 What’s an email client, you ask? It's the application with which your recipients view their email messages, such as Outlook, Yahoo!, and Gmail. And each email client was built differently, so as you've probably guessed or experienced, each one has a unique way of accepting incoming email. Do they deliver into the inbox, go to the junk folder, or simply don’t arrive? And if they do succeed into the inbox, do they render correctly?
The first thing you want to consider is email delivery into the recipient’s application. As well as following standard best practices (sending to subscribed, active, and targeted members), consider other ways to improve your chances of getting in. Do you have your electronic signatures in place: Domain Keys, DKIM, SenderID, and SPF? If you don't recognize these terms, I suggest contacting your ESP to request their assistance with proper set up. Having these electronic signatures provides ISPs with a way to authenticate that you are the sender for that IP or domain.
Consider the following if you're deciding to ignore the above:
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Electronic Signatures
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Electronic Signature Users (not all listed)
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DKIM
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AOL, Yahoo!, Gmail, EarthLink
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Domain Keys
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Yahoo!, Gmail, EarthLink
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Sender ID
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Hotmail, Juno/NetZero, MSN
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SPF
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Comcast, EarthLink, Gmail, Juno/NetZero
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What happens beyond email delivery is a much different approach. Do you find that your email messages do not render well in some email clients, but they render just fine in others? It may seem difficult, but the only way you’ll really know how your email will perform is by testing. Test the email clients that you believe make up the majority of your email list (i.e. you can choose to test Yahoo! but ignore Outlook). You may find differences in how each email client accepts your email creative. For instance, it might help to know that Outlook 2007 doesn’t render background images and doesn’t use CSS (inline CSS is fine).
All in all, the idea is to dot your i’s and cross your t’s. Don’t take electronic signatures for granted, even if it will take your IT team a while to set up. And don’t be too lazy to test different email clients. The pay-offs can be great.
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About the Author
Ghia Espino is an account manager at Lyris, Inc. She strategizes with clients to improve their online marketing performance and works as their Lyris advocate.
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