Just when it seemed that animated GIFs had gone out of fashion and left the Web completely, here they are again making a comeback.
What are they? GIFs, Graphics Interchange Format, are a digital format that allows a sequence of images or a short video to be embedded within a single file.
Their potential back in 1987 had not yet been fully expressed, due to the narrowness of using multiple images, a problem that was not solved until later with the possibility of inserting multiple images within the same file to make the animation more smooth and lively.
For some time now, the animated GIF has been slowly catching on, becoming a true mass phenomenon on the Web. GIFs owe their success to the fact that their communication is immediate and uses a universally recognized language, that of images. Each of us can express any concept, emotion, action with an animated image that in a few seconds perfectly renders the idea of what we want to communicate. The animated GIF succeeds in communicating a message and catalyzing the user’s attention in a few seconds by intriguing them. This is one of the many reasons why this type of animation is back in vogue, finding a great following even among big brands that immediately took possession of it for advertising communications, of all kinds. The animated GIF works, raptures, impresses, remains imprinted if clear simple, direct and even funny!
Facebook for example has recently enabled support and so at the click we can start the animation. Today it is possible to make GIFs, easily thanks to some programs such as Photoshop, Gimp, Falco GIF Animator and many others.
Animated GIFs in Ecommerce, the new allies of your communication
Increase the user engagement of your online store is also possible through the use of animated GIFs. Indeed, you can introduce them in ecommerce stores to explain and present products and to entice users to discover new arrivals each season in an original way. Through short video frames within a GIF, you have the opportunity to bring the product to life, showing the product during use.
The visual impact that is created is remarkable as it grabs attention easily and it is also possible in this regard to place a call to action directly on the GIF for the immediate purchase of the product. Finally, the use of GIFs within promotional emails can generate a different result than usual, eye-catching and original that is able to surprise the customer, now perhaps a little tired of the usual Newsletter.
