Do your emails have extra or unexpected text in them when you see them in your email client?
In our ongoing effort to provide an excellent user experience with Better Agency, we've noticed a common issue that might affect how your emails show up for clients as well as your ability to get your emails delivered to the Inbox of your prospects and clients. Quite often, users directly copy and paste content from Microsoft Word into the email editor in our app. While this might seem convenient, it creates some potential issues. This guide aims to explain the reasons and provide an easy solution to clean up the content for better results.
Why you should avoid copying from Word
Microsoft Word uses unique formatting and styling in the background which might look like valid HTML but, unfortunately, it isn't. This hidden code includes extra elements that could potentially get your emails flagged as spam. For example, in one of the instances, we found an unsupported script tag at the bottom of the HTML in an email which could directly send your emails to the recipient's spam folder.
You can observe these issues when you check the HTML code for the emails by clicking on the </> button when you edit the emails.
How to Clean Up Your Content
Cleaning your email content from these unwanted elements is simple and effective using online HTML cleaner tools. One tool we've tested and recommend is Algotech's Word HTML Cleaner, which you can find here.
Follow these steps to clean your content:
- Click the </> button in the email editor to reveal your HTML code.
- Copy the HTML code.
- Open the Algotech tool and paste your copied code into it.
- This tool will then process your code and redirect you to a page that contains the cleaned code.
- Simply copy the cleaned code and paste it back into your email template in our app.
Manual Adjustments
While the Algotech tool does a great job, it may not remove everything. We recommend making two specific manual adjustments:
- Remove the comment line at the top that looks like this:
<!--[if gte mso 15]>. - Remove the script tag on the last line that looks like this:
<script type="text/javascript" src="/yxEf67/8I/LT/WLYg/VFip4OZt-wsCk/LiuYSwzSaXYD/ZHE1PQ/WTcyFk/gPMgo"></script>.
By making these adjustments, you'll improve the deliverability of your emails and ensure your messages reach their intended recipients.
Conclusion
Creating compelling emails is an art, but making sure they reach their destination is the science behind it. Be sure to avoid directly copying from Word to prevent any HTML conflicts and potential deliverability issues. By using the steps above, you can easily clean up your email content and optimize its delivery.
If you have any further questions, our support team is here to help. Contact us at any time for additional assistance.