Another question from me! Can you explain why emails show so differently in Outlook Vs Gmail (and in other email providers)? I have heard there is quite a disconnect between Klaviyo & Outlook, and we do lots of our testing in Outlook so wondered if you could help explain this.
Also, do you have any general deliverability tips? Not landing in spam etc.
Hey
Good question! Each inbox provider has their own way of rendering emails. Many inboxes use similar engines, so in some cases, your emails will look similar to each other in different inboxes. That being said, Outlook’s notorious for rendering emails differently than other inboxes. Office 365, one version of the Outlook inbox, is notorious for how they render emails that send to them. Office 365 uses an old rendering engine from Microsoft Word 2007, which can cause some issues with how it displays emails. You likely have experience with Microsoft Word, and probably know how adding images, making tables, and changing the formatting can sometimes change the document’s appearance in unexpected ways. Office 365 works in a similar way.
Some common issues you’ll experience in Outlook are ignoring of CSS elements, strange/unexplainable padding or margins, background colors being ignored, and more. Our guide here goes into some detail on why emails might look different in Outlook, and how to mitigate this issue. We recommend making sure each image has a defined size, and isn’t simply set to “full width.” Additionally, Outlook does not support GIFs in emails.
Regarding deliverability tips, we always recommend creating segments based on engagement, and sending the vast majority of your campaigns to an engaged audience only. If you’re sending emails to people who have recently opened/clicked your emails, your open/click/conversion rates will naturally go up, with the added bonus of inboxes trusting you more. If inboxes see that your emails are being interacted with at a high rate, you’re less likely to land in spam. Additionally, sending on a predictable schedule (at least once a week, ideally on similar days/times) helps build trust with inboxes, and you’re more likely to be seen as a reliable sender. Finally, avoid spam-sounding subject lines that call people to act ASAP, or seem like they’re offering things that are too good to be true (E.G. “URGENT: SALE ENDS IN AN HOUR” or “90% OFF ALL ITEMS”). Inboxes have built in spam filters that are likely to filter these kinds of subject lines into spam.
Let me know if I can answer any additional questions, or if this makes sense!
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