As an email marketer, you have plenty of challenges when it comes to getting your messages out the door and into the inbox. And getting in doesn’t mean the end of those challenges. Almost every email client, i.e. Outlook 2003, Gmail, Yahoo!Mail, etc…, interprets your HTML code a little differently than the next. Which means you are challenged with creating high quality HTML that will render properly across as many of these clients as possible. Add to that the time consuming task of obtaining access to accounts for these email clients and having the discipline to test them and make revisions where necessary to preserve the visual integrity of your campaign. It can get a little overwhelming.
A good Pre-Flight or Campaign Preview tool will allow you to view your message in some or all of these email clients before sending so you can fix or rearrange any issues before you deploy. Deliverability experts like ReturnPath as well as many Email Service Providers, including emfluence, offer this feature as part of their toolset.
The advantage is that within just a few clicks, your message will be tested across the most important email clients, in most cases representing 90% or more of your list. Then, you can make critical decisions on how you choose to revise (or not revise) your campaign. The best part is, you’ll see the results and can make revisions in one central location.
So, which email clients are important? This list certainly isn’t exclusive and you should examine your own file to see which email clients are most important to your campaigns. Chances are if you’re B-to-C, Yahoo! Mail will make up about a third of your list, with AOL, Gmail, Hotmail, etc. following behind. Here’s a list of the seven most important email clients (in no particular order):
AOL
Earthlink
Gmail
Mail.com
Outlook (2003, 2007, XP and Express versions)
Windows Live Hotmail
Yahoo! Mail (Classic and New 2008 versions)
Not only should you know what your emails will look like in each client, you should know how they’ll render when the images are set to “off”. This includes seeing how the message will render as text on a Blackberry device. When you preview your emails in these seven email clients, you’re not only increasing the chances that your message will be delivered correctly, but you can also check for errors in email execution. HTML errors can be a huge deduction in the deliverability game.
Also, watch your domain reports and be sure that your deliverability in each of these clients is on par with your expectations. Suspicious stats like 0% open rate across all Yahoo! Mail addresses may mean that you got booted from the inbox or from being delivered altogether and that it’s time to check in on your reputation.
For a more about what Campaign Preview can provide for your email campaign, including a preview of the integrated tool in the emfluence Emailer, visit emfluence.com/email-marketing.
