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How to Add GIFs to Your Email Signature (Yes, Even in Outlook!)

In our blog post on email signature best practices (didja con that?!), we pointed out the importance of email signatures against the backdrop of your own identity. But, as far as GIFs are concerned, coding them into signatures can be hard. 

But you’d like to know how to add GIFs to your signature, so we’re here to tell you. As exciting as it sounds, you may want to consider the limitations of email signatures first. You wish there were none, but there we go. Email can be balky. 

Rest assured, our team has designed animated signatures for a lot of clients. In fact, they’re coding one as we speak. 

So then, let’s learn how to add GIFs to email signatures. First, we’ll recap on the benefits of email signatures. 

Benefits of Email Signatures

Briefly, let’s consider four core benefits of email signatures:

Next, let’s explore platforms where you can create animated GIFs for your email signatures.
 

3 Platforms to Create Animated GIFs

1. Using Adobe Animate

A. Creating animated GIFs with Adobe Animate shouldn’t be hard. Follow these steps:

A. Set Up Your File

Create a new file and specify the dimensions of your GIF.

To ensure clear visuals on all devices, design the animation at twice the size for retina displays.

B. Add Graphics

You can either create your graphics directly in Animate or design them in tools like Photoshop or Illustrator and import them.

To import graphics:

Go to FileImportImport to Stage.

For reusable assets, choose Import to Library instead.


C. Explore Animate Tools

Symbols:

Tweening:

Animate transitions between states using 3 types of tweens:

Easing: Add realism by accelerating or decelerating tweens to create natural movements.

D. Export Your GIF

Go to FileExportExport Animated GIF to finalize your animation.

2. Using InVideo

With InVideo, you can easily convert video files into animated GIFs. Here’s how:

  1. Upload your video file to the platform.
  2. Specify the start and end points to select the portion of the video you want to convert.
  3. Once the selection is set, the conversion will begin. Then, download your GIF when the process is complete.

3. Using Giphy 

While Giphy is free and convenient, it’s less commonly used due to its subpar file compression capabilities:

  1. First, upload the graphics you want to combine into an animation.
  2. Set the duration for each frame.
  3. Your animated GIF will be generated.

How to Add GIF to Outlook Email Signature

Now we’re talking, right? For all our collective bad experience with Outlook, we can be glad that it does allow animated email signatures. So, let’s learn how to do it. Just follow these simple steps: 

Now, keep in mind that the above steps are for OWA

Let’s also learn how to add GIFs to Outlook email signature in the desktop version. Keep reading!

How to Put GIF in Email Signature (Outlook 2013, 2016, 2019)

To animate email signatures in Outlook, follow these steps:

Choose the email signature that you want to edit. Click on the Image icon, and upload the GIF. 

Now, let’s go further back, if you’re using the older versions.

How to Put GIF in Email Signature (Outlook 2007, 2010)

The steps are more or less identical. Here they are:

So, now that you know how to add GIFs to Outlook email signatures in both web and desktop, let’s consider the pros and cons of doing it.

Pros And Cons Of Using Animated GIFs In Email ​​Signature

The pros of adding animated GIFs in email signatures are:

But that’s just one half of the story, unfortunately. So here are the cons of animated email signatures:

Just keep those cons in mind, don’t be put off by them. Here’s two of our own animated email signatures.

Using your brand logo as an animated GIF is a smart way to capture attention and enhance brand familiarity through your email signature. This technique, commonly employed by  brands, makes the signature more engaging and memorable.

Adding a personal touch by including the sender’s face in the signature is effective, but taking it a step further with a small GIF of the sender waving, bowing, or offering a friendly high-five can create a stronger connection. This approach adds charm and ensures people look forward to your emails.

An animated promotional banner highlighting your latest offers is another excellent addition to an email signature. It doesn’t need to be elaborate—a simple two-frame GIF, where one frame announces the offer and the other provides details like dates or product categories, can do the trick. This approach is both subtle and effective in drawing attention to your promotion.
 

Need Help with Email Signatures? Sign Here…

If you need to get animated email signatures designed, choose us with our 150+-strong team and experience of working with more than 5,000 global agencies and brands in 60+ countries. Need we say more? Get in touch with us today! 


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