How to use GIFs in your campaign

[Caitlin_M]

We know GIFs as those little animated images that you see on different websites. But did you know that you can insert GIFs into your Constant Contact campaigns? 

That's right! You can upload and insert a GIF just as you would a regular image. Adding a GIF into your campaign can certainly liven up a static campaign and add some personality. Here are a few things you should know before adding a GIF into your campaign.

• Just like images, GIFs need to be under 5MB in size in order to be uploaded into the Constant Contact library. 
• Less = more. Putting too many GIFs into a campaign can be distracting and pull your reader away from the message you are sending. Just a few will do!
• Right along the lines of less = more, choose GIFs that are shorter in length (like the one I used above). Longer GIFs are larger in file size and may not even upload properly but they also take your readers' focus away from your message.
• There are some email clients that don't support GIFs and will only show the first frame of the GIF. It's important to keep this in mind and send yourself previews to make sure that the first frame still makes sense even if the GIF doesn't play. 

So, how can you use a GIF in your campaign? Here are few suggestions:

• Display a reaction - are you excited about a sale that you are having or want to promote something great happening with your business or organization? Show your readers how excited you are by using a GIF!
• Support your message - Maybe you work for a nonprofit animal shelter and you are trying to raise money. Try including a GIF of cats or dogs so your readers remember who their donation would be helping.
• Show personality - Readers love seeing personality in an email. Use a GIF to have a fun opening or closing message. Maybe like this:

Want more ideas on how to use GIFs? Look no further than our Blog!

We're interested to know how you will use GIFs in your campaigns. Feel free to let us know or share your "giffed out" campaign on our Share & Get Ideas board! As always, we are here to answer any questions you might have as well. 

[Traffic123]

Thanks for letting us know this feature is available. May try for our email that goes out next week.

[Caitlin_M]

Hello @Traffic123. Glad that you found this feature! It's definitely a fun addition to put in your emails. Feel free to use the short URL for your campaign so you can show off what GIF you'll be using! We'd love to see it

[TJOCE]

Currently I've tested an email with a GIF, but it's only 'animated' on mobile not desktop. An I doing something wrong or is this normal? 

[Nichelle_M]

Hi @TJOCE,

Thanks for reaching out and we're sorry to hear this! While this is a great way to change up your regular emails and add a personal touch to your marketing not all email clients support animated GIFs. Given that you'll want to make sure to add a caption or include an image description just in case the GIF doesn't play. It sounds as though this is what you're experiencing!

[JIMA68]

When I add, test & send email with a GIF, I am seeing it animate in the builder, in the inbox & in the test emails, but it no longer loops, plays once then freezes. Mobile & desktop, 5 different email browsers.

[Frankie_P]

Hi @JIMA68

So sorry to hear this is happening! I took a look at your campaign and can see exactly what you are describing. In fact, your gif only plays once in both your campaign and the Library itself. Was this a gif you created yourself? There is a setting when creating a gif that will cause it to play only once instead of in a loop. However if you take a look at your library you will now see a Support Copy of your gif. Out of a courtesy this Support Copy has been edited so it may continuously loop correctly. I hope this helps!

[EmmaC298]

I'm having the same problem as @JIMA68, where the GIF plays just once instead of looping. We've set it to loop forever in Photoshop before exporting as a GIF. Any tips?

[Caitlin_M]

Hi @EmmaC298! I was able to fix your GIF and it should now be looping. When I opened it in Photoshop, it was set to play once. Please note that this was done as a courtesy and we do not offer any specialized image editing services as part of our general support. 

[EmmaC298]

Thank you @Caitlin_M! Do you have any ideas as to why the looping would be disabled or compromised somewhere along the road in exporting the file & uploading to Constant Contact? We're new to CC but have made lots of GIFs for use in email before, and are familiar with setting them to loop infinitely. If you have any exporting or uploading best practices, we'd appreciate it. Thank you!

[Frankie_P]

Hi @EmmaC298

These are great questions! I apologize at this time we don't have any articles about creating gifs, this is something you would have to further troubleshoot on your end. We do however have some best practices for uploading gifs into your account and basic troubleshooting information as well. 

[HaugensG]

I just inserted a gif into my email but all I see is a static image. Why won't it play? 

[Frankie_P]

Hi @HaugensG

I'm sorry to hear your gif is not playing as it should! What email client are you using? Not all email clients support animated GIFs and will sometimes only display the first frame of a GIF. 

[HaugensG]

Not sure who is my "email client". I have email that goes to my web hosting service before getting fetched by gmail. I also have a couple of gmail addresses so it sounds like gmail is my "email client". HOWEVER, the gif was not playing when I previewed it within Constant Contact so I am guessing that it had nothing to do with my email client since it hadn't been sent yet, right?

[Frankie_P]

Hi @HaugensG 

Thank you for helping to clarify these details. After looking into your gif further, we can see it is actually only one frame. How did you save this gif? Because it appears to only be one frame, we would suggest taking a look at your gif again. Making sure this gif has been save correctly is always a great step. In fact, try checking your resources or the help center for your gif creation program for any information on saving gifs.

[HaugensG]

Thank you for looking into it. I took an MP4 into photoshop to create it. The first attempt was too big a file and Constant Contact choked when I tried to upload it. I shortened the video clip in Photoshop and resaved it but it seemed to be longer than one frame. Well, thanks for your help. I loved the idea of a custom made gif but it looks like I will need to work on this more!

[Frankie_P]

Hi @HaugensG 

You're very welcome, we're always happy to help! Please let us know if there is anything else we can assist with in the meantime.

[AaronL261]

When my GIF refreshes, it flashes black ... is there a way to keep it constant without a flash? 

[Frankie_P]

Hi @AaronL261  I apologize you are seeing this happen with your GIF! I have taken a look at your Library and can see it has since been updated. However for future reference we suggest taking a look at your GIF and making any necessary updates before uploading it into your account. At this time we do not have access to editing tools for GIFs.

[EdC1]

My gif uploads fine, but when I go to insert it into the campaign, I can't find it in the library?

[Alex_S]

Hi @EdC1 

Thank you for reaching out in the Community! I reviewed your account and I was able to see a balloon gif when inserting an image. So I wanted to clarify with you, are you able to see some gifs but not all? Also, could you share the name of the gif that you were trying to insert in your campaign?

Please let me know and we can troubleshoot further. 

Thanks!