How Rich Media Can Help Boost Your Email Engagement

Imagine showing an upcoming offer and reflecting your brand image through a plain text email. It becomes a bit difficult to depict everything using text as it gets long and illegible, doesn’t it? Think of the same email designed with exciting images, videos and animation to highlight key information. Which one would you prefer to view? The one with rich media, right?

Brands have huge competition to stand out in the subscriber’s inbox. As a result, marketers need to make emails engaging in order to get them opened and viewed. Email marketers are thus making use of attention-grabbing rich media to throw light on the main points and keep the users engaged.

Here’s a breakdown of the major rich media elements:

Plain Text Email

Plain text emails are purely text and nothing else. They’re easy to create with minimal coding complications. They do not have rendering and deliverability issues and subscribers view the exact same copy as at the sender’s end.

On the flip side, this email has long text content without much formatting or fonts and colours. The key elements do not grab the attention of the viewers and they have to read the entire content to get the essence of the email. 

Images in Email

Using relevant static images to illustrate certain content engages the audience far better than text alone. Images help in establishing the brand identity and gaining click-through rates. But, be careful while adding images as too many images may make you seem spammy.

The hero image clearly reflects the brand image and product. The image and headline itself convey the purpose of the email and the user doesn’t have to read the entire message. The CTA is bold and clear, and grabs the user’s attention.

GIF in Email

GIFs add an element of delight which is difficult with static images. It lets you display ample content in a limited space and boosts conversion. However, not every ESP supports GIFs, which may take too much time to load if the file size is too big. Make sure you compress the file.

This Bonobos email consists of a GIF showing the apparel collections of the brand with a tagline. It shows all the information in limited space with an apparent CTA. 

Videos in Email

Videos showcase products, offers and a brand’s personality. Using videos is a great way to grab the viewers’ attention and keeping them engaged. Embedded videos are often bulky and may not be supported by few email clients; use a fallback.

Readdle introduced ‘Spark’ with the video, also helping in building the brand. The message takes you through a tour describing the product details and features. 

Cinemagraphs in Email

A cinemagraph makes the email attractive through seamless looping that creates an illusion of a video. These are easier to create as compared to videos and still give the feel of a video. 

The key elements — the offer and the CTA — are highlighted by a background cinemagraph. The email is well designed and has minimal content.

Images courtesy of Really Good Emails

Kevin George is Head of Marketing at Email Monks.