I was sitting back, scrolling through a pile of emails that I was behind on reading…
And clicked into one from a company I’d spent many thousands of dollars with in the past. I like catching up every now and again on what’s going on for them.
The opening was interesting. And I was merrily reading along.
Then a particularly powerful and confronting statement was made…
Which they emphasized by saying “Mic drop.”
And that was all good. Appropriate. Made sense.
BUT…
Straight afterwards they included an animated GIF.
It showed some guy literally dropping his mic.
So my brain started spinning up…
I first wondered who he was.
Then thought…
“Perhaps everyone else knows. And I’m the only sheltered, clueless one?”
Then jumped to…
“Why did he drop his mic? I hope it’s OK!”
Meanwhile, I became entranced by the rapidly moving GIF.
Then I flipped over to where I write my emails. And started writing this email about the mic drop GIF.
By then… it was all over. And my attention on that email was lost.
It occurred to me…
That GIF was a distraction grenade detonating in the middle of the email š„
And it destroyed the fact that I was already hooked… and happily reading along.
It made me wonder how many other people had their concentration disrupted like this.
Maybe wondering who the guy was. Or were mesmerised by the quickly cycling clip.
And then, when they snapped out of it, just moved on to something else. Or remembered it’s time to take the dog for a walk. Or one of 100 other things.
I can’t run the numbers. But it would be jolly interesting to see how people engaged differently with that email… versus the same one with the GIF left out.
Oh… and this email I never finished reading was from a copywriting training company. Whose bread and butter is teaching writers to persuade and hold attention! š®
Just as well you won’t find distracting GIF images in my emails. (Emojis on the other hand…)
Reason being…
I can’t even use images in my emails. Even if I wanted to.
Because the email platform I use doesn’t permit them.
Yep, you heard right. No images allowed.
Must be barking mad the people who created it, right?
(And the people who use it!)
Heh… well, when it’s literally the only email platform designed by marketers for marketers…
And email deliverability (as in getting the darned electronic messages to go where they’re intended)… is at the top of their list…
There might just be something in it.
Having no images means there’s simply no way to hide dubious pictures in emails. So eliminates a whole class of issues with emails and spam filters.
And has the added bonus of not needing to waste your time finding the “right” image or GIF for your email.
Plus, it kinda forces you to be a better writer.
Not having images in emails is one way I like to keep my email writing low-friction. And low stress.