You've probably noticed that some emails appear clipped when they're opened in Gmail. Also, they have a notification like the one shown below.
Yep, that's true. Gmail clips emails that are over 102 KB in size and it shows a link where you can go and see the complete message.
Behind an email campaign there is an HTML code that it's composed by text, image and link URLs, tracking codes, text formatting and more. Once all these elements together exceed 102 KB, not only the message is clipped, but the tracking code that allow us to know how many opens our campaign have had (which is usually on the bottom) is also hidden. So, the reader can't immediately see the whole message and we aren't able to know who opened the email.
But, no need to panic! :) This issue only happens with Gmail and you can try these tips to avoid it:
- Don't copy and paste content directly from a text editor or from a website.
If you do so, choose the "match destination formatting" option. Otherwise, you may be adding extra and unnecessary formatting code and that will increase the email's size.
- Make a content selection for the email.
It's easy to reach 102 KB when creating an email, actually. So you should keep the content as short and relevant as possible.
If you have a lot of content to be sent in a campaign, you can split it in multiple emails. Another idea could be selecting the most relevant topics and add in links that lead the user to a deeper reading landing page or to an action.
What if I reduce the image size? Will it help?
Unfortunately not :(
When you insert an image in your email, it's hosted externally on a server. That's why its weight doesn't make any difference in the email's size.
On the other hand, when you insert an image in your email, it'll generate a URL in the HTML code which increases the email's size. If you delete the image, that line of code disappears and the message's size is reduced as well.
- Finally, don't forget to test the campaign!
There are some online tools where you can test how the email will look on different platforms. However, you should send a campaign test to a Gmail account before actually sending the campaign to your contact list.