Images, GIFs and video links in cold emails (and why to avoid attachments)

Draft — written from product facts + domain knowledge; UI labels to be verified before publishing.

Cold email is judged by spam filters that have never seen your domain before. Every image, tracked link and attachment adds weight that a plain one-to-one email would not carry. This article explains what is safe to include, how to add it in the OutreachFox editor, and why attachments should stay out of your sequences.

Short version

Attachments: never. Unknown senders with attachments are the classic phishing pattern. Bounce and spam-folder rates rise sharply, and your domain reputation drops for every campaign after.
Images and GIFs: avoid in step 1. If you use them at all, one small hosted image in a later step, never in the first touch.
Video: link to it. Host the video (Loom, Vidyard, YouTube unlisted) and put a plain link or a small thumbnail image that links out. Never embed video.
Links in general: at most one per email, and none in step 1 if you can manage it. Use the custom tracking domain so tracked links match your sending domain.

Steps

Add a hosted image

Upload the image to your own hosting (your website, a CDN or a Drive/Cloud link with public access). Keep it under 100 KB and under 600 px wide.
In the OutreachFox editor, place the cursor where the image should go and use the Image tool in the toolbar; paste the image URL.
Add alt text describing the image; many clients block images by default and show the alt text instead.
Click Preview, then Save.

Link to a video

Record and upload the video. Copy the share link.
In the editor, write the sentence ("I recorded a 60-second walkthrough for you") and use Link to attach the URL, or paste the bare URL if the campaign sends plain text.
Optional: use a small thumbnail image that links to the same URL. Keep the thumbnail static; animated "play button" GIFs are a known spam signal.
Click Save.

Share a document without attaching it

Upload the PDF to a shared drive or your website and link to it. If the prospect asks for it in a reply, then send it as an attachment from your inbox by hand.

Tips

If a campaign has Send emails in plain text enabled, images are not rendered at all; use links only.
Personalised images (name on a whiteboard) are fun but still images; treat them the same way and keep them out of step 1.
Do not link-shorten. bit.ly and similar domains are heavily abused and score badly.
Set up a custom tracking domain (Domain → Settings) before enabling link tracking, so the tracked URL is on your domain.
Test any image-bearing step with a seed list across Gmail, Outlook and Yahoo and check inbox placement in the warm-up analytics before rolling it out.

Troubleshooting

Image shows as a broken icon — the hosting URL is not public, or it requires login. Open it in a private browser window to check.
Deliverability dropped after adding a GIF — remove it from the step and let the campaign run for a few days; reputation recovers with clean sends.
Editor strips the image on save — the campaign is in plain text mode.

Send emails as plain text
Set up a custom tracking domain
Preheader text and test sends
Mailbox warm-up analytics guide

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More in Campaigns: Sequences

Create an email campaign and write your first email→Personalise, check spam words and preview before you save→Personalisation variables: lead, sender and context fields→Spintext: randomise phrases so no two emails are identical→Add follow-up steps and delays to an email sequence→A/B test with multiple email variants→Send emails as plain text→Add an unsubscribe link to your emails→Enable the unsubscribe header (one-click List-Unsubscribe)→Custom variables and updating them mid-campaign→Sequence templates: save and reuse sequences→Follow-ups in the same thread vs a new thread→Subsequences: branch on reply intent→Preheader text and test sends→