How to avoid formatting issues while forwarding email campaigns

How to avoid formatting issues while forwarding email campaigns

You would've likely invested significant time and effort into crafting an email campaign with great care. The format plays a crucial role in the overall look and feel of the campaign, but users often face formatting issues when recipients forward an email campaign to their contacts. If the formatting appears distorted, recipients may question the authenticity of the email, which could ultimately impact your business.

Why does this happen?

There are several reasons why formatting gets distorted when emails are forwarded. This mainly depends on how email clients, such as Gmail, Yahoo, Apple Mail, and Outlook handle forwarded messages. Some of the common reasons for distortion are:
  1. Code altered by email client – When an email is forwarded, email clients might add their own HTML or CSS codes and change the existing code structure by adding inline styles, margins, <blockquote>, etc.). They might also delete certain sections of your code to prevent your email from landing in content filters, which can impact your campaign’s deliverability. All these changes can distort the original layout of your email campaign.
  2. Images might not be forwarded properly – Some email clients send images as attachments or replace them with broken links. This usually happens if the images are hosted and when the original structure is altered by the forwarding client.
  3. Images enabled or blocked – Email clients give users the option to enable or block images. These settings can significantly impact how your email is rendered and how images are displayed in it.
  4. Recipient's operating system – The version of the operating system (OS) on your recipient’s device (smartphone, computer, tablet, etc.) can influence how your email is displayed. It can either enhance or limit the campaign’s appearance. Some recipients may not be using the latest OS version, which could result in a distorted display of the email campaign.
  5. Recipient's device and screen size – The device type and screen size of your recipient’s device can also affect how the email campaign is being displayed. For example, an email viewed on a monitor screen will appear clearer than one viewed on a smartphone screen.
 
Unfortunately, we do not have any control over how various mail clients display the email campaigns when they are forwarded. However, Zoho Campaigns has a few methods by which you can overcome the formatting issue. Let's take a look at them.
 

Tell-a-friend merge tag

If you've used the 'Tell-a-friend' merge tag in your email campaign, your recipients can click the link and share the campaign by entering the email address of the person they wish to send it to.
There are two ways to add the 'Tell-a-friend' merge tag:
  1. Click the footer section of your campaign content.
  2. Double click on the content where you wish to add the link.
  3. Click the link icon.
  4. Click Personalize, then click Header and Footer Merge tags.
  5. Select Tell a friend link.
  6. Click Save.
    Tell-a-friend link
 
Another way to add the "Tell-a-friend" merge tag is to:
  1. Click the footer section of your campaign content.
  2. Hover where you'd like to add the merge tag, then click the Merge Tags option.
  3. Click Header and footer merge tags.
  4. Click Tell a friend link.
    Tell-a-friend merge tag
Note:
The 'Tell-a-friend' merge tag will not work in test emails. This means that if a recipient forwards a test email they receive, the merge tag will not work, and the email format might become distorted.