To GIF or not to GIF? 🤔

Lior Galante Cohen (Vaza)
22 replies
Have you used GIFs on your "ship" upcoming pages or PH posts? Do you like seeing GIFs on other product pages? In your opinion, do GIFs convey the message better than the product screenshots and/or video? Are there any cool tools or tips you can share about creating GIFs to promote your products? ✌️

Replies

Solomon Bush
I definitely like GIFs on landing pages & product pages. I think there is a time and place for videos, but if you want to capture a short workflow, task, or feature - GIFs are the way to go. However, if you're launching a product, I would definitely do a short video too. You want to target as many users as possible :)
Gif for sure. The catch my attention everytime, much more than just images ! I mean, high quality Gif, not the pixelated one.
Lior Galante Cohen (Vaza)
@jacquelinclem Thanks for the input! I, too, believe they can be great attention-grabbers :)
Abderisak
@jacquelinclem Exactly, it has to be a big high quality gif for it to work. And it can't be too lengthy, otherwise I would opt for video.
The nice thing about GIFs is that they're so easier to consume than a video and better at grabbing attention when compared to a static image.
Lior Galante Cohen (Vaza)
@maxwellcdavis That's true. Would you include all three, then? As in, a GIF, a video, and static images? Or would you give up one of the three?
Ege Yalçınkaya
@maxwellcdavis @lior_galante_cohen People are consuming really fast and interaction time is getting smaller. So, long videos might be the one to give up in the first place I believe.
Amit Naime
GIFs are the best!
Sofya Narbut
I think they should be used in moderation. Sometimes too much movement can be overwhelming.
Gabriele Sangrigoli
I would personally prefer short videos like 10 seconds max than gifs. Gifs seem unprofessional. I guess the answer would be: depends on the type of gif. Someone posts gifs that is basically just their logo in motion. Even worst a 3 sec gif that shows a really cool features that actually suck once you dowload the app, i.e aspectation must match really. Gifs must represent the product fairly. That's something tricky to do when you don't have an audio component. Short well-made videos could explain the product way better and catch my attention and interess. Cons of video: you have to click on them. It means that less people are going to see your video. Ok, solution? Both. Post a catchy Gif that doesn't show anything about the product but catches people attention + Short well-made video of 10 sec + long explicative video for all the futures. In this way, if a person is interest in becaming a client you'll guide him to the discover of your product. If you think about it you want to have a cone structure to channel your costumers.
Deepa from True Sparrow
Gifs are great. They are better and less intense than videos, but sometimes too many moving gifs can be disturbing.
Daniil Glezer
are you really asking it?
Derek Duban
Great question. I'm working towards a launch on PH regarding webpage animations. I'm very curious to see some websites with GIFs on them in the ways people are talking about here. Can someone please post some example URLs?
Lior Galante Cohen (Vaza)
@sclerek Good luck with your upcoming launch, Derek! Would love to support you when your product is live. Please feel free to contact me once it out there on Product Hunt :)
Derek Duban
I'm still hoping for some live examples if any one has links. I'm really curious how gifs are used instead of videos, and when you say gifs, are you really meaning animations in a generic sense, also including webp and other formats?
Senin
always gif. never not gif
Ege Yalçınkaya
Hi Lior, to be honest, I love seeing and using GIFs to promote and explain a product. They're usually well thought and an effective way of showing a lot of information in a short amount of time and image.