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Question: We have been getting complaints lately from subscribers that they are having a hard time reading our emails (links are broken, 'submit' buttons don't work). You have said before that we should test our messages before they go out, but when we do that, they look fine. What are we doing wrong?
Answer: You probably aren't testing it in enough email clients. It looks good when you read it in Outlook on your PC, but your subscribers who read in Outlook Express on their iMacs are probably the ones complaining that the submit button doesn't work.
It's easy to fix, though. You can either sign up with a third-party verification service that reviews your messages across a broad swath of clients and platforms, or you can do it yourself by creating accounts at some of the major email providers.
Ask your email service provider if it offers a rendering service that can spotlight trouble spots across a host of email clients. EmailAdvisor, for example, is available as an add-on service for EmailLabs customers and as a vendor for non-customers. Other providers include Return Path and Pivotal Veracity.
How to DIY
You probably won't be able to cover as many bases on your own but you can hit the ones that are most important to your readers.
1. Identify your target email clients or services.
If you send to the business or technical communities, your readers likely are using a business-class client such as Outlook or Lotus Notes on PC desktops or laptops, or even a handheld like a BlackBerry or Treo. However, graphics- or media-oriented readers are more likely to use Macs, which uses a different OS from Windows, which powers most PCs.
Consumers most likely read email in a Web-based client (Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail or Earthlink), a standalone pay service such as AOL or a desktop email client provided by their ISP (e.g., Outlook Express or Eudora). Younger subscribers might read you on their cell phones, which are even more limited in reading capacity than their parents' BlackBerries.
2. Open accounts (you should be able to line up enough freebies, especially now that AOL email service is free, but even a basic account at a paid service such as NetZero or EarthLink will pay off if you fix major problems).
3. Send each message (excluding one-to-one emails such as transactionals or customer follow-ups) to your test accounts before you send to your full mailing. Review it on different platforms if you can (PC, Mac, laptop, handheld). Click all links and buttons, and be sure every other element renders as intended.
Rendering problems that crop up most often are clickable buttons or graphics that don't work, formats that shrink or stretch on the screen or have entire copy or graphics blocks shoved out of place, and default typefaces that can play havoc with any specialized typography.
4. Add your test account addresses to your regular mailing lists to monitor delivery issues such as blocking or filtering to junk folders.
Final Word
This is another argument for creating HTML messages that are as lightweight as possible, avoiding the use of frames, scripts, streaming sound and video or any other tricks that suck up bandwidth. A streamlined and attractive HTML message that renders properly for everybody will do more than one that's tricked-out but unworkable.
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