Google Gmail
Summary:
One of the core recommendations we are proposing is support for embedded
CSS in the head. While support for inline CSS is probably better than nothing,
it isn’t a solid alternative for true, standards-based support. Therefore, because
of our recommendation, our acid test does not include inline CSS. Gmail does
not support CSS unless it is inline. Consequently not a single item from our
list is supported, nor is anything else. But even if Gmail supported embedded
styles in the head of a document, it strips all IDs and classes from the source.
So we would like to see Google remedy both of these ailments concurrently.
Partial/No Support (High Priority):
- Background-image
- Background-position
- Color/background-color
- Descendant-selectors
- Float/clear
- Margin
- Padding
- Varying link-colors
- Width/height
Partial/No Support (Cosmetic):
- Background-position a:hover
- Border
- Font family/size/weight/style
- Font-family names with quotes
- Font inheritance
- Line-height
- List-style-image
Recommendations for Improvement
High Priority Recommendations
We believe it is critical that Google improves Gmail to support the following CSS properties:
Background-image
One core method of delivering accessible content is to call graphical elements
using CSS rather than calling them inline. Contextually-relevant images (such
as people, products, etc.) are most often appropriately called inline. However,
graphics which make up the visual-design environment are best called using
CSS. This not only improves separation of content/design, but it also helps
with filtering for devices which do not support CSS because images aren’t
downloaded. The benefits include bandwidth reduction, improved performance
and enhanced presentation for text-only and aural email clients. When the
CSS property background-image is not supported, images must be
displayed inline.
Background-position
When background images are supported, support for positioning of said images
becomes vital for readability. Background images are often placed inside a
block-level element which also contains HTML text. The CSS property
background-position
helps us position background images so that nearby text
doesn’t become unreadable. When positioning is unavailable, accessibility
becomes a potential issue with the prospect of unreadability.
Color/background-color
Probably the most fundamental part of visual design is color; it’s the
foundation for design. But beyond support for foreground/background colors
for the sake of visual design, inconsistent or partial support can cause accessibility
problems. When a black background color is eradicated while white text thereon
is properly rendered, the result is white text on a white matte.
Descendant
selectors An excellent way to help keep markup clean and to recycle
CSS is to use descendant selectors. Without this support, IDs and classes
must be applied to every element which needs to be styled. This bloats a file
with unnecessary markup and complicates the production process.
Float/clear
The CSS property float is vital to designing with standards-based
markup. When tables are removed from the designer’s toolbox, float
is the groundwork for layout. Without it, an entire design can collapse. And
as elements are floated in a layout, the property clear is there
to make things right for any following elements. Clear ensures
floated elements do not cloak adjacent content, float and clear
go hand-in-hand.
Margin
With no support for margin, a design looks considerably broken.
But destroying the aesthetics of an email is just the beginning. When elements
are forced together without a buffer, the text therein most often becomes
unreadable.
Padding
While a lack of support for padding has fewer ramifications than
margin, it is important for similar reasons. Most importantly
because of its use in combination with other elements such as background-color,
list-style-image and border. When used in combination
with said elements, the impact of its absence is multiplied.
Varying link-colors Linked text throughout an HTML document often resides atop
varying background colors, and therefore in order to preserve readability
link colors must be changed accordingly. If one parent link color supersedes
link definitions which follow it, readability can be compromised. Because
this extends beyond aesthetic characteristics we feel it is vitally important
for accessibility.
Width/height
Use of width is more common than height, and the
latter is often used solely for aesthetic balance (extending background colors,
etc.). But both are vitally important to any design as a lack thereof either
can cause unreadability and demolish a layout. Width is critically
important because the functionality of properties such as float
and text-align are dependent upon it. When width
is not supported, float becomes irrelevant and right-aligned
or centered elements are not positioned respectively because the default width
of a block-level element is 100%. And beyond the negative impact on aesthetics,
a lack of support for height can lead to problems with readability
as floated elements therein aren’t cleared without additional markup.
Normal Priority recommendations
While not absolutely critical, we would like to see Google improve Gmail to support the following CSS properties:
Background-position
a:hover Using a:hover to change the position of a background image therein the a tag is a widely used technique for interactivity in standards-based design. It is most often used to change background colors/images for faux buttons and navigation elements, typically comprising HTML text. While not critical to an email design, it enhances an experience with visual
cues for linked elements.
Border
A design certainly isn’t going to fall apart when its borders are compromised.
But when they are missing or improperly rendered, it’s obvious something
isn’t right even if that something can’t be identified.
Font
family/size/weight/style When font properties are not supported, text
is still displayed using default font values. While this degradation doesn’t
result in unreadable content or inaccessibility, it does compromise design
integrity. Most notably when a serif font becomes sans-serif, or vice versa.
Fonts are an integral part of a visual design, and therefore proper support
for font properties should be a pivotal part of an email client.
Font-family
names with quotes Though many common HTML-font names are defined as
single words (Georgia, Arial, etc.), others are defined using more than one
word (Trebuchet MS, Lucida Grande, etc.). And per CSS guidelines, fonts with
names comprising more than one word must be enveloped in quotes. Web designers
are already limited to a small cache of HTML fonts, so removing some from
the list dumbs down that list even further. While a lack of support for multiple-word
font names isn’t mission critical, it tightens already constrained parameters
to which web designers are adhering, regarding HTML fonts.
Font
inheritance An excellent way to help keep markup clean and to recycle
CSS is to take advantage of font inheritance. If font styling must be applied
to every necessary selector, files are weighed down with unnecessary markup
and the production process intensifies with extraneous labor.
Line-height
With a lack of support for line-height, a design hardly falters
to a state of unreadability or inaccessibility. But this property allows a
design to breathe and increases the efficiency at which someone reads. Thus
it adds value when used properly.
List-style-image
A design can be enhanced by dressing up bullets in a UL. The
two most popular methods for making this happen are the default list-style-image
and an alternate, more controllable method using background-image
and padding. When list-style-image is defined and
then not supported, the degradation is minor in that a default bullet is displayed.
However, it’s a modest property which, when supported, can greatly enhance
a visual design.
Lotus Notes 8
Summary: Lotus
Notes is widely used, but primarily by people who work in organizations
that mandate its use. It’s an application which has a lot to offer the business
world, but when it comes to email rendering Lotus Notes falls behind. Lotus
Notes supports a number of items from our list, but they matter little when
the most important properties fail. And they can even be detrimental to
readability as with its support of color while not supporting
background-color (see specifics below).
It should be noted that while the application GUI of versions 6.5 and 8
differ significantly, the actual email-message windows and how they display
content is virtually the same. In fact, while reviewing our acid test in
Lotus Notes 8, we only noticed one improvement from 6.5: support for width.
This is a step in the right direction, but we would like to see more attention
from IBM on properly rendering emails as they develop version 9. It should
also be noted that our tests were performed using Notes in POP/IMAP
mode, not using Domino Server on the back-end.
Full Support
- Descendant-selectors
- Font family/size/weight/style
- Font-family names with quotes
- Font inheritance
- List-style-image
- Varying link-colors
- Width/height
Partial/No Support (High Priority):
Partial/No Support (Cosmetic):
Recommendations for Improvement
High Priority Recommendations
We believe it is critical that IBM improves Lotus Notes 8 to support the following CSS properties:
Background-image
One core method of delivering accessible content is to call graphical elements
using CSS rather than calling them inline. Contextually-relevant images
(such as people, products, etc.) are most often appropriately called inline.
However, graphics which make up the visual-design environment are best called
using CSS. This not only improves separation of content/design, but it also
helps with filtering for devices which do not support CSS because images
aren’t downloaded. The benefits include bandwidth reduction, improved
performance and enhanced presentation for text-only and aural email clients.
When the CSS property background-image is not supported, images
must be displayed inline.
Background-position
When background images are supported, support for positioning of said images
becomes vital for readability. Background images are often placed inside
a block-level element which also contains HTML text. The CSS property background-position
helps us position background images so that nearby text doesn’t become
unreadable. When positioning is unavailable, accessibility becomes a potential
issue with the prospect of unreadability.
Color/background-color
Probably the most fundamental part of visual design is color; it’s
the foundation for design. But beyond support for foreground/background
colors for the sake of visual design, inconsistent or partial support can
cause accessibility problems. When a black background color is eradicated
while white text thereon is properly rendered, the result is white text
on a white matte. And with Lotus Notes this is exactly what happened because
Lotus Notes supports color but not background-color.
Moreover, because varying link-colors are supported our white link became
invisible on a now white background.
Float/clear
The CSS property float is vital to designing with standards-based
markup. When tables are removed from the designer’s toolbox, float
is the groundwork for layout. Without it, an entire design can collapse.
And as elements are floated in a layout, the property clear
is there to make things right for any following elements. Clear
ensures floated elements do not cloak adjacent content, float
and clear go hand-in-hand.
Margin
With no support for margin, a design looks considerably broken.
But destroying the aesthetics of an email is just the beginning. When elements
are forced together without a buffer, the text therein most often becomes
unreadable.
Padding
While a lack of support for padding has fewer ramifications
than margin, it is important for similar reasons. Most importantly
because of its use in combination with other elements such as background-color,
list-style-image and border. When used in combination
with said elements, the impact of its absence is multiplied.
Width/height
Use of width is more common than height, and the
latter is often used solely for aesthetic balance (extending background
colors, etc.). But both are vitally important to any design as a lack thereof
either can cause unreadability and demolish a layout. Width
is critically important because the functionality of properties such as
float and text-align are dependent upon it. When
width is not supported, float becomes irrelevant
and right-aligned or centered elements are not positioned respectively because
the default width of a block-level element is 100%. And beyond the negative
impact on aesthetics, a lack of support for height can lead
to problems with readability as floated elements therein aren’t cleared
without additional markup.
Normal Priority recommendations
While not absolutely critical, we would like to see IBM improve Lotus Notes 8 to support the following CSS properties:
Background-position
a:hover Using a:hover to change the position of a background image
therein the a tag is a widely used technique for interactivity
in standards-based design. It is most often used to change background colors/images
for faux buttons and navigation elements, typically comprising HTML text.
While not critical to an email design, it enhances an experience with visual
cues for linked elements.
Border
A design certainly isn’t going to fall apart when its borders are
compromised. But when they are missing or improperly rendered, it’s
obvious something isn’t right even if that something can’t be
identified.
Line-height
With a lack of support for line-height, a design hardly falters
to a state of unreadability or inaccessibility. But this property allows
a design to breathe and increases the efficiency at which someone reads.
Thus it adds value when used properly.
List-style-image
A design can be enhanced by dressing up bullets in a UL. The
two most popular methods for making this happen are the default list-style-image
and an alternate, more controllable method using background-image
and padding. When list-style-image is defined
and then not supported, the degradation is minor in that a default bullet
is displayed. However, it’s a modest property which, when supported,
can greatly enhance a visual design.
Microsoft Outlook 2007
Summary: Margin,
padding and floats are vital to any design. Outlook 2007 supports none of
them, which means even the most elementary standards-based design fails
to render. At a minimum, we would love to see Microsoft step up and support
these fundamental properties. Last updated:
Full Support
- Border (except on images)
- Color/background-color
- Descendant-selectors
- Font family/size/weight/style
- Font inheritance
- Font-family names with quotes
- Line-height
- Varying link-colors
Partial/No Support (High Priority):
Partial/No Support (Cosmetic):
Recommendations for Improvement
High Priority Recommendations
We believe it is critical that Microsoft improves Outlook 2007 to support the following CSS properties:
Background-image
One core method of delivering accessible content is to call graphical elements
using CSS rather than calling them inline. Contextually-relevant images
(such as people, products, etc.) are most often appropriately called inline.
However, graphics which make up the visual-design environment are best called
using CSS. This not only improves separation of content/design, but it also
helps with filtering for devices which do not support CSS because images
aren’t downloaded. The benefits include bandwidth reduction, improved
performance and enhanced presentation for text-only and aural email clients.
When the CSS property background-image is not supported, images
must be displayed inline.
Background-position
When background images are supported, support for positioning of said images becomes vital for readability. Background images are often placed inside a block-level element which also contains HTML text. The CSS property background-position helps us position background images so that nearby text doesn’t become unreadable. When positioning is unavailable, accessibility becomes a potential issue with the prospect of unreadability.
Float/clear
The CSS property float is vital to designing with standards-based
markup. When tables are removed from the designer’s toolbox, float
is the groundwork for layout. Without it, an entire design can collapse.
And as elements are floated in a layout, the property clear
is there to make things right for any following elements. Clear
ensures floated elements do not cloak adjacent content, float
and clear go hand-in-hand.
Margin
With no support for margin, a design looks considerably broken.
But destroying the aesthetics of an email is just the beginning. When elements
are forced together without a buffer, the text therein most often becomes
unreadable.
Padding
While a lack of support for padding has fewer ramifications
than margin, it is important for similar reasons. Most importantly
because of its use in combination with other elements such as background-color,
list-style-image and border. When used in combination
with said elements, the impact of its absence is multiplied.
Width/height
Use of width is more common than height, and the
latter is often used solely for aesthetic balance (extending background
colors, etc.). But both are vitally important to any design as a lack thereof
either can cause unreadability and demolish a layout. Width
is critically important because the functionality of properties such as
float and text-align are dependent upon it. When
width is not supported, float becomes irrelevant
and right-aligned or centered elements are not positioned respectively because
the default width of a block-level element is 100%. And beyond the negative
impact on aesthetics, a lack of support for height can lead
to problems with readability as floated elements therein aren’t cleared
without additional markup.
Normal Priority recommendations
While not absolutely critical, we would like to see Microsoft improve Outlook 2007 to support the following CSS properties:
Background-position a:hover
Using a:hover to change the position of a background image therein the a tag is a widely used technique for interactivity in standards-based design. It is most often used to change background colors/images for faux buttons and navigation elements, typically comprising HTML text. While not critical to an email design, it enhances an experience with visual cues for linked elements.
List-style-image
A design can be enhanced by dressing up bullets in a UL. The
two most popular methods for making this happen are the default list-style-image
and an alternate, more controllable method using background-image
and padding. When list-style-image is defined
and then not supported, the degradation is minor in that a default bullet
is displayed. However, it’s a modest property which, when supported,
can greatly enhance a visual design.
Many times, e-mail marketers attempt to use heavily image-dependent creatives for their e-mail campaigns to try and preserve a very specific style, or simply for ease of design. Some even wish to use an HTML creative that is composed of one image, containing almost no text content.
We advise our clients to use images to supplement their copy, as opposed to replace the copy entirely. Many e-mail clients will block images by default, requiring the recipient to take action to see the images. If your creative is almost entirely image-based, the recipient is going to be presented with nothing but a header and/or footer and some alt tags. It is generally more effective & successful to have more text copy in your HTML, and use your alt tags to explain what is not being seen when the images are turned off. This will give the recipient more incentive to take action and view your full e-mail.
Our experience has also shown that many email filters will measure the image-to-text ratio of your e-mail, and are more likely to classify it as junk email if judged to be too image dependent. Many malicious senders attempt to use images to mask certain keywords that would otherwise raise red flags with these filters, and this ratio test helps to safeguard against this.
If a recipient has already opened your message, based on a compelling subject line or recognition of the branding in your sender name, it would be unfortunate to lose their interest because of some initially disabled images leaving them with nothing to be enticed by. With some careful managing of your image to text ratios, you can make the most out of your image content without relying too heavily on it.
For more information on Applied Info Group’s database and email marketing service capabilities, please contact Mitch Rubin, President of Applied Info Group at (908) 241-7007. Visit www.appliedinfogroup.com to learn more.
This article will take a close look at a number of issues that some of our email customers have encountered regarding compatibility issues with your HTML email creatives and Outlook 2007. We will offer some useful tips on the best way to format your emails to combat these issues.
Microsoft’s® latest version of Outlook utilizes Microsoft® Word to render HTML emails. Unfortunately, Word offers limited support of HTML and CSS, due to the potential security flaws that could occur by rendering HTML emails in Internet Explorer 7.
Fortunately, there are formatting tweaks you can employ to address this. The upside is that making your HTML email Outlook 2007 compatible can decrease the chances that it will end up in a recipient’s junk folder. The downside is that you may have to change the way in which you approach formatting parts of your emails, thereby impacting the look and feel of your creatives. Below is a list of key items to look out for, and possible alternatives that are Outlook 2007 compatible.
– Background images – Background images will not display in Outlook 2007. This can leave a big, unintended void in your email. You should avoid using background images altogether. Whenever possible, you should use inline image tags instead. If you feel you must use a background image, set an appropriate background color to fill in for the potentially missing image. If you have text overlaying a background image, you can edit the image to include the text and use an image map for any links.
– Division tags – “Div” tags are not fully supported in Outlook 2007. Some of the more commonly used attributes that have been omitted are: float, clear, position, and padding. Without these attributes, positioning with div tags is virtually impossible. Instead, you should control the positioning of your email with a standard table.
– Forms – Forms are not supported in Outlook 2007. Outlook 2007 recipients will not be able to submit any forms embedded in an email. If you wish to give recipients the option to fill out a form, place a link to an online version of it within the email.
– Flash & JavaScript – It is recommended that you do not attempt to utilize Flash or Javascript on your HTML emails, due to their lack of support in email browsers (including Outlook 2007) and the fact that some filters will tag emails that contain Flash or JavaScript code. Also, most email readers will automatically disable this content as a security measure.
– Bulleted list with images – While both ordered and unordered lists are fully supported, lists that use images as bullets instead of standard bullets are not. If you need to use an image for your bullet points, one possible solution is to put your list into a two column table, using the left-hand column to place your bullets.
– Animated GIFs – Animated GIFs will not animate in Outlook 2007. The image will appear, but only the first frame of the animation will be displayed.
– Alt tags – Alt tags are also not supported. This is the text that is shown when an image does not load upon opening an email. However, most email readers do support alt tags, and there is no adverse effect to having them in your Outlook 2007 compatible email (other than the fact that they will not display,) so you can continue to include these in your emails if you wish.
– Table definitions – As we detailed above, Outlook 2007 renders HTML emails in Microsoft® Word, which is very sensitive to extra <tr> or <td> tags and does not adjust well to poorly sized tables. Previous Outlook versions would open emails in Internet Explorer, which is very forgiving of poor table definitions. You should ensure that your table definitions are correct and that the data you are placing inside the table fits properly within the defined table width.
In addition to the tips above, Microsoft® has also provided an HTML and CSS Validator that can be used in:
Microsoft® Office SharePoint Designer 2007
Microsoft® Expression Web
Microsoft® Visual Studio 2005
Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004
Macromedia Dreamweaver 8
This tool can assist you in identifying portions of your HTML source code that may not adhere to Outlook 2007’s standards. You can download the appropriate version here.
By following the above tips, you will be able to address most of the known compatibility issues posed by Outlook 2007. To view a full listing of HTML and CSS rendering capabilities in Outlook 2007, you can go to Microsoft’s® webpage for more information.
For more information on Applied Info Group’s database and email marketing service capabilities, please contact Mitch Rubin, President of Applied Info Group at (908) 241-7007. Visit www.appliedinfogroup.com to learn more.
On November 23, 2008, the US Postal Service is changing their Move Update standards to expand them from First-Class Mail automation- and presort-price mailings to include all Standard Mail mailings.
The minimum frequency of Move Update processing also changes from 185 days to 95 days prior to mailing.
To meet the new requirements, mailers must use addresses that were updated within the previous 95 days. Mailings entered on November 23rd, for example, must have addresses updated no earlier than August 20. If an address used on a mail piece in a mailing at one class of mail is updated, the same address may be used during the following 95 days in another mailing, even if it is another class of mail. To achieve this, each mailer will need to process their records through either the NCOA or Fast-Forward service. If we are not processing those records, then you will need to provide certification that the processing was completed.
For more information, you can visit ribbs.usps.gov & click on “Move Update.”
For more information on Applied Info Group’s database and email marketing service capabilities, please contact Mitch Rubin, President of Applied Info Group at (908) 241-7007. Visit www.appliedinfogroup.com to learn more.
With the tremendous growth of services such as YouTube, and the increasing availability of affordable editing software and video equipment, many e-mail marketers have begun to wonder if they are able to embed a video into their e-mail campaigns. Unfortunately, as tempting as the idea sounds, it isn’t currently possible. Most of the video players utilize Flash technology, which will not work in most e-mail clients (answering another question we often get from our clients.)
However, this does not mean you cannot take advantage of this online video explosion. E-mail can be an excellent tool to encourage people to visit your website and view your video. Our recommendation would be to take a screenshot from your video and turn it into a thumbnail image, which you would then place in your e-mail and link to your video page. This is a very compelling method to generate hits to your website and, more specifically, your video.
If you’d like to test this approach, simply use the thumbnail method described above, and include a few text links to your video as well. In most cases, the reporting for the campaign will show that recipients were much more likely to click on the thumbnail image as opposed to the text links. Not only does this work significantly better than trying to directly embed the videos, but you will also increase traffic to your website, with the hopes that they will stay and navigate through your entire site after viewing the video.
For more information on Applied Info Group’s database and email marketing service capabilities, please contact Mitch Rubin, President of Applied Info Group at (908) 241-7007. Visit www.appliedinfogroup.com to learn more.
With the many issues posed by various email programs as to the correct rendering of your HTML email, it is wise to leave as little to chance as possible. A vast number of HTML emails are not W3C compliant, which can cause these rendering problems and potential delivery issues. Most email filters check for valid code, since many malicious senders attempt to use invalid and potentially dangerous HTML code to mask harmful components of their message.
It is advisable to make sure your HTML is free of errors before sending. Clean HTML code will follow the W3C HTML guidelines — you can use The W3C Validation Service to see if your code is compliant. You should also refrain from using scripting, such as JavaScript or VBScript, in your code. Most email readers strip these out of messages due to the possible security risks caused by script inclusion, and some may block your message completely if scripting is detected. If there are scripting components that you feel are vital to your marketing campaign, use your email message to drive recipients to your web site, where dynamic scripting components are easy to implement.
For more information on Applied Info Group’s database and email marketing service capabilities, please contact Mitch Rubin, President of Applied Info Group at 908-241-7007. Visit www.appliedinfogroup.com to learn more.
With unsolicited and unwanted email becoming a larger problem, email services have made their spam filters more stringent. Unfortunately, these tougher guidelines for filtering can cause legitimate emails to be mistaken as spam. To make sure your customers continue receiving your mailings, we suggest that they follow the instructions below and add you to their whitelist. A whitelist is a list of email addresses that you want to receive email from. Adding an address to your whitelist ensures that email from that address will not be filtered as spam.
Here are whitelisting instructions for some of the major email service providers. The minimum we suggest they do is to add the ‘from’ email address (username@domain) into their email system’s address book.
Please insert the From address you are whitelisting for username@domain.com using the instructions below:
Add the “From address” you want to receive mailings from to your AOL address book:
- Click the “Mail Options” menu and select “Address Book”.
- Inside the “Address Book” window, click the “Add” button.
- Inside the “Address Card for New Contact” window cut and paste username@domain.com into the “Other E-Mail” field.
- Make our From address the “Primary E-Mail” address by checking the associated check box to the right of it.
- Click the “Save” button.
If the mailing is in your SPAM Folder, you can open the email and click the “This Is Not Spam” button.
Add the From address you want to receive mailings from to your Gmail Contacts List:
- Click “Contacts” along the left side of any Gmail page.
- Click “Create Contact”.
- Copy and paste username@domain.com into the primary email address dialog box.
- Click “Save”.
If the mailing is in your SPAM folder, check the box next to the mailing and click the “Not Spam” button along the top.
Add the From address you want to receive mailings from to your Hotmail Safe List:
- Open your mailbox and click “Options” (upper right hand corner).
- Click the “Junk E-Mail Protection” link.
- Select the “Safe List” link.
- Copy and paste username@domain.com into the dialog box titled “Type an address or domain”.
- Click the “Add” button next to the dialog box.
If the mailing is in your “Junk E-Mail Folder”, open the email and click the “Not Junk” button.
You should also check that the mailing’s email address is not in your Blocked Senders list. You can find your Blocked Senders list by following the directions above and going to “Blocked Senders List” instead of “Safe List”. If you see the mailing’s from address on this list, select it and click the Remove button.
Add the From address you want to receive mailings from to your Thunderbird Address Book and configure your Junk Mail Controls to white list your address book.
Add an address into your Personal Address Book:
- Click the “Address Book” button.
- Make sure the Personal Address Book is highlighted.
- Click the “New Card” button.
- Under the “Contact” tab, copy and paste username@domain.com into the Email dialog box.
- Click “OK”.
White list your Personal Address Book:
- From the main drop down menu, select “Tools -< Junk Mail Controls…”
- This will launch the Junk Mail Controls window that has two tabs: Settings and Adaptive Filter
- Under the Settings tab, update the “White Lists” module by selecting Personal Address Book from the pull down menu and then check mark the box next to “Do not mark messages as junk mail”.
- Click “OK”.
If the mailing is in your junk folder, right-click the mailing and choose “Mark -< As Not Junk”.
Set up a filter to redirect the mailing you want to receive into your inbox:
- From the Edit drop down menu, select “Message Filters”.
- Click “New”, and give the new filter a name (e.g. “Whitelist”).
- Change the drop down on the left to “sender” and the one in the middle to “is”.
- Copy and paste username@domain.com into the box on the right.
- Make the bottom two drop downs “Move to folder” and “Inbox”.
- Click “OK”.
- Make sure that your new filter is located at the top of the Message Filter list so it is run before any spam filter.
Add the address you want to receive mailings from to your Safe Senders list:
- On the Tools menu, click “Options”.
- On the Preferences tab, click “Junk E-mail”.
- On the Safe Senders tab, click “Add”.
- In the Add address box, copy and paste in username@domain.com and click OK.
If you are using a different version of Outlook you can add the mailers From address to your Address Book. This can be done by opening the email, right clicking the From address, and selecting “Add To Contacts”. You can also access your Address Book via the tools drop down menu.
Set up a filter to redirect the mailing you want to receive in your inbox:
- Open your mailbox and click on “Mail Options” (upper right hand corner).
- Select “Filters” under the Management column.
- Click the “Add” button on the Filters page.
- In the “From header:” row, make the drop down “contains” and put the mailer’s from address username@domain.com in the box.
- At the bottom of the page Click the “Choose Folder” pull down menu and select “Inbox”.
- Click the “Add Filter” button.
If the mailing is in your Yahoo Bulk Folder open the email and click the “Not Spam” button. You should also check that the mailing’s email address is not in your “Blocked Addresses” list. You can find your “Blocked Addresses” list by clicking “Mail Options” and then clicking the “Blocked Addresses” link under the Spam column. If you see the mailing’s from address on this list, select it and click the “Remove Block” button.
The most common way to whitelist an address is to add it to your address book, white list, or safe list. There is no universal way to whitelist an address, so if this is not an option, you will have to consult the help section associated with your email application. They should have instructions on how to whitelist an address there.
For more information on Applied Info Group’s database and email marketing service capabilities, please contact Mitch Rubin, President of Applied Info Group at 908-241-7007. Visit www.appliedinfogroup.com to learn more.
Cascading style sheets (CSS) are utilized by many web designers to simplify their design process and maintain a consistent style throughout a site. However, as useful as they are in the web design environment, they are equally troublesome when designing HTML for use in an email campaign.
Many email clients, including free providers such as Yahoo, Hotmail, and Gmail, will not render style sheets correctly, or will just strip them out completely. This is especially true for linked style sheets, where the creative attempts to load the style definitions from a hosted style sheet on your server. Embedded style sheets are almost just as troublesome, although some users have reported having better luck defining their style sheets between the body tags, as opposed to the common practice of defining them between the head tags, since many email clients will truncate or strip out the header.
We strongly recommend that you avoid using style sheets wherever possible for email campaigns. If you for some reason must use defined styles, try utilizing inline styles. This means that, instead of defining the style once in a stylesheet and referencing it as needed, you would need to define the style to every instance you want it to apply to.
Example
Using Style Sheets:
<p class=”Header”>Header Text</a>
Using Inline Styles:<p style=”font-size:14px; color: #ff9900″>
While this is obviously a less powerful solution in the standard web design environment, this more explicit per-instance definition can work across more email platforms than a standard style sheet and make it more likely that the target audience of your email campaign is seeing your creative in the style that you intended.
For more information on Applied Info Group’s database and email marketing service capabilities, please contact Mitch Rubin, President of Applied Info Group at 908-241-7007. Visit www.appliedinfogroup.com to learn more.
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