When sending bulk email communications or marketing campaigns to your customers, hidden code and formatting errors can cause text, lists, or special characters to render improperly across different email clients (like Gmail, Outlook, or Apple Mail).
Following proper drafting habits and performing pre-send tests ensures your emails display cleanly and arrive as intended.
Why Display Issues Occur
Drafting content in external word processing applications (such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or Apple Notes) before copying it into the email builder often transfers hidden formatting code.
While this hidden code is invisible in the editor, recipient email software may interpret it incorrectly, causing bullet points, quotes, apostrophes, and special characters to convert into broken symbols or strange characters.
How to Prevent Formatting Errors
To ensure clean formatting across all email clients:
- Paste as Plain Text:
• Strip out hidden code by pasting your text using the plain-text keyboard shortcut:
• Windows:Ctrl + Shift + V
• Mac:Cmd + Option + Shift + V
• Alternative: Paste text into a plain-text program (like Notepad or TextEdit) first, then copy it into the email editor. - Use Built-in Editor Formatting:
• Apply bulleted lists, bolding, italics, and headers using the formatting toolbar inside the software's email editor rather than pre-formatting in an external document.
Pre-Send Checklist
Before launching any bulk email broadcast, follow this quick checklist:
- [ ] Send a Test Email: Send a test message to your own inbox before delivering it to your client list.
- [ ] Review on Multiple Devices: Open the test email on both a desktop computer and a mobile device to verify that fonts, spacing, and bullet points render cleanly.
- [ ] Verify Recipient Filters: Double-check your recipient filters and tags to ensure the message targets the intended audience without sending duplicate copies to accounts with shared email addresses.