An email slideshow drawn for each reader
Up to five slides in one animated GIF, in the space of one image.A slide can be a dynamic image or product, rendered for whoever opens the email, or a static image. Set how long each one shows, loop it or play it once, and give the whole thing one link.
Static slides are free on Engage. Personalized slides need Pro, $49/mo. Compare plans
Your points, your picks, this weekend
A recreation. The real slideshow is one GIF drawn at each open.
A real personalized email GIF, straight from the renderer
Here’s the file that demo stands in for, as Alterable rendered it for Jane: one looping GIF, her name and points from your ESP’s merge tags, her product pick chosen at open, then the weekend sale everyone gets. Your subscribers’ email app loads the same kind of file, so it plays here the way it plays in Gmail or Apple Mail.
Four kinds of slide, mixed as you like
Two of them are personalized and two are static. A slideshow can be all static slides, all dynamic images, or a greeting drawn for the reader followed by the same three offers for everyone.
- Dynamic imageProAny dynamic image in your account, rendered for the reader at open: values like a name or points balance come from your ESP’s merge tags, and its targeting rules pick the variant.
- Dynamic productProA dynamic product card, chosen per recipient by the same rules, with the price and stock as they stand at open.
- Library imageAn image from your Alterable library. The same for everyone.
- Image URLA hosted JPEG, PNG or GIF. Only its first frame is used.
On Pro, start from a template: Welcome aboard, Loyalty update or Daily picks build their personalized slides for you. A weekend multi-offer of static slides works on every plan.
Slides
3 of 5 slides
- Points balancePersonalized: Dynamic image2.0s
- Product pickPersonalized: Dynamic product1.5s
- Weekend saleStatic: Library image1.5s
- Dynamic imagePro
- Library image
- Dynamic productPro
- Image URL
Put the slide with the recipient’s name first. Email apps that don’t play animation show only that one.
One frame, played your way
Every slide is placed into the same frame, so a slideshow of mixed shapes still lands in the email as one clean image. How it plays, and where a click goes, is set once for the whole thing.
Slide placement
FitFillThe frame
- Fit or Fill. Fit shows the whole slide, with the background colour around it when its shape differs from the frame. Fill covers the frame and crops the edges.
- Frame size. 600, 300 or 200 pixels wide, to fill one, two or three email columns, or a custom size up to 600 by 900. One click matches the frame to slide 1’s shape.
- Retina.Pro Off by default. Turn it on for a 2x render that is sharper on high-density screens and two to three times the file size.
Playback
Loop forever
Play 3 times, then stop on the last slide
Click URL
https://buymore.example/weekend
Size of this GIF257 KB
The playback
- Loop forever, or play N times. Up to ten plays, then the GIF stops on the last slide. Most email apps respect the count; a few loop regardless.
- One click URL. One link for the whole slideshow, not one per slide. Leave it empty for an image that is not a link.
- File size, before you send. The preview shows the size of the finished GIF and warns above 2 MB, with what to change: Fit instead of Fill, a smaller frame, retina off, fewer photos.
Works with your email platform
A slideshow is one image tag with one link. Paste it into Klaviyo, Mailchimp, HubSpot, Brevo, or any ESP that accepts an image tag with merge tags. Where an inbox doesn’t play animation, the reader sees the first slide.
Building for several clients? Create and update any element through the REST API or the MCP server, on Pro.
Questions about slideshows
Does the slideshow animate in every email client?
Nearly every one: Apple Mail, Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook on Mac, iOS, Android and the web all play animated GIFs. Classic Outlook for Windows and a few older apps show only the first frame. That is why the editor asks you to put the personalized slide first, and warns when the first slide is a static one.
Is it a carousel? Can the reader swipe?
No. It is an animated GIF, so it plays on its own and the reader cannot swipe or pause it. Email clients do not run the script a carousel needs, and a GIF is the one kind of animation every one of them accepts.
What happens if a slide cannot be rendered?
It is dropped and the slideshow plays without it. If a slide points to a dynamic image you have since archived, the other slides still show. If none of the slides can be rendered, the email gets a transparent pixel rather than a broken image.
Can a countdown timer be a slide?
No. A timer is already an animation, and a GIF inside a GIF would freeze it. Put the countdown timer above or below the slideshow; both are image tags, so they sit together in any template.
How are impressions counted?
One impression per open, however many slides the slideshow has. The dynamic images and products inside it are rendered as part of the slideshow and are not counted again.
Which plans include slideshows?
Every plan, including the free Engage plan, can build slideshows from static slides: library images and hosted URLs. Slides that are dynamic images or dynamic products, the personalized ones, are on Pro and Scale, as are retina and the slideshow templates. Moving down to Engage keeps the personalized slides you already have; it only stops you adding new ones.
Still have questions? Contact us →
Say more in the same space
Pick two slides, set the timing, paste one image tag into your next campaign. Static slides are free on Engage; personalized slides come with Pro at $49/mo.
No trial, no time limit, no credit card.