How does Gmail email clipping affect email deliverability and open rates?
Summary
What email marketers say15Marketer opinions
Marketer from Email Geeks says that email clipping doesn't seem like a good practice in bulk campaigns. It could affect the spam rate if recipients are unable to unsubscribe and mark the email as spam.
Email marketer from Reddit shares that email clipping can hide the unsubscribe link, which can lead to recipients marking the email as spam. Keeping the unsubscribe link visible in the upper part of the email is crucial.
Marketer from Email Geeks mentions that clipping definitely impacts open rate tracking abilities if your image tracker is clipped at the bottom of the email.
Email marketer from Litmus explains that when Gmail clips an email, it only loads the content up to 102KB. If your tracking pixel is beyond that threshold, opens won't be tracked, leading to inaccurate open rate data.
Marketer from Email Geeks states that email clipping affects engagement, and engagement affects deliverability.
Marketer from Email Geeks shares their experience that email clipping can impact deliverability because users might mark the email as spam if they can't find the unsubscribe link. They also suggest that if an email is clipped, the image used for open tracking might also be clipped.
Email marketer from Mailjet explains that clipped emails can negatively impact deliverability and engagement. Users might miss important information or calls to action, leading to lower click-through rates and potential spam complaints if the unsubscribe link is hidden.
Email marketer from Email on Acid explains that Gmail clipping can affect how your email renders and appears to recipients. It’s crucial to test emails to ensure important content and calls-to-action are within the first 102KB to avoid clipping.
Email marketer from ActiveCampaign shares that image optimization plays a large role in email deliverability, as unoptimized images can increase email size, which can cause clipping.
Marketer from Email Geeks suggests combating the unsubscribe concern by providing an unsubscribe or preference center link at the top of the email and ensuring the provider uses list-unsubscribe (post method) in the header. They also mention that Gmail provides an Unsubscribe option at the top for promotional messages from bulk senders with good reputations.
Marketer from Email Geeks says clipping is the first thing to investigate when there is a sharp drop in opens. They mention that Klaviyo allows moving the open-tracking pixel to the top of email templates, but the biggest impact is on removing unsub links.
Email marketer from Hubspot explains email clipping is a function of the email client, and is a result of excessive HTML in the email body, typically anything above 102 KB. A common problem is excessive HTML tables, images, inline styles and tracking links.
Email marketer from Sendinblue explains that Gmail clipping primarily affects user experience. When an email is clipped, recipients must click a link to view the entire message, which can be inconvenient and lead to some users missing critical content, thus decreasing engagement.
Email marketer from Automizy shares that email clipping is more prevalent on mobile, which can lead to a poor user experience, due to the extra loading that is required.
Email marketer from Digital Marketing Institute shares that to prevent email clipping, use optimized images, external CSS stylesheets, and avoid unnecessary code to reduce the email's size.
What the experts say2Expert opinions
Expert from Word to the Wise explains that Gmail clipping can affect engagement if key content, such as calls to action or unsubscribe links, are hidden, leading to lower click-through rates and higher spam complaints.
Expert from Spam Resource explains reducing HTML, and optimising images can prevent Gmail clipping. This involves using inline CSS and reducing overall email weight.
What the documentation says4Technical articles
Documentation from Postmark explains if an email is clipped, it impacts the end user experience. This means the message is broken, the images may not display and the unsubscribe link can be hidden. To avoid clipping, they recommend using external CSS, plain text fallbacks and reducing image sizes.
Documentation from Google Support explains that Gmail clips messages larger than 102 KB. When a message is clipped, only the first 102 KB of HTML is displayed, and a link is added to view the entire message.
Documentation from Stack Overflow explains that clipping occurs specifically with HTML emails exceeding a certain size limit in Gmail. It doesn't usually impact plain text emails unless they are exceptionally large.
Documentation from Campaign Monitor explains that Gmail clips emails over 102 KB and recommends keeping emails under this size to prevent issues with tracking and display. This involves optimising images, reducing HTML, and using CSS efficiently.