Animated GIFs in Email = 12% more sales

This email from Bluefly containing an animated GIF generated 12% more sales than the non-animated version in A/B tests.

{Subject line- Exclusive Private Sale: EXTRA 20% OFF - March 01, 2008}

Click here to view the animated email

Animated GIF's in email

“Bluefly used web analytics to parse the data from the test and found a 5% increase in the click-through rate for recipients of the animated version of “Shhhhh” over recipients of the non-animated version. But more important: Animated shoppers who clicked through generated a 12% increase in dollars spent compared with non-animated shoppers who clicked through.” - Internet Retailer

Fun sells

Bluefly felt taking a “light-hearted” approach was the key to higher sales. They carried this over in their subject lines.

“We had a debate about being more creative and fun in subject lines. In one case we tested ‘Gotta Have Gucci’ versus ‘Gucci Now Up to 40% Off.’ We saw up to 20% more opens with the fun subject line. And now we try to add more of that fun voice to our subject lines.”- Joellen Nicholson, director of marketing at Bluefly  Read the full article here.

Marketing Sherpa puts the figure higher, “ Olympus and other marketers are testing adding animated gifs into their emails, despite so many email providers blocking images by default. We have lessons learned from a real-life mailer who knew the risks but tested it anyway. They’re happy they did: conversions are up 49%”

To get some inspiration view my top 10 animated emails.