LinkedIn’s Milestone Email: How to Motivate and Engage Users with Personalized Insights

LinkedIn effectively uses personalized milestones to engage users and motivate continued activity. You'll also discover how the platform combines data-driven insights with clear calls to action (CTAs) to encourage user interaction.

1. The Power of Personalization: LinkedIn’s email campaign is a great example of leveraging personalization to motivate users. By acknowledging the recipient’s specific activity—44K posts—the email creates a sense of accomplishment. This personalized touch not only makes the user feel recognized but also reinforces the importance of their contributions to the platform.

"Recognizing customer milestones, like purchases or interactions, can build loyalty and encourage repeat engagement."

The use of a milestone number (44K posts) gives the user a tangible sense of progress, which can be highly motivating. It subtly encourages them to continue posting and engaging with the platform, knowing that their efforts are noticed and valued. For small businesses, this is a reminder of the power of personalized marketing. Recognizing customer milestones, like purchases or interactions, can build loyalty and encourage repeat engagement.

2. Effective Use of Animation and Visuals: The animated GIF in the email, depicting a hand interacting with a LinkedIn post on a mobile device, adds a dynamic element that captures attention. This visual not only makes the email more engaging but also reinforces the action the email is encouraging—creating a post.

The use of simple, clean visuals aligns with LinkedIn’s professional branding. The animation is straightforward, without being overly flashy, making it suitable for LinkedIn’s audience of professionals. This demonstrates the effectiveness of subtle animations in email marketing—enough to catch the eye, but not so much that it distracts from the main message.

3. Clear and Actionable CTA: The CTA, “Create a post,” is direct and action-oriented, guiding the user towards the next step. Positioned right after the congratulatory message, it flows naturally and encourages immediate action. The simplicity of the CTA, combined with its strategic placement, makes it easy for the user to engage without overthinking.

The email also emphasizes the value of regular posting, linking it to increased connection with the audience. This reinforces the idea that consistent activity on LinkedIn is beneficial, both for the user’s personal brand and for their connections. Small businesses can take a cue from this by encouraging their customers to take specific actions that benefit both the customer and the business.

LinkedIn uses personalized milestones, subtle animations, and clear CTAs to motivate user engagement. By applying these strategies, you can create more impactful email campaigns that resonate with your audience.

Oevae.com helps small businesses grow through expert branding, digital marketing strategies, and personalized support. Let Oevae be your launchpad for success. Visit oevae.com to learn more.

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Reinforce positive beliefs about your brand

As you head into a new month, take a moment to reflect on those accomplishments you made this month, and think about the messages your company is sending to your customers, and consumers in general.  

You know, by this time next year there will be a big switch at Google that affects your website, but this should only be of concern to you if what consumers think about your brand really matters.  It turns out, that Google will no longer process new data as normal.  

How will your marketing team determine what to say to consumers about your brand without data from Google?

One way of making sure your brand "matters" in the minds of consumers is to share with them how much you care, and why you even offer your products and services in the first place.  This might start with crafting the perfect email.  It may be helpful for you to know that 81% of small businesses rely on email marketing to find new customers.

As smartphones and other internet-connected devices have become more widespread, 31% of U.S. adults now report that they go online “almost constantly,” up from 21% in 2015.  – ANDREW PERRIN, MARCH 26, 2021

Target marketing messages with more confidence

Even though we receive all kinds of junk in our email inbox, including SPAM and Phishing scams, the real point of an email is  "a method of exchanging messages between people using electronic devices."  Using the strength of Google Analytics data (knowing what type of individuals are finding your business online), you can target marketing messages not only by a consumers device type (Android, Apple) along with interests they express through their online purchase activities, behaviors and more:

• Age
• Gender
• Language
• Location (City, State)
• Mobile Carrier
• Online Browsing Activities

Install Google Analytics 4 Property Code (GA4)  

None of this really matters if you don't have the New Google Analytics 4 Property Code (GA4) installed on your website.  You won't have the information you need to create email marketing messages that appeal to those new customers you want.  This new version was designed to adapt to a digital ecosystem that is more respectful of user privacy – cross-platform and cross-device.  The machine learning model can even anticipate the future actions that your visitors may take, and improve user engagement analysis.  This goes far beyond just knowing what "keywords" a visitor entered to find your website.

"Some 42% of adults with a college degree or more education go online almost constantly, compared with 23% of adults with a high school diploma or less education." – ANDREW PERRIN, MARCH 26, 2021

Create targeted marketing messages

When Oevae installs the new Google Analytics 4 Property code on your website – we can turn on enhanced measurement and customize reporting to measure visitor interactions with your website content, then use the data to create targeted marketing messages that speak to the concerns of the consumers you desire to have as new customers.  What makes this even better, you can share these same messages in your website content, promotions, brochures, conversations, and social media to build and reinforce positive beliefs about your brand in the minds of consumers.

If your website is already using the Google Analytics Universal Analytics (UA code) it will no longer process new data as normal beginning July 1, 2023. It's better to start preparing now by setting up and switching over to a Google Analytics 4 Property with Oevae.com

Related:
Animated Email Marketing Messages (blog)
Website vs Social Media and Why Build On Your Own Land. First. (podcast)

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Identifying and avoiding spam email and phishing scams

Updated MON JUL 31 2023

Approximately 10,746 days ago (1992) while working at Ticketmaster (an American ticket sales and distribution company / Live Nation Entertainment) as a call center supervisor and trainer I was first introduced to "email" – back then the email was nothing like it is today.  

In 1992 we used a basic monitor that looked more like small portable TV with a black screen and green text that was always left-justified to send an email.  Email messages would be sent using a line or two of code with your message, press enter, then wait for the cursor to start blinking whenever a message was received.  That was the basis of high-tech.  No cute little notification bell or fancy "you've got mail" in the '90s and absolutely nothing to fear. 

Fast forward to 2022 – one email can take over your computer, access your private documents, download malware, and lock you out of your computer among other unbeknown threats.  That's one bad step for man, one giant malware for mankind if you ask me.

"Email spam senders, or spammers, regularly alter their methods and messages to trick potential victims into downloading malware, sharing data, or sending money."  – Rahul Awati, Taina Teravainen, techtarget.com

Over the years email has helped advance the speed of business communications and helped others keep in touch with family without the need for a mailman or the "Forever Stamp" (always represents the current price of a one (1) ounce First-Class Mail postage) first promoted by the USPS (United States Postal Service) on April 12, 2007.

As not only an entrepreneur but one that helps other entrepreneurs market their businesses, I've seen hundreds of thousands of emails in my day.  Everything from promotional emails, email marketing, auto-reply, and drip campaigns, to Constant Contact, MailChimp, Keap, GMAIL, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, EarthLink, and beyond.  In nearly 30 years I've managed to avoid most email phishing scams and spam messages to a fault. 

Identifying and avoiding email phishing scams

I've found that always looking at the "reply email address" of the email you received is your most efficient line of defense.  No, I don't trust spam blockers because hackers can be pretty tricky when it comes to navigating around well-known fences.  

In fig. 1 screenshot is phishing of an actual email said to be from Godaddy, yet the reply email address says has a typo and reading "Godady.com" which can easily be overlooked.

Other times you can identify email marauder by looking at the letters after the “dot” – as in “dot com” – to represent the Top Level Domain (TLD) such as Germany '.de', Australia '.au', Russia '.ru' which as you can see are all foreign.  Best practice would be "don't click on links" within emails that are not people or organizations, people, and companies you trust. But, I'll be honest, this can even be tricky.  

In fig. 2 screenshot is a screenshot of an email that is supposed to be from Apple, but the reply email address is "@t-online.de" – phishing for my Apple ID.

Don't open suspicious emails

Marking spam as spam when an unsolicited email makes an appearance in your inbox, never just delete it. Spam refers specifically to unsolicited bulk email (UBE). Unsolicited is the key word there. For example, You provide your email address to a company in order to download a business plan template. The company then begins emailing you updates about new products or related content. While the emails about new products or related content may be unwanted, they're not spam. Why? Technically speaking, You solicited them by giving the company your email address, which very well might sell your email address to another company. If this second company starts sending you emails, that's spam. Why? The emails from the second company are both unsolicited and unwanted because you never gave your email address to that second company.

Spam emails are almost always commercial and driven by a financial motive. These hackers try to promote and sell questionable goods, make false claims and deceive You into believing something that's not true.  Don't be bamboozled by the use of the logo.  

In Fig. 3 screenshot is a phishing email using an outdated version of the Godaddy logo.

Popular spam subjects often include: pharmaceuticals, adult content, financial services, online degrees, work-from-home jobs, online gambling, cryptocurrencies

The difference between spam and phishing

The primary difference between spam and phishing is that, although they both may be big nuisances:

• Phishing is actively aiming to steal login credentials and other sensitive data. 

• Spam is a tactic for hawking goods and services by sending unsolicited emails to bulk lists.

Don't forward emails to your friends or website designer

Forwarding your suspected emails to your friends or website designer will only spread the mayhem.  I've found that one of the best courses of action is to notify the "proposed" company of the spam by forwarding them the emails:

• Godaddy abuse@godaddy.com
• PayPal spoof@paypal.com 
• Square spoof@squareup.com 
• American Express spoof@americanexpress.com
• Apple reportphishing@apple.com
• USPS (United States Postal Services) spam@uspis.gov
• FTC (Federal Trade Commission) reportphishing@apwg.org
• Constant Contact abuse@constantcontact.com
• SquareSpace reportphishing@squarespace.com
• Wix security-report@wix.com
• Weebly abuse@Weebly.com
• Shopify safety@shopify.com
• Webflow form-spam-reports@support.webflow.com
• Jimdo privacy@jimdo.com
• BlueHost tos@Bluehost.com
• 
  

Most phone carriers in the U.S. allow you to report phishing text messages by forwarding the message to 7726 or SPAM. The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA) has designated 7726 (spells SPAM) for reporting spam texts, and most U.S. carriers are part of the program.

An example of a spambot could be using the bot to distribute links to an email phishing scam.

Try using (at) or _at_ and (dot) or _dot_ on website pages to avoid having email addresses found by spambots that search for a regex that matches email address formatting. By using _AT_ and _DOT_, the symbols that the spambot is looking for will not show up on the page, and therefore your email address will not be found. (Credit: Stack Overflow)

Over half of all global email traffic is spam

According to Cisco Systems, some 320 billion spam emails are sent every day, and 94% of malware is delivered via this medium.  Search by IP, domain, or network owner for real-time threat data.  Spam is always annoying, sometimes amusing, and often dangerous. According to Google, its Gmail service blocks more than 100 million phishing emails every single day.

You might also think for veterans like me who have had the same email company and email address for more than 20 years, and maybe it's a bit late to start using aliases, but think again. It's never too late to start dealing more effectively with the problem of email spam and phishing.

Related Content: Using Free Email Accounts for Business (Podcast: Morning Joe with Gibrón) 

 

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Animated Email Advertisements and Color Theory

We continue our examination of animated emails from top brands by taking a look at Olive Garden's National Breadstick Day advertisement. Olive Garden is a well-known restaurant known for its home-style attitude, its never-ending garlic breadsticks, and its amazing salad dressing. The following email advertisement was for National Breadstick Day, trying to get their newsletter followers to "celebrate breadsticks" at their nearest Olive Garden.

Olive Garden National Breadstick Day Advertisement - Overall Grade: B-

ANIMATED:

This specific advertisement is alright. The animation itself is choppy, almost looking like stop-motion, which could potentially be in order to add to the homemade feel that the restaurant likes to advertise. The way that the breadsticks are crawling off the plate is definitely a plus, though, because it seems to imply that everyone at the table is taking the breadsticks and that everyone wants some. The composition of the advertisement is very good, though, having the plate of breadsticks in the center as if the reader were looking down at their table, then having their signature salad in the upper lefthand corner and what looks like a soda in the upper right. 

Having the colors of the letters be the light green that they are is both aesthetically pleasing against the dark brown of the table, and is great at connecting the entire piece together as it's the same color as the salad in the upper lefthand corner. The alternating brown color is good as it also connects to the brown wood of the table the plates and whatnot are sitting on, and as a good contrast to the white plate. This is all ignoring the fact that the new logo is made with the same colors, however, and the colors could just be exact color drops from that. The same logic could be applied to those colors being chosen for the logo as well, though. Green is usually associated with nature and freshness, which are good to think of with a restaurant that has a very memorable salad appetizer. Not to mention that it's associated with growth and money, possibly subconsciously telling their customers that they are a very successful company and that they're a good choice to go to. The brown is effective in sharing the idea that the restaurant is friendly, which is a selling point in most of their advertisements as well.

STATIC:

The message below is very clever. Most, if not all, of Olive Garden's audience, love their signature breadsticks, and the company is capitalizing on that. By saying that "one breadstick is never enough," Olive Garden is subconsciously telling its audience that they need to eat multiple breadsticks to feel satisfied, which is good, considering that the restaurant gives unlimited servings. Even the button at the bottom is useful with this, by bringing home the entire advertisement and reminding the audience why it was sent out. By stating "celebrate breadsticks" on the button to the website, they both remind the audience that it's National Breadstick Day, but also make them crave exactly what they're trying to sell.

The grade I've given is derived from the overall placement of the components and the design of the advertisement, but not the animation itself. Even if the point of having the choppy animation was to add to a homemade, stop-motion feel to the advertisement, it seems lazy and uninteresting. The composition and colors were nice, as well as the written message below, which definitely helped boost the grade a bit. Although, no matter the interesting thought development behind it, and the message it may have, this advertisement doesn't make me feel as though I need to go out and get some breadsticks alongside some Olive Garden Italian food, even if it was National Breadstick Day.

Animated Email Advertisements are Instinctively Interesting

As people who frequent pizza delivery services may have heard, “No One Out-Pizzas the Hut.” Pizza Hut is a well-established company with over 11,000 stores across the world, with thousands of people subscribed to their emailing services to gain coupons and the newest, freshest information about the company. With so many people to reach out with simply email, Pizza Hut stepped up its game in October of 2016 with an animated Halloween email promotion.

Pizza Hut Halloween Advertisement - Overall Grade: B+

ANIMATED:

This advertisement is simple, yet effective, especially for parents wanting to host Halloween parties or events. It grabs attention immediately by being extremely dark, contrasting a usually red and white color scheme that Pizza Hut uses almost universally as with their branding. The black is also a considerate contrast to the Halloween orange that is usually used in branding in October. Once the audience is looking, either the bright red text at the bottom will have them reading, or the scary animated red eyes that seem to pop out of nowhere will have them looking at the ad for longer than if it were simply a still image. The animated leaves that move across the image from right to left also keep the audience interested, and if they’ve finished reading the text, bring their eyes back to not only the image of the door but also the beginning of the text. A good addition to this advertisement would be perhaps having the door open slightly, or maybe having it slamming shut after the eyes look around, maybe adding creaking noises or a growl of some sort. I gave this animated advertisement a B+ for its creativity in design for a Halloween advertisement, and the quality of the animation that they’ve included. The best way to improve, in my opinion, would be to add extra movement to keep the reader’s focus for longer or to keep it memorable.  

STATIC:

The effectiveness of this advertisement would be lacking if it were just a still image instead of an animation because some would simply look and move on, perhaps not even reading the text on it. However, with the small moving details, the brain gets distracted and will look to see what information it’s missing that’s causing the movement to happen.

The benefits of having animation in email marketing are more than just eye-candy, it’s psychology, and while I won’t go into too much detail here, it’s similar to what I just stated. Our brains instinctively see motion in order to protect ourselves, so when there is a static image, our brains will more likely ignore it in favor of one that’s moving.

This opens up a world of opportunity with our advances in technology, especially for the best marketing advancements. While some are content with static billboard images, innovators are creating interesting animated email advertisements. As these types of animated email ads are produced and become more mainstream, the importance then turns to not only if an advertisement is eye-catching, but also if it’s pleasant to look at, if it keeps the reader’s attention, and if it evokes the correct response out of who the company is trying to reach. With all of these attributes in mind, creative marketing strategies such as making interesting animated email advertisements such as the Pizza Hut one above are not only effective because they might look cool, but they have a psychological reason to do so. It is only through tactics such as these that the companies willing to keep up with the ever-changing field of marketing will be able to flourish.     

Sources:

Pizza Hut Statistics

No One Out-Pizzas the Hut

Brain Evolution

Animated Email Marketing

Updated: 062625

FEATURED ANIMATED EMAIL 

  CapitalOne creditwise update "Your FICO® Score"   hits hard with the animated credit score meter or credit score gauge pulsating in the left to right progression is instantly recognizable.  This makes the email easy for consumers to understand without needing exact figures – This type of scale is effective in visual communication because it uses intuitive colors and positioning to convey qualitative information without hesitation.  We like the black background which pushes the meter right in the reader's face.  The two call-to-action buttons before and after the details, and mobile phone did not seem redundant. In all, the email can be easily understood, if the reader is talking on the phone. 

We design, read, send, and receive a whole lot of emails.

We examine animated email marketing messages vs standard email messages from the top brands. You get our two cents about it.  

Each email has a measure of creative content that attempts to make your email inbox come alive and generate clicks.  Just beyond the email subject line, marketers capture the readers' attention in micro-moments with cleverly designed animations.

The best marketing companies in the world use email animation to keep readers engaged and inspire consumers to take action – just long enough to sink memorable impressions about the brand.  We add new animated email samples each from the leading brands.

At Oevae, we know that producing standout creative email animations and brand messages requires the marketing and design team to leap over hurdles and crank through headaches when time is slim, Each brand has a different message and will hopefully make lasting impressions on our group of marketers.  

Our favorite: Bust Buy “Rock Your Resolutions” sparklers that twinkle delicately and naturally bring home the fun days of childhood. Or, the upside-down Pineapple and Snowflakes "Happy Holiday" by MOO.

Refresh page: IF the animated image is not animated, open the .gif image file in a new tab or refresh the browser to view the animated email graphics.

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  Whataburger Rewards A Free Burger for You   is simple and straight to the appetite for app users who haven't visited in a while.  This may be due to the Radar's (Radar helps Whataburger increase repeat orders with real-time pickup ETAs and arrival detection) geofencing capabilities with the Whataburger partnership – leveraging location-based data. Overall we feel the animated email takes the reader's time into account with the word "free" and the burger which enters stage-left. There is a button just below the fold whereby email recipients can "Redeem Now" for Curbside Pickup or Delivery which felt very welcoming.  

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Jack n the Box JACKAPALOOZA remastered by Oevae.com   a big surprise to our panel of email marketing experts – we remastered the party with a simple animation to make the party more appealing to the email reader. Not all email looks great animated, but we think even Jack would like to bob his head to this one! We see the Jack in the Box brand as a strong competitor among the most popular fast food restaurant chains, because of the brand's heritage and highly recognizable symbol for Americans on the road. Founded in San Diego, CA, it's no wonder for those moving to Texas with its nearly 600 Jack in the Box locations, the brand is a regular go-to for consumers on the move from California to a new home in Texas. For this reason, we feel animation gets the party moving and catch eyeballs. #JACKAPALOOZA  

The first image is the remastered version by oevae.com

(remastered to animated email by oevae.com)

(original full email marketing graphics)

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Google AI for Small Business Trends   and it's very clear that AI (artificial intelligence) can help small businesses leverage data insights to find out what's trending in the world of search.  This email is straight to the point and what we liked about the animation is the smoothness, and rhythm of the human breath, almost as one might when climbing a mountain, as depicted in the animated graphic.  We also liked that the call-to-action button was high on the page.  Ture to Google brand color pallet and multiple call-to-action buttons with a variety of statements almost tells a great short story, each starting with a welcoming tone "Discover," "Find," and "Learn," make this animated email our featured post for June.

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New Year!  New Nike Gear! Just do it with Fintech AfterPay   can put a new pair of ground cushions on your feet in less time than you may have thought – buy now, pay later with Interest-free repayments.  This may sound great, but call-to-action was so low on the page, none of us knew exactly what we were being asked to do, other than to "shop in the app" which we already know to do.  Clearly this animated email is directed to those closer to 18-years-old (They feel as if they have reached the stage of full maturity, and They make their own decisions), which can be a valid point of interest for both older adults (shopping for self/gifts for friends or relatives).  The colors found in the Nike shoes corollated with the Afterpay brand colors.  We didn't find this to be the most exciting or memorable email promotion.  However, the email Subject line was a nice play on words: New Year!  New Nike Gear! as well as the phrase "Upgrade your rotation," which complimented the animated graphic.

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No qualms about it, Peach & Lily's animated diversity   will certainly connect with more people. In fact, on the date of this post (March 29, 2023) Google says there are "About 4,120,000,000 results" for the word "Diversity" – the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc. 

The Peach & Lily email includes three women; African, European, and Asian. In less than 4 seconds the recipient will feel included when it comes to beauty.  The animation is smooth, and compelling, and uses large images (subconscious influence) to connect with the reader, instantly build trust in the product, and one of the fastest ways to inject positivity into the email messaging – right in the face.  Overall our group found the email to be very attractive and easily embraced the message with powerful imagery, especially when referring to the color of human skin.

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Hey, say hello to two convenient Zelle® features animated mobile phone shows us how to sync contacts – helping you send and receive money with people you know and trust.

Chase and Zelle help you settle up with friends, at least that's what the email's primary content says with the quickness, but most of us in the group felt that the email animation should repeat a few times.  However, the simple two-step illustrations may help reinforce the animations of the mobile phone. Big Banks like Chase are adjusting to Digital Banking, disrupting traditional banking to the extent that fintech companies now have tens of millions of users.  

"One of the ways that big banks stepped up and faced the competition from Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, and others, was by introducing Zelle, an instant payments service." – Top Mobile Banks

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Linkedin, you're on a streak animated email is intended to help users "keep the momentum" by sharing with your network and building a following.  The email is short and to the point, however, we have conflicting feedback.  One of our panel members says the email "would encourage them to "Start a post" while the non-technocratic member of our marketing team said the email nor the animation would not prompt them to share. The graphics seem to be low-caliber considering Linkedin site revenue surpassed $10.0 billion in Q4 2021 according to Earthweb.com.  Overall our marketing group felt the email lacked oomph.

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Get more out of Instagram's animated email chat log  connecting with your friends has never been easier – At first glance, the email seems to be very simple and to the point (a chat conversation between two people), which reinforces the email Subject Line immensely.  Most of us in the group even overlooked the call-to-action (Open Instagram) button.  The photography used evokes a passion for adventure, while the colors in each image protrude a homey and relaxed vibe. Overall most of our group found the Instagram animated email quick, and easy to understand with a dash of intrigue.

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GoApe Zip Line is sure to raise your heart rate and this animated zip line looks like the prerequisite for fun.  The graphics are large and makes the email a virtual experience.  The GoApe Promo Code and copy are simple to comprehend which reinforces a "speed" and the tagline "The Weather You've Been Waiting For!" aka anticipation.

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Yelp for business "Let's get back to business" animated business owners follow the brand colors and character.  The animated graphics show diversity in ethnicity, industry, and gender.  The Get $300 credit offer seemed like an attempt to counter Google Adwords promotions.  Overall the email was short, simple, informative, and easy to comprehend. 

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AirDogs #BatteryPowered Animated Fan taking a page from the book of TESLA to Bring on the Battery-Powered Breeze with a portable, space-saving folding fan.  The simple and smooth animated fan is an instant eye-catcher when you open your email.  We found the graphics to be simple, yet very compelling.  The AirDogs fan is actually a lot bigger (11.65 " x 11.65" x 6.5" when folded) than it appears which raised a small amount of concern for a few of our email examiners.

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CreditOne Bank animated money falling from the sky is something most anyone would welcome which helps this email trigger anticipation, which could lead to a "unique click" and a sign-in to view Cashback Rewards.  Everyone reviewing this email felt that using real money would have added more authenticity and anticipation, rather than the illustrated bills – lending more emphasis to the tagline "Browse, Boost & Earn Big".

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The SABRE Awards North America used an animated trophy to promote the 2020 event. The invitation is simple and to the point with its animated trophy. A few of our email examiners would like to have seen smiling faces (past event photos).  None were convinced that the animation or overall email reinforced the excitement of SABRE (The world's biggest PR awards programme, dedicated to benchmarking the best PR work from across the globe.). Because PRovoke Media is the PR industry's leading source of news, trends, events, career information & intelligence, our group felt the email did not measure up to its credentials.

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Spectrum Internet® brings a tiny animated butterfly to the "See MY Deals" button.  The flowers obviously align well with the butterfly, however, it is an immediate clash with anything "high speed" as most prefer the Internet.  The animation is very smooth and the natural (organic) movements make the butterfly life-like. Overall most email examiners found the email to be cute but not compelling enough to generate a "unique click" or strong engagement.

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Saks 5TH Avenue animated models wearing styles for working out and hanging out was a bit misleading with all buttons stating "MEN'S" and having both male and female in rotation.  We felt more options and ethnic diversity would have made the email more appealing.  The time of year (April) the email was sent seems to fall in line with the apparel choices, however, most email examiners felt the "Get Active" markup would be a better fit for the "New Year Resolution" crowd.

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The Google My Business app, animated smartphone using Google Maps is very compelling and simple, and easy to comprehend.  As normal with Google, the email branding aligns well with the brand's primary colors and illustrations.  The email content and graphics offer the viewer a step-by-step use of the new Google Business Profile for small business owners that is simple, smooth, friendly, and has fantastically fun UX.

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Twitter Inc.'s "Stand out with a profile photo." animated Twitter profile seemed a little generic.  A majority of our email examiners felt that the images should be actual user photos rather than cartoon emoji style.  According to Twitter, having a profile photo will help you get more followers. 

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Cotton Patch Cafe's animated dinner plate looks like it comes with at least two options according to this Cotton Patch Cafe email promo.  Our group felt that more options could have been added for variety and appeal to more viewers. The graphics and animation speed is great for attracting the reader's eye as soon as the email is opened.  Most agreed that the photography of the food makes it look fresh and appealing.

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The New York Times limited offer features an animated plant.  The email promo is subtle and calm, graphics depict someone reading the newspaper and watering the plant simultaneously.  Overall this email must be targeting calm and reserved individuals.  Nothing to write home about or particularly memorable said our email examination panel.

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Groupon dashes in with a fast and furious styled animated message telling you how you could win $100,000 when you take the Groupon survey.  None of our email examiners felt the "curse word" replacement text "#@$%ing" was necessary or added to the overall impact.  Nor did they see a connection between the visual (eating pizza) and winning $100,000.  The overall thoughts were that the animation heavily outweighed the visual impact.

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 D Magazine "Subscribe and Get This Issue for FREE” | Animated Magazine is how you get more people to subscribe to your magazine.  Offer readers a free issue if they subscribe for 12 months, and allow them to sneak a peek inside the free issue.  That's what D Magazine did in this animated email that features a magazine with animated pages (3) turning.  The animation reminded our group of standing in line at the grocery store checkout, flipping through the magazine.  The best thing here is there's no lower back issue picking up the "blow-ins" (those little subscription cards that fall out of magazines and promise you this, that, or the other).  Overall we found the email to be a bit wordy and the primary suggestion would be to place the "Subscribe Now" button higher in the content.  

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  Tata Harper "Goodbye Summer Hello Fall Beauty Event” | Animated cosmetic bag is made up of only 10 frames which immediately catch your eye with the sparkling glitter of the cosmetic bag (vegan leather Jet Set beauty bag).  Our creative director commented on the natural flow and movement of the twirling makeup products that climb into the bag before it is zipped closed, like a scene from an old Walt Disney cartoon.  Tata Harper says these products will "Meet your defense against drying plane air and red-eye flights" with this "glammed-up skincare bag" during your travels.  We all thought the email campaign was memorable and gives email contacts a great impression of the Tata Harper brand.

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  Amazon Prime "PrimeDay” | Animated Flying Origami Airplane is made up of only 96 frames.  Amazon's PrimeDay is a two-day event where you will see deals and offers on a number of electronics.  Our best guess is, that Amazon Air will be delivering the packages across the United States based on the animated airplane with a trailing banner (Aerial advertising is a form of advertising since the early 1920s) – one of the first uses of marketing with advertising which allow large numbers of people and potential customer to view an ad at one time. The animation has a higher number of frames (96) which allow for a smooth or "epic" flight around the globe.  Our design team agreed that the paper (Origami) represents the shipping/packaging of the products.  Overall, we do like the subliminal aspects of Amazon's animated email marketing campaign. 

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  MOO "Chop that melon!” | Animated Watermelon Karate Chop is made up of only 6 frames.  Moo email marketing campaigns offer some of our creative design team's favorite animated email marketing graphics to critique. Like many we've already seen, here's another creative approach to "slashing prices" or offering discounts, "cutting prices" or in this case "chop that melon" with a Karate chop.  We found the graphics to be not only funny but also an incredibly clever use/play on words.  Very simple and effective use of a popular prop tool to hold the watermelon – Iyengar's famous yoga blocks, obviously giving the natural support necessary for the best chop asana. 

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  Spectrum Mobile "Stay Connected” | Animated Text Message is made up of only 6 frames.  Read over the shoulder of two moms with their babies using the Spectrum Mobile Unlimited Data Plan.  This is a cute and cozy way to tell a short story most anyone can picture.  The animated text is a bit faster than a real-time conversation, however, as a viewer your eyes are instantly drawn to the conversation as if you are the fly on the wall.  Although the email in its entirety seems a bit heavy on content, the message may be lacking more punch.  If you don't read the text message (ignore as bogus and rarely use text messaging) you will miss the part about "No contracts or hidden fees."  Overall this is a simple and unique way to get across the "Stay Connected" message.  

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   Groupon “Groupon Select” | Animated Groupon Bucks is made up of 79 frames.  Not a lot of pizzaz here but it does stress more than one Buck with the animated graphic fanning the four bucks.  The Groupon Bucks (bills/currency) has the number five in each corner and the ad says you get $20 Groupon Bucks After Sign Up!  If you're looking to get people to move, offering money can be a great incentive for email recipients' impulsiveness.  Groupon's Fanning Money animated GIF could be a great way to help replace a portion of your customer base that some businesses lose annually. Offers to stimulate repeat purchases from existing customers and attract a new set of loyal customers which is highly beneficial for growing your business.

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  Our Daily Bread “Devotional” | Animated Video is made up of 60 frames.  This is a unique way to grab the viewer's attention.  A snippet of the video loops and the animated graphics include a "play" icon which can possibly lead to a higher email click-through rate and ultimately take email recipients on the buying journey.  This is a very clever animated graphic because large .gif files used for animation can grow in file size rather quickly.  The graphic artist in this case reduced the dimensions of the video animation graphic which keeps the .gif file size low.

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  CarMax “4 Year Anniversary” | Animated Car Illustration is made up of 110 frames that scroll across the page.  The email uses animated music notes over one of the cars to emphasize the anniversary, which is reinforced by the text which reads "That's a lot of dashboard drumming.  Go ahead turn it up."  A simple email reminder from CarMax adds value to the company's push to say we care about you (our customer) in a fun manner.  

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  Google “Local Guides” | Animated Mobile Phone is made up of 165 frames that make this small promo really pop.  The graphics show you exactly what you can do as a Local Guide and don't take a lot of time doing so.  Our marketing team suggested that the "Start Contributing" button should be above the fold to increase conversions.  The colors are well-balanced.  The use of orange could not be any better – energy associated with red and the happiness associated with yellow.  Overall the grade was a B+ for this animated email promo.

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  Vimeo “Meet Vimeo Business” | Animated Video Marketing Tools   The Vimeo Newsletter had nice icons for the different business solutions but really doesn't express "video" in any manner.  Our creative team suggested that alternating background colors could have been more aligned with the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers #SMPTE color bars – a television test pattern used where the National Television System Committee #NTSC video standard is utilized – often seen at The End of a television stations' broadcasting day.  The overall grade for the animation is a D.

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  GoDaddy “World Gratitude Day!” | Animated Gift   Simple, smooth animation with call to action (Shop Now) button at top center.  The use of the strongest color (yellow), psychologically – could lift spirits and self-esteem.  The use of a soothing color (blue) adds trust and peace to the animation.  Overall we thought this animation was self-explanatory and received a C+ for speed.

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  Rhapsody “Give the Gift of Music” | Animated Mother's Day Heart   The small red heart is bouncing around the image like the 1972 Pong game – a two-dimensional sports game that simulates table tennis.  Atari engineer Allan Alcorn designed and built Pong as a training exercise.  We could not make the connection between Pong and Mother's Day and Music, so please comment if you have a clue?  Perhaps we're supposed to ask mom?  Our marketing gurus commented that using such a tiny heart fails to express a great deal of love for mom.  Therefore, this email animation received a D- from a creative standpoint.

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  Overnight Prints “Want to Get Lucky?” | Animated Pot of Gold   Great idea that our marketing team felt lacked oomph.  The gold coins in the iron pot could use more sparkle and the rainbow and the four-leaf clovers are barely visible.  Overall, the members of the graphics team said this was designed by someone tardy for the party.

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  General Assembly “Where Will You Land?” | Animated Spin Wheel   Simple and very catchy promotion for those who want to learn how to code HTML, CSS & Web Design Circut.  After a while, our marketing team thought this cute and probably a very quick idea that could be changed on the fly to stop on specific topics related to the different email campaigns.  We also suggest the use of the company "General Assembly" or "GA" be more prominent throughout the email.

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  Best Buy “Rock Your Resolutions” | Animated Sparklers Email Promotion    If this isn’t the yacht club or cool kids all grown up, we missed the message.  Best Buy wants to “help make it fun to keep your New Year’s resolutions.”  Twinkling sparklers light up the mood with a childhood favorite and bottle service must.

Best Buy "Rock Your Resolutions" | Animated Sparklers Email Promotion

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  Obama “Organizing for Action” | Animated Shot Clock Count Down instantly deals the reader a sense of urgency with big bold red numbers and sporty shot clock countdown.  The caption reads, “The clock is winding down.”  Normal Obama logo brand colors are replaced with solid black images.  The animated graphics end with a "sad face" when the clock stops.  The overall tone is simple and direct in your face.  You have a decision to make.  15 seconds can save you up to 10% at GEICO, but this promotion asks you to chip in now and not wait until the last second.

Obama “Organizing for Action” | Animated Shot Clock Count Down
– Refresh web browser to see count down animation – 

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   MOO “Happy Holidays” | Animated Snowflakes turns up the drama with the upside-down pineapple.  Who would imagine that the top of the pineapple would frost the tips during the winter holidays?  MOO did.  They ask the reader to look at two extremes and make friends with new worlds and possibilities using familiar images.  The first stop, MOO “Hopes yours is full of the unexpected delights!”  In retrospect, one from our group remembered his mother always cooking Pineapple Upside Down cake during the holiday season.  The tone is very simple and charming.

MOO “Happy Holidays” | Animated Snowflakes

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 Redbox | Minions, King Bob,  Animated Mic Drop funny in the theater as well as the email.  This clever design will draw the viewer into the email content for a longer period of time (more micro-moments).  The animation appears to be video but it's an animated .gif file format that is low in file size, which is paramount when it comes to email and saving precious loading time.

Redbox | Minions, King Bob, Animated Mic Drop

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  Papa John's | Papa John, Pizza Maker, Founder Animated Signature looks pretty snappy when you first open your email.  A nice quick and easy way to personalize the Papa John's brand with a very organic "natural ingredient" at the essence of the overall tone.

Papa John's | Papa John, Pizza Maker, Founder Animated Signature

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 Dominos | DXP Delivery Vehicle Built-in Warming Oven way to go Dominos. and I can’t believe I can go for a ride in the DXP, Dominos new wheels.  The very simple animated warming oven door opens and closes in what could be an infinite loop as the count superseded our willingness to count past 10 as we all had other emails to read and no time to kill counting.  It would have been nice to see a bird fly to bring it home.  Overall the email made the point - Dominos appears to be ahead of the curve. We caught up with the original Domino's DXP (Delivery Expert) The Chevrolet Spark EV Delivery Vehicle on the road. 

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  Petsmart | Ever had Deja Groundhog Day | Happy Groundhog day again Coupon is simple, cute, quick, and to the point.  The timing would have to be right for this one.  The little groundhog bats its eyes while the clouds drift in the light blue sky.  If you want $5 off a $10 purchase - get a coupon.  We thought 50% off would cause a larger head-jerk and be more favorable than asking the reader to do the math.  Overall the animated email promotion was a win.

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Organizing for Action - Barack Obama | Marriage Equality #LoveisLove folding heart seems to be fitting for a noble budget.  The small red heart opens like a note passed in class and goes figure, it has its own hashtag #loveislove in natural Sharpie handwriting across the center.  The email promotion asks the reader to “Chip in” (contribute would be old money talk - Obama is new money like PayPal) and “Help fund the fight against discrimination.”

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  HOW Design Magazine | Double Loop Roller Coaster has spunk, even though it's really tiny.  It takes 5 trips around the double-loop coaster. The coaster actually hops off the track and it's so funny - this is a Coster with attitude.  Would have liked to see this in full color.  There are 6 flags waving in the wind which makes the whole experience fun and worth watching or sharing.  No doubt the creators know how to get your attention. 

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  Pizza Hut #HUTLOVERS | Animated Fireworks and count down to more pizza was our least favorite.  We thought that Pizza Hut missed the mark.  Steam could have been rising from a warm soft crust while slices started to vanish.  The hungry consumer counts down the number of pizza slices by the number of people who return to the box for more.  The overall tone is elementary in design and a bit on the annoying side for most in our group.  We all agreed that if it's cheap pizza the reader is wanting, Pizza Hut dropped the mic!

Pizza Hut #HUTLOVERS | Animated Fireworks

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  Condé Nast | All Magazines Flash Sale Animated Email is subtle and classy.  We thought the animation could be a bit smoother; the image size is larger so they may have wanted to keep the file size low to keep image loading time to a minimum.  One difference with this email is the entire email is an image – no text links.

Related Content: Using Free Email Accounts for Business (Podcast: Morning Joe with Gibrón) 

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