. Like in general, I think their emails are so, so cool. They like so badass. They show beautifully what this entire brand is about. And while they don't show you like the app itself, they like showcase this, like different cool images from the community, from the races and stuff like that. And it's like, it's dynamic. I almost can hear like a music when I look at this emails and I think this is like, so, so cool. Yeah, no. I mean, there are like, a lot of ways to basically use them. There are, like, a lot of benefits of using this product. And I think Apple was using them a lot when they are, like, showing off some like products and features, and like, a lot of other brands were using them as well. Andriy all of this things are amazing. But like, what about the cons I know, like, a few cons that are kinda up there for me. Do you know? Do you have any, like, cons of using the GIFs?

Andriy:

So, one of the con that I know. So you cannot make the background transparent, for example, especially when you have a GIF with text, let's say it's like 20% off, and you want to start like, like, to be flash, to flash, like flashing, or to do some colors, the background cannot be transparent, and why it's an issue, especially for black mode. When people use black mode, you cannot adjust it. It would be the one background color, whatever you pick, so it's not adjustable. So when you design the GIF, you need to think about it.

Vira:

Right. But like I heard that, and I've obviously, like, never experienced it myself, but I heard that gifts cannot be like, cannot be super friendly if you're trying to do the accessibility friendly email, right? So some people who say have like epilepsy, it may like, trigger some processes. So yeah. So they're like, not super accessibility friendly. The gaps, then also other things that there is, like, whole debate about it, and on the on the internet, do they, or do they not trigger spam filters? And honestly, Andriy, I don't, I don't have an opinion about about that. Like, what do you know about this thing?

Andriy:

They can but it's not because they are GIFs, but because they are image. So if they can trigger spam filter as any other image, so you need to compare GIF it's an image. So one you send email to your subscribers, and if it's not well formatted, and there's many things go into account what triggers spam filter, not just like, oh, I will include image and I will not include image and it will go to spam. Now, there's a lot of things that adds up, and sometimes maybe that including the image in your image in your email, my kind of tip the scale to the right, trigger the spam filters. We, of course, we don't we do not know that all spam filter algorithm, but we have, like the best practices. My take do, and I read many blog posts and forms about this. My take, if you do everything properly in your emails, you do not use spam words. Your dedicated sending domain is set up. You have unsubscribe, you have you have your you are sending to engage list. It should not trigger the spam filter.

Vira:

Right. But in that. Other thing about gifs is they are heavy. I mean, they are not heavy, but they are heavier than just, like a regular static images quite often. So if you like, add a few of them into the email. You can go over that, like 100 KB size limit for the email, and then your email can get clipped, and it can trigger this, like whole thing, where you won't have an unsubscribe link, or because it's like normally at the bottom of your email, and your email will be sent to spam because people will not be able to unsubscribe from it. So be careful with that. Do not overuse them for sure. But I don't think that the image itself is the problem. It's just like you said, Andriy it's like a complex of things that you are doing. Have you Andriy, seen this? Like sometimes people use gifs in the signature of the emails, not just like brands, but just like professional emails and stuff like that. Have you seen it like people using like little gifts at the signature part of the emails?

Andriy:

Yeah, so even our Flowium emails, the signature, the new signature, I don't even have it because I don't know how to get it in my own company. But we updated our signature, so I still use the old one, but the new one we have where it says Flowium and the beginning that icon it's flying. So we have signature, the new signature, where it flies one time and goes back.

Vira:

Right. Because I know that some people, they do, think that this thing does not look very professional. This is like one of the cons of using gifs in your emails, that it's not, it does not have that like professional feeling to it. But I personally disagree. I think that they leave fun and they like invade the message, yeah.

Andriy:

Me too. I disagree. Because people, when they think about gifts and professionalism, they think that Goofy, Goofy gifts like about some office, some meme from office with those people like doing something, but gifs can, let's say you're manufacturing or some kind of factory, or you produce chemicals, and you work only with enterprise level clients, and you want to send it. Maybe it's not about like goofy images, but maybe show the process how, how you develop some product, or how you how your supply chain works. So I believe there's a place in the professional world, in B to B, to show the process how either your product works, or how you, I mean, how you develop something.

Vira:

Right. If we talk about the structure of the email itself, I've seen this like GIFs to be used in like different parts of the emails. Obviously, the most popular one is the hero image. It's very popular if you like showcase multiple products, or you just want to bring customers attention to the message in the hero image, or very often, brands even use it in the hero image to basically convey the longer message. But you can honestly use it like anywhere Have you already seen this, like animated product blocks or something that brands are using sometimes, instead it's they are so cool. I love them. Honestly, I love them.

Andriy:

Especially they work amazingly. Was closing brands like fashion brands, because they show you from from different angles. I was just watching a video where the guy was designing email, and he shows leggings, leggings and show from different angles, so you can see how they fit, uh, fit better with from different angles.

Vira:

Yeah, I actually saw this uh one closing brand. They are actually from Ukraine. But I just love, love. I just loved what they done. Actually, some of the subscribers ask them, Can you show me how this pair of gins sit on like a person of, like, size eight person or whatever? Or they just ask, can you show how this gin sit and then the brand, like, literally made the picture of like, pair of gins sitting on the armchair without a person. It's just like a wordplay, you know, but they had, like, a lot of fun with it. But I really do how you can, like, showcase, like the item in different on like different people in different like scenarios and stuff like that. Yeah, it's huge for fashion brands. But I work with, like, one of those brands that sell, like, cheese and wine, and we just like showcased, like the piece of cheese from different angles. It was like moving, and we showed it in like a different light, and, like, with different wines and stuff like that. And I felt like it's just like added that, like extra layer. More of luxury to the email, because you're showcasing the product from different ways and like, it's worth your attention, you know. So I just really loved how we used it for the cheese brand, too.

Andriy:

So there's a, there's a brand called uh avaling. There's a famous, very famous celebrity, but I always, I'm bad with the names. She was playing angels of Charlie, the Cameron Diaz, I believe, big smile, yeah. And I just put it in the mirror so you can watch the well, they sell wine. I mean, organic wine was without surface. When you drink a lot, you don't have a headache, but probably a drink even too much of the a lot. So I had a headache anyway. So don't drink a lot, but they send it on a Friday, they show a lady was a glass of wine, kind of, like, ah, like, dancing, yeah, dancing like, it's a Friday, it's, you can catch the wipe. And let's see here, Amish and like, that animation stronger than any copy you know. Like, because I know that that feeling like sometimes on a Friday you want a glass of just a glass of wine or a glass of beer, but in their cases, wine and you just want to relax. And it's like it was so strategically thoughtful on a Friday afternoon vine, this image. So I think this is perfect.

Vira:

No, it's a perfect example. I really love also, when brands are using this gifs in the footer as well the headers. Obviously, it's a very popular place to use it, but I really do like when they use it in the footers. With, like, a lot of my brands, we use it to showcase different reviews, like to showcase different reviews, or to showcase different like social media posts and stuff like that. It's just like adds that a little bit of dynamic to the email, and it also brings the attention to like other parts of the email, other than like hero image and and then CTA. So yeah, we use it quite a lot, but I really like this example that you Andriy shared cool, popular question that we do get all the time. Where do you get this gifts for free? I mean, I don't even know how to like answer this question, because, well, first of all, you can make it yourself with like the the tools like Canva or just like in Photoshop and stuff like that. But you can also download them, right? Andriy from different resources.

Andriy:

The interesting thing you cannot download, let's say there is food football game or something from internet, you cannot just download and use it in your email. So if it's a big, I don't know, like even celebrity thing, you cannot just download a picture of Madonna and put it in your email, because you might have issues. And many of our clients, sorry, not many of our clients. At least one of our clients had the issue where he used, by accident, I don't know how he used a picture of one lady, and she sue him using that. Yeah, so because you're not allowed, I cannot use your viewer. I cannot use legally your picture in my email because, I make the money.

Vira:

Of course, but what about Michael Scott from the office? I just feel like, there are, it's interesting that you mention it so interesting because I see people doing it all the time, like I literally can. Wow.

Andriy:

People are people's brands probably too small to get in the issue. But, and this is not question, if it's just a question when you get in trouble, but here's the interesting thing, but here's the interesting thing, if you use it as a GIF, it's okay.

Vira:

What? What do you mean?

Andriy:

So here, this was shocking to me, and there's was cases where, like, even Olympics and NFL was trying to sue people, but they didn't, did not win. So if you use it as a gift, let's say the same Madonna as a gift with a tax and blah, blah, it's okay to use it, but you're it's not okay to use it as an image.

Vira:

I'm confused, like, what? What makes GIF different from like, a static image, like Legally speaking, speaking. It's like the same person...

Andriy:

By the way. I'm not, we're not lawyers here. We're not giving you ...

Vira:

Now we're just playing pretending.

Andriy:

No, even playing pretending lawyers. We're just discussing. But I have no answer for you here, but this is. That's a good one. I research I research it, and this is what i That's why you can see many like 50 cents there's like, you can see it's fine to use memes for some reason, but it's not fine to use Justin Bieber. You can see it as a meme, but if you post the same picture as your own, like in your email, you probably it would not be okay.

Vira:

Wait, so again, so I can use memes, I can use GIFs, but I can't use just like a static image of original person.

Andriy:

My hypothesis. And by the way, if you know any information, please comment under this video or like go to our WhatsApp flowium.com/whatsapp, and let us know if you have more information about this. But my hypothesis, because you're taking something original and you're modifying so it becomes your own, this is my hypothesis. I'm not 100% sure, but interesting. Like, the latest one was Justin Bieber, for example. You know, when he's like in the hoodie and his girlfriend or wife, he's like, she's like in the dress, right? And I don't think you can use this image in your email or website, but you can use it as a meme, like all over internet, you can see it everybody interesting.

Vira:

That's such a gray area, to be honest, because, like, at some point someone turned that image into the meme, right? So someone broke, broke the law at some point. And then we can use all of these memes and use it in our emails. So that's very interesting.

Andriy:

But, but going back to where you can find the image, or how you can create it. So first of all, there's, we have a YouTube, YouTube video about creating GIFs, and I show how to use Canva to do that. But for that, you need proplan which $10 per month. But also there's, there's other versions. It's called Giphy. Giphy website where you can upload multiple images, and it will create from those multiple images as GIF for you. And you can set up the the speed with which it's playing. And another options, popular one, you can type in in the goo in Google and under the search bar there's options for images, and it's like small, large, medium and GIF, and you can select GIF, and it will show you all the results for GIFs. You are able to download it and put put it in the in your email, and just to add it, because it's also very common questions, how do you add those gifts to your email so any, ESP, any email marketing platform that you use, MailChimp, Klaviyo, ConvertKit, Active Campaign. It's a simple there's a one in a drag and drop edit thing. There's image you don't need anything else, right? It's an image. You just drop it and you upload from your computer your GIF.

Vira:

Yeah, and what is beautiful about this format that, yeah, first of all, it's like, as easy to upload it to your ESP as regular image, honestly. But also it's like, recognizable by all of the platforms, all of this services, Gmail, Yahoo, everyone will recognize them there. There were some, like, older outlook versions where you were not able to see the GIF. So they were basically, I think, turning the GIF into the regular image, so you were able to see just like the first screen of the GIF, or like the first part of the GIF, but like, as far as I know and I might be wrong, so if I'm wrong, just like, let me know in the comments. But as far as I know, all of the updated versions they they all do support GIF, and GIF is a very old format, right?

Andriy:

Outlook does not support the desktop version from 2006 to 2007 right? The desktop version do? They do not support GIFs. And also the 2019 version does not support it, but you can code it differently, which requires some technical skills, and it might show.

Vira:

Yeah, cool. Well, thank you for clarifying this. Andriy and yeah, and, I mean, there are some other cool ways to, like animate your emails. But for that, you will need some like, additional technology. Something that we use quite a lot, actually, with our clients, especially during the holiday time, is countdown timers. You guys probably like receive those emails with the count countdown timer on top that shows you say, like the end of the promotion or end of the year countdown timer, or something like that. There are two ways of doing them. The first one is just like creating it as a GIF, but it will not be dynamic. Or second one you can use, like different tools that will actually help you to code this. Like. Are real dynamic countdown timers. So tools like mail timers, motion mail, countdown mail, I think some platforms, some ESP platforms, even have it as they're sort of like part of the package or something like that. So yeah, this is a really cool way to animate.

Andriy:

And just want to, so if you go to YouTube and type in how to add a countdown timer to your email, we have explanation video which is like six minutes long, but we explain step by step. It's a detailed tutorial how to add those countdown timer and how to set it up for your user newsletter or campaign promo companies or add it to your flows.

Vira:

Yeah, and it's actually super simple. I'm not, like, a very, like, technical coder or whatever. I'm not a technical person. But it's like, as easy as, like, literally adding, like, a little code to your to your email.

Andriy:

Applying too much. Like, how many years you're working in this industry?

Vira:

No, I do work like for a long time here, but it's, it's, I mean, they are very like intuitive this timers, that's what I'm trying to say. Like, you don't need to be like a advanced marketer to use them. It's like easy to add them, but they are quite powerful.

Andriy:

So, Vira, quick story. Like, there's one Ukrainian platform called something like projector, and where I am giving consultation for I mean, I don't get paid. It's free. But people who get consulted, they pay, but they pay to the certain stands for profit organization, and they buy drones for Ukraine. So basically, it's paid consultation, but I don't receive money. So this is my way to donate as well. And typically, what how I consult people? I consult about America, like US market and people ask me such a simple question. But those questions are simple for me because we don't even think about them. So that's why I say it's easy to set up, or it's intuitive for you, which we just like doing this so much. There's like, oh yeah, of course, it's easy. But other people, when they see it for first time, it might be not as easy. That's why there's bunch of we create a bunch of content on YouTube. Sometimes it might, for you pros or advanced users, might be like, Oh, why did they create this video? But for somebody beginner, or somebody who opened that software for first time in their life, they need to understand how it works.

Vira:

Yeah, no, totally. I see what you're saying. I see your point. And even, like, living in UK, so many things are different here. I just started, like, ordering stuff to my home. And, like, sometimes I just, like, go and work from the office or whatever. And then they're calling me, like, come and pick up your package. I'm like, What are you talking about? Just like, leave it on the porch or whatever. Like, I was doing, like, back home in Canada, but here you actually have to, like, physically be at home to receive the package, or you have to ask someone to, like, to open the door for them. So, yeah, yeah. So my life, pretty much, like, revolves around, like, receiving the packages this day I put them on my calendar. I kid you not. Like I literally put them on my calendar where, where I should supposed to receive. Today I received my dryer, which is like, very fun invention. I haven't used it in a while. This is basically like a structure where you put your like laundry on it, because we don't have like washers and dryers. Here we have, like, washers and then you have to dry it, just like on this string. So yeah.

Andriy:

In Canada didn't you have?

Vira:

No, of course, in Canada we did have, we're living like 20 minutes away from, like US border. We're living like the same lives. But yeah, here in UK, it's different. So yeah, I'm seeing your point. It can be different from country to country, but going back to countdown timers, they are really cool. We use them a lot for our New Year's campaigns. We use them a lot for Black Friday, Cyber Monday campaigns. And they are like, really powerful visual tool, because they do communicate that like sense of like anticipation and urgency and yeah, very effective tool, personalized gifts Andriy, do you use them? Personalized gifts at all?

Andriy:

I mean, I don't work on projects as often as you do. So personally, I don't, but I see that our team uses in some cases, I like that example that Luigi did for one of our designers. He did it for I call it George brand, but it's Jord the wood watches. So basically ...

Vira:

Oh really? I was mispronouncing them for all of this years.

Andriy:

Are you local? It's like. I mean the natives here, like they pronounce it Jord but, like, I have no clue, how do you pronounce Jord words? It's, there's J, but anyway.

Vira:

Klaviyo, Klaviyo right? Same thing.

Andriy:

Andriy John, like same thing. Somebody called me John. I don't know, how can you misspell it? So much, so much of anyway. So what he did, he did the watch, and it's was like Luigi. I mean, he sent it as a task to us to see. But it was like Luigi collection, and the Luigi was animated, sorry, yeah, animated GIF, like first name, and each recipient who was receiving their names is what, like Vira collection and these collections and so forth. So it's like, extremely personalized. So it's not like only like hi Vira, it's not like that stuff like, but like when it's image personalized with your name. And people love to hear their name, love to see their name, especially not misspelled. It works.

Vira:

Yeah, we actually had this entire episode with my cash. Shelby, from clever gifts, it was episode number 151 for those of you who want to go back and re listen to it. But basically, there are these tools, like clever gifts, for example, where you can, like, literally, create customized GIFs, uh, using person's name, persons like addresses, city, country, wherever. Like the dynamic field that you want to use, you can use and add it to the like, to the hero image, which is like, which honestly looks even a bit creepy, because I was receiving this emails with like, my name, like written in the animated letters there. It does look creepy, but it kind of looks cool too. It almost feels like they created this email specifically for me. You know that they put all of this, like, extra care to do this email for me.

Andriy:

Like, year ago or so, I was sketched like my attention was sketch with, like, a really good emails newsletter. They also did part of their image, but not animated, nothing, but it was, like, part of my like image, like and perfectly designed my first name. I'm like, Whoa. Like, did they design it for me? And then just double check if it's wasn't marking emails. Oh, it's unsubscribed. So I did figure that it's, it's not only for me, but it was so well designed that you're like, oh, so special. So like lesson, lesson learned for you guys and girls. Try it, try it, split, test it and see how it works for your for your campaigns.

Vira:

Or Andriy this is just like a plot twist. They did send the email to their entire list with your name in it. Can you imagine how cool that would be plot twist. But actually, I mean, I know that every time we personalize email, we see the increase in like open rates and conversion and stuff like that. But I remember Mike, the founder of clever gifts. He said that with some of their brands, they were able to increase their click through rates with like for as much as like 80% or something. This number sounds insane, but I can see that honestly, it does spark the curiosity when I see that they have my name written in the hero image, I'm like, what else? What else do you guys have for me? You know? So this is like, this is really cool.

Andriy:

One more thing, it's not, it's not about personalization, but gamification. And for this, you need, either you need to be creative how to do it, or you need to use AMP, email. Amp, this is technology inside of emails. And I believe we have also videos on YouTube about amp will include under the description of this podcast. But Mr. Beast, the feastables, what brand he has Feastable or the.

Vira:

I thought it was just Mr. Beast. I thought that was the name of the brand as well. So I don't know.

Andriy:

Feastables, feastables. It's a chocolate. One of the emails they send, it's a button. And say, like the first person who pressed 500 times on this button will win, and you need to press 500 times for two reveals is the discount code. And I forgot I said I saved LinkedIn post because their marketing chief of marketing, they posted the numbers percentage. So it was like 1000 something like percent, click. Click rate, oh my goodness. Like, which is, like, humble or even few 1000s. Like, I mean, it was through the roof, but, but that kind of thing works only if your brand is so playful. Like, if you're professionals, and you send this kind of email, people like, think you're crazy, but Mr. Mr. Beast, you know, like, he likes, challenges.

Vira:

It's very own brand for him. Yeah, it's very own brand. But, uh, yeah, I wonder. I mean, you can technically do the same and just say, like, click 200 times on the CTA and just have a regular CTA. Who knows?

Andriy:

I also, I see the Enjoy the Woods - one of the Ukrainian brand. Ukrainian brand, yeah, yeah. They've extremely popular in the world, lived off the maps with wooden maps. I like, I like, how they did it. But they didn't use AMP. They just use some HTML coding where you have to put the puzzle together. You know, those puzzles as you have to shift. And when you shift pieces together, it shows you that the map of the discount.

Vira:

Oh, that's cool. I wonder how long did it take them to to build this? I mean, it's so laborious, right? Like so much effort would go into that email, but I can see how it can be rewarding, how it can work. Can you send me this email? I'm just like curious to experience.

Andriy:

Sure I will, and also I will include the link to to the post under this video, sir, under this video, and also under this podcast, if you listening to it, there's there will be linked to my LinkedIn because I recorded the video and how it works. Listen, Vira, if you don't want to spend, I mean, not you, but if people don't want to spend much time with the gifts, just send the plain text emails. They work as well.

Vira:

They do work. Actually, I'm in the process of completing this huge AB test I'm doing for one of my clients. And, yeah, spoiler alert, they work.

Andriy:

There's a big letters on in my gym says the worst workout, something the worst workout that the one you didn't attend or the one you didn't make. So it's like same thing. Yeah, the worst email was not sent. So it's extremely important for you to send emails to your audience.

Vira:

I love that. I love that awesome. Well, here you have it with you guys, everything we knew about the gifts and everything that we shared with you. If you have any additional questions, or if there's something that you'd like to share with our community, please go to our WhatsApp channel and let's connect there, and also you guys all of the references, all of the materials that we mentioned in this in this podcast, they will be in the description down below.

Andriy:

Thank you, see you next Thursday.

Vira:

Thank you so much.

Andriy:

Oh, Tuesday, sorry.

Vira:

See you next Tuesday, take care.

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Vira Sadlak

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