How does Gmail email clipping affect email deliverability and open rates?

Summary

Gmail email clipping, which occurs when emails exceed 102 KB, negatively impacts deliverability, open rates, and user experience. Clipping can hide critical elements such as unsubscribe links and calls to action, leading to increased spam complaints and reduced engagement (lower click-through rates). It also affects the accuracy of open rate tracking because tracking pixels may be clipped. Clipping is more prevalent on mobile devices, exacerbating user experience issues. Preventing clipping involves optimizing images, reducing HTML, using external CSS, ensuring visible unsubscribe links, and testing email rendering in Gmail.

Key findings

  • Deliverability: Hiding unsubscribe links due to clipping increases spam complaints, negatively affecting deliverability.
  • Open Rates: Clipping affects open rate tracking if the tracking pixel is located beyond the 102KB limit.
  • User Experience: Clipping requires recipients to click a link to view the entire message, leading to a poorer experience and potentially missed content. This is even more prevalent on mobile devices.
  • Engagement: Clipped emails can hide calls to action, reducing click-through rates and overall engagement.
  • HTML Specificity: Clipping primarily affects HTML emails exceeding the size limit, whereas plain text emails are less susceptible.

Key considerations

  • Optimize Images: Compress and optimize images to reduce email size significantly.
  • Reduce HTML: Streamline HTML code and remove unnecessary elements to lower email weight.
  • External CSS: Employ external CSS stylesheets instead of inline CSS to decrease email size.
  • Unsubscribe Visibility: Ensure the unsubscribe link is prominently displayed and within the first 102 KB of the email.
  • Email Testing: Thoroughly test email rendering in Gmail to ensure critical elements are not clipped and that the email displays correctly.
  • Mobile Optimization: Optimize email templates for mobile devices, considering that clipping is more frequent on mobile platforms.

What email marketers say
15Marketer opinions

Gmail email clipping, which occurs when emails exceed 102KB, negatively impacts deliverability and open rates. The primary issues stem from user experience degradation, inaccurate open tracking, and increased spam complaints. Clipping can hide crucial elements like unsubscribe links and calls-to-action, leading to recipient frustration and potential spam reports. Additionally, if the tracking pixel is clipped, open rates become unreliable. To mitigate these issues, optimizing email size through image compression, streamlined HTML, and visible unsubscribe options is crucial. Mobile users are especially affected.

Key opinions

  • Deliverability Impact: Clipped emails can increase spam complaints as users struggle to find the unsubscribe link.
  • Open Rate Accuracy: If the tracking pixel is beyond the 102KB limit, opens are not tracked, skewing open rate metrics.
  • User Engagement: Users must take an extra step to view the entire message, potentially missing critical content and reducing engagement.
  • Mobile Issues: Email clipping is more prevalent on mobile devices leading to an even greater level of issues.

Key considerations

  • Optimize Email Size: Reduce email size by compressing images, minimizing HTML code, and using external CSS.
  • Prioritize Unsubscribe Link: Ensure the unsubscribe link is visible within the first 102KB of the email.
  • Test Email Rendering: Test emails in Gmail to ensure critical content and calls-to-action are not clipped.
  • Tracking Pixel Placement: Consider moving the tracking pixel to the top of the email to ensure it's loaded before clipping occurs.
Marketer view

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.

September 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

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.

August 2022 - Reddit
Marketer view

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.

September 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

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.

May 2021 - Litmus
Marketer view

Marketer from Email Geeks states that email clipping affects engagement, and engagement affects deliverability.

September 2024 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

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.

December 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

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.

June 2023 - Mailjet
Marketer view

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.

August 2022 - Email on Acid
Marketer view

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.

March 2022 - ActiveCampaign
Marketer view

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.

June 2023 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

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.

October 2021 - Email Geeks
Marketer view

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.

August 2022 - HubSpot
Marketer view

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.

February 2025 - Sendinblue
Marketer view

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.

February 2025 - Automizy
Marketer view

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.

May 2024 - Digital Marketing Institute

What the experts say
2Expert opinions

Gmail email clipping, caused by emails exceeding size limits, negatively impacts engagement. Hiding key content like CTAs and unsubscribe links can lead to lower click-through rates and increased spam complaints. Reducing HTML, optimizing images, using inline CSS and reducing overall email weight can help prevent clipping.

Key opinions

  • Engagement Impact: Clipped emails may hide key content, reducing click-through rates.
  • Spam Complaints: Hidden unsubscribe links increase the likelihood of spam complaints.
  • HTML and Image Optimization: Reducing HTML and optimizing images can help prevent email clipping.

Key considerations

  • Content Placement: Ensure important content like CTAs and unsubscribe links are within the visible area.
  • Code Optimization: Reduce HTML code and optimize images to decrease email size.
  • Email Weight: Use inline CSS and reduce overall email weight.
Expert view

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.

May 2022 - Word to the Wise
Expert view

Expert from Spam Resource explains reducing HTML, and optimising images can prevent Gmail clipping. This involves using inline CSS and reducing overall email weight.

September 2022 - Spam Resource

What the documentation says
4Technical articles

Gmail clips HTML emails exceeding 102 KB, displaying only the initial portion and adding a 'view entire message' link. This impacts the end-user experience, potentially breaking the message's layout, preventing image display, and hiding the unsubscribe link. Plain text emails are less susceptible. Solutions involve optimizing images, reducing HTML, and employing external CSS to maintain emails below the size threshold and ensure proper display and tracking.

Key findings

  • Size Limit: Gmail clips HTML emails larger than 102 KB.
  • HTML Specific: Clipping primarily affects HTML emails, not plain text (unless exceptionally large).
  • User Experience Impact: Clipped emails can lead to broken layouts, missing images, and hidden unsubscribe links.

Key considerations

  • Optimize Images: Compress and optimize images to reduce email size.
  • Reduce HTML: Streamline HTML code and remove unnecessary elements.
  • Use External CSS: Employ external CSS to reduce inline code and email size.
  • Plain Text Fallback: Incorporate plain text fallbacks as an alternative for recipients.
Technical article

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.

January 2023 - Postmark
Technical article

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.

July 2021 - Google Support
Technical article

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.

September 2023 - Stack Overflow
Technical article

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.

April 2024 - Campaign Monitor