Animated Gif = 26% increase in click-through rate
This animated email from Dressed Up!, generated a 26% increase in click-throughs than the non-animated version in A/B tests.
Animated Gifs play in the majority of email clients. Outlook 2007 is the main holdout, displaying the first frame only.
{view animated email}
{Subject line - VIDEO: Susan Boyle Makeover :: Fall Tadashi Gowns Modelled }
Using animation to simulate video draws the eye, it also acts as a visual cue, shouting, "Yes I'm a video link!".
The animated gif consists of six frames, with a 2 sec delay between each frame. I overlaid a play icon, added a video player graphic and an HTML text link underneath.
Animated Gifs play in the majority of email clients. Outlook 2007 is the main holdout, displaying the first frame only.
American apparel {view AA email}
The only retailer I've seen use animated gifs this way, is American Apparel in this August 09 email.
This technique is halfway between a static screenshot and a video gif. It's simple to implement, yielding a decent lift in performance.