If you communicate to the B2B market, particularly large professional services firms and many Global 2000 companies, HTML email compatibility has long been a thorn in your side. The issues include:

• Older versions of Lotus Notes (under R5) convert HTML emails to a Lotus Notes Rich Text format. Lotus Notes versions under R5 also do not recognize multipart messages (HTML and text combined in a single email).
• Some companies may be deploying later versions of the Lotus Notes client, i.e., R6, but using an older version of Lotus Notes/Domino server such as 4.6. In this example, the recipient's email client would also render an HTML message incorrectly.

So for a recipient to view a properly rendered HTML email, a company must deploy both the Lotus Notes client and server of R5 and above. Here are some quick tips you can take if you have a significant Lotus Notes subscriber base:

• Include a link at the top of HTML emails "View Web Version" - the link sends recipients to a Web-hosted HTML version of the email (either on the email technology provider's server or the sender's server)
• Also include an "Update Preferences" link - and provide a Web site update form that then enables recipients to choose to receive Text rather than HTML.
• Create complete Text versions for those who prefer not to receive HTML or cannot view HTML.
• On opt-in forms, include an option to receive a Text version and potentially list tips (i.e., "If you are using Lotus Notes versions below R5, select Text").

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