Flash or GIF's in animated email?
Unfortunately Flash isn’t supported in the email environment, Campaign Monitor ran a series of tests across a range of email clients to see which supported Flash.
Out of the 13 major email clients tested, (Outlook 2003, AOL 9, GMAIL and Yahoo ect) only one supported Flash and that was Mac Mail.
The alternative we are left with, is the animated GIF. Unlike Flash, every single email client supports animated GIF's except for Outlook 2007. Outlook 2007 shows the first frame of the GIF as a still image. So make sure your first frame works on it's own and avoid fade in's.
If you need more convincing, 94% of the retailers tracked by Email Experience Council, that have used animation in their emails over the past seven months used animated GIF's rather than Flash- Email Experience Council, "Animation in Retail Emails Study" (June 2007)
This is going to put me on par with a stamp collector, but for the past 2yrs I have been saving any interesting animated emails into a folder. I have around 80 or so, only one uses Flash which you can view here (received March 2007!) the rest use animated GIF's. I admit the Flash example from Neiman Marcus is quite cool, and works in my Outlook 2000 inbox. But Since March 2007 when I received the lonesome Flash email even Neiman Marcus has seen the light and switched to GIF's.
To tell the difference right click on the animated section of the email, if it's Flash you will see, "About Flash Media Player". If it's a GIF it will allow you to, "Save Picture As" and you will see the GIF file extension. Try saving it out and opening it in ImageReady to see each frame.
Here are some of the Retailer's who use animated GIF"s in their email campaigns, and who I have examples from:
Marks & Spencer, Ralph Lauren, Bluefly, REI Gearmail, Lands End, West Elm, Brooks Brothers, Neiman Marcus, Overstock, Horchow, Saks, CB2, Norm Thompson, Williams-Sonoma, Juicy Couture, Art.com, Dior, Macys, Gap, Cole Hann, Tiffany & Co, Fred Segal, Shopbop, Pottery Barn...
You can view my top 10 animated emails here.