DTC781: Using Animated GIFs in Newsletters

Good morning,

Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC:

✨ Level Up Your Newsletters
How GIFs add more than just visual interest.

📅 Q2 Planning
Make note of these important dates!

🛍️ Searches for this phrase are trending again
And is predicted to spike throughout the year.

‍

You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Empire Candle, Stryde, and Circle K. 👋

🤝 The Holy Grail of 1:1 Marketing Is Coming. Your Always-On SMS Agent Arrives April 16th

Up until now when it comes to SMS marketing, you’ve had consumer data from website cookies and purchases, but it’s just not enough to really anticipate your customers’ needs and give them that seamless experience they crave. 🫤

That’s all about to change.

👉 Meet Shopper.

Shopper is an always-on SMS agent that makes conversational commerce effortless. 💬

🚨 SMS subscribers drive 8X MORE REVENUE than email subscribers, but brands are dropping the ball, because it’s hard to text back thousands, or even millions of subscribers.

Shopper solves this. It lets you give every single customer the attention they deserve, discover exactly what product they need, and help them shop. Effortlessly.

It’s time to shift marketing from personalized to personal. Say hello to true 1:1 marketing, only from Postscript.

💡 Four Creative Ways To Use GIFs

GIFs are a great way to add a dynamic element to your emails for visual interest.

However, GIFs can also convey a lot about your brand story and products without using any words.

‍

Here are four effective ways to use GIFs:

1️⃣ Show a before and after: Wow customers with a before and after pic with your product.  

2️⃣ Steps to use: If your product has a multiple-step process and requires more product education, this is a great way to help customers understand.

3️⃣ Zoom in on details: Hone in on your product's unique selling point. If there are unique details, show that off in a GIF

4️⃣ Show off product assortment: Are you releasing a new collection? Show off all your new SKUs in a GIF so customers can see what's available without having to scroll.

‍

‍

In this mailer, Catbird shows off multiple SKUs from its Zodiac collection so customers stop scrolling and wait for the one related to their birth month.  

👉 Large GIFs can trigger spam filters, so test for deliverability before sending and reduce size if necessary.

‍

The takeaway?

Try using GIFs in your next mailers and see how they impact your key metrics.

Animated elements like GIFs are a great way to engage subscribers and reduce the length of your mailers.

💬 Ready To Add The Most Popular Mobile Messaging App To Your Strategy?

👥 WhatsApp has 2.5 billion users globally, with over 100 million monthly users in the US.

With some of the highest delivery and open rates and proven ability to drive 40-50% more conversions, it’s the most powerful marketing channel you’ve yet to adopt. 💥

‍

Here's the benchmark stats you need to know:

• 📲 Over 90% delivery rate
• 👀 98% open rate (that’s 3-5x email benchmarks!)
• 🕗 33 minutes daily app use per user

🚀 Upgrade your strategy today. Download Dotdigital’s WhatsApp Playbook for the ultimate guide to success on the app.‍

🎨 DALL·E 4 Brings More Realistic and Accurate AI Images

OpenAI’s latest model, DALL·E 4, improves image quality, coherence, and prompt accuracy. It better understands spatial relationships and offers enhanced editing tools for modifying images without starting from scratch.

🔹 What does this mean for you?

Faster, more flexible content creation for ads, social media, and branding—reducing reliance on stock photos.

If you have a GPT subscription, try it out! We’ve been playing around with it and can vouch that it’s pretty cool.

‍📅 Plan Ahead For A Successful Q2

Hard to believe we’re almost done Q1!

Time flies, and the Pilothouse team is gearing up for a busy Q2—making campaign plans for seasonal moments and key shopping dates.

And they’re sharing some key dates with you here.

‍

🐰 Easter - April 20, 2025

Easter is a huge holiday for retail and food, with shoppers buying gifts, candy, decorations, and planning festive meals.

Get ahead of the game by promoting special offers on Easter baskets, candy deals, and dining specials.

Highlight limited-time discounts or exclusive bundles to grab attention!

‍

💐 Mother’s Day - May 11, 2025

Mother’s Day is one of the most important gifting holidays of the year and it’s a great opportunity to push gifting messaging or create Mother’s Day bundles to make it easier for shoppers to find the perfect gift.

The Pilothouse team recommends starting ads early and pushing shipping cut-off messaging to increase urgency.

‍

🇺🇸 Memorial Day - May 26, 2025

The unofficial start of summer! And a key date when shopping intent is high.

It’s the perfect time to leverage Meta ads to promote Memorial Day Sales and showcase your products in a highly relevant way.

Add a little US flare through emojis, colors, and promo codes to boost sales around the long weekend.

‍

⛳ Father’s Day - June 15, 2025

Depending on your brand and product mix, Father’s Day may be a bit slower, but still a great opportunity to capitalize on gifting intent.

If you’re running an offer for Father’s Day, the Pilothouse team recommends split testing the offer with Father’s Day messaging vs. positioning it as a limited-time Spring offer to understand the performance of both.

‍

🌈 Pride Month - Month of June

June is a great opportunity for brands to support the LGBTQ+ community.

Depending on your brand, this can be done pre- or post-click or potentially incorporated into email marketing.

‍

🌭 Fourth of July - Early Prep Needed!

Although this holiday falls in Q3, starting your campaigns in late June is smart.

The Pilothouse team recommends planning promotions like exclusive July 4th drops and discounts ahead of time to capitalize on high shopping intent around the 4th.

The Pilothouse team typically sees the most success when they:

• Plan Promotions Early: Base your offers on the performance of existing promotions or try to test something new with the goal of getting specific learnings back (eg. try a gift with purchase offer on orders over a certain threshold to see how this impacts AOV and CVR).
• Take an Omnichannel Approach: Leverage search, social, and SMS to reach different customer segments and levels of the funnel.
• Make the Offer Visible on Site: Update your site banner, PDP, and cart messaging so users know what the offer is, when it ends, and how to redeem it.

Q2 is a prime opportunity to connect with shoppers through seasonal campaigns.

Plan ahead, stay agile, and share your Q2 wins with us this upcoming quarter!

📈 SEARCH SURGE

What’s trending? Economic Blackout.

Why is this trending again? On Feb 28th, there was a nationwide economic blackout calling on U.S. consumers to stop shopping at major retailers for 24 hours and support small local businesses instead.

More planned blackouts are expected this month and throughout the year.  

These boycotts show how consumers are protesting corporate greed with their dollars.

‍

⚡ QUICK HITS

👀 Wanna see a 400% ROI in your influencer marketing? minisocial helps you build an always-on community of Superfans on top of getting video assets for your organic and paid channels. Try minisocial here. *

‍

📅 EVENTS

Google Cloud Next 25 - Google Cloud Next '25 is a large-scale event showcasing Google Cloud's latest technologies and solutions. Attendees can expect to learn about advancements in areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics.

🗓️ Apr 9-11, 📍 Las Vegas, NV 💰 Free - $2,099

AI Expo - AI Expo is a series of events focused on artificial intelligence and its applications across various industries. The event includes presentations, workshops, and demonstrations showcasing practical AI applications.

🗓️ Apr 18, 📍 Austin, TX 💰 $29

‍

📰 NEWS

• Facebook is going back to their OG vibe with a ‘Friends’ tab. Meta says the Friends tab will show “your friends’ stories, reels, posts, birthdays and friend requests.”
• TikTok is gearing up to launch TikTok Shop in France, Germany, and Italy.
• HEYDUDE and MLB launch comfy, team-themed shoes, including Yankees designs.

📥 Got a B2B Biz?

Join dozens of B2B companies finding demand-gen success through our niche community of 150k brand leaders and founders this year. Talk to our team to learn more.

‍

Have you heard our latest podcasts?

• 👜 Scaling a Luxury Resale Empire with Luxe Du Jour
• ⚡ AKNF 492: How To Win on Amazon in 2025: Rising Tariffs and AI
• ⭐ TWBERP 25: The Role of Email in Branding and Retention
• 🥤 How Simple Modern Scaled To $1B Without Relying on Paid Ads
• ⚡ AKNF 490: How Meta’s Advantage+ Update Impact Advertisers
• 🤖 TWBERP 24: Solving the Attribution Puzzle with Triple Whale

‍

Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

‍

DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight and Frances Du. Edited by Eric Dyck.

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.

Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content.