4 free tools for using animated GIFs in email campaigns

Animated GIFs are a great way to make email marketing more unique and appealing. Studies have shown that emails with GIFs generate a 12% increase in profit from customers and a 5% increase in click-through rates. Yet, only 11% of email marketers are using GIFs, according to a 2013 study done by MarketingSherpa. Here are four free, simple tools and resources to help your company use and store GIFs to improve your email campaign:

Create GIFs with GIFMaker: GIFMaker provides the tools to take pictures, resize them, and combine them into GIFs. Users can speed up the images, and you’re able to insert audio clips directly from YouTube to accompany your animation. Additionally, GIFMaker has tools to remove specific images from the GIF after it’s completed, and GIFs are ready to be viewed immediately after they’re done.

Host GIFs with Imgur: GIFs can be larger file sizes than just regular images and so can sometimes be a problem to host on your ESP. This app, also known as The Simple Image Sharer, provides a place for users to store all of their photos and GIFs in one place. This allows businesses to easily stockpile GIFs for future email campaigns without the complications of multiple files or albums on different devices.

Search for GIFs with Giphy: Giphy is a search engine for GIFs accross the web. Easily find Gifs for almost any category including interests, emotions, movies, music and more. If you are looking for a GIF on the fly this a perfect tool, however just like any image be sure to check for license / use restrictions or get permission for use from the creator for commercial use.

Screen Capture GIFs by RecordIt: RecordIt is a free lightweight app for Mac or PC. It lets you capture screen recordings on the fly and then outputs either movie or GIF formats. It is perfect for website tours, mobile app releases and software feature teases.