Why am I seeing bounce issues when my HTML is UTF-8 with copyright characters?

Email marketer from Stack Overflow shares that even if your HTML is UTF-8, the email server might be sending the email as 7-bit ASCII. You need to ensure your email sending software (or ESP) is configured to send emails as UTF-8 or quoted-printable to handle non-ASCII characters correctly.

Email marketer from Mailjet explains that incorrect character encoding, especially when using special characters like copyright symbols or accented letters, can lead to bounces if the email client or server doesn't support the encoding. UTF-8 is recommended, but the email headers must also declare the correct encoding.

Email marketer from SendGrid says one of the easiest ways to solve character encoding issues is to use HTML entities. For example, use `©` instead of ©, and `™` instead of ™.

Email marketer from Email on Acid explains that proper testing is key. Always test your emails with different email clients (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, etc.) to ensure your characters are displayed correctly and avoid any bounce issues before you send to your whole list.

Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum says that you need to use an encoding method such as Quoted Printable encoding to ensure your special characters are properly encoded and delivered.

Email marketer from Litmus shares that it’s important to check the character encoding settings in both your email editor and your email sending platform. Inconsistencies between these settings can lead to encoding issues and bounces.

Email marketer from Reddit explains that some older email servers might not fully support UTF-8. Try using HTML entities (e.g., `©` for the copyright symbol) as a workaround to ensure the characters are displayed correctly and avoid bounces.

Email marketer from Email Blog suggest you check your mail client or email provider to ensure it is configured correctly, the settings should indicate UTF-8.

Email marketer from Campaign Monitor explains that even if you are using UTF-8 the sending server may not be configured to send the content using UTF-8. It may be set to use 7-bit which will reject any characters outside of basic english.

Expert from Email Geeks explains the bounce issue is likely due to sending high-ascii/Unicode characters as Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit. They suggest sending as CTE binary or quoted-printable. Also if your ESP tells you to not use said characters in your email content get a better ESP.

Expert from Email Geeks suggests a short-term workaround to use HTML entities for everything, but acknowledges it's not ideal.

Expert from Word to the Wise explains that incorrect character encoding is often a cause of bounces, even with UTF-8 HTML. The issue can stem from discrepancies between the declared encoding and the actual encoding used, or from sending systems not correctly handling non-ASCII characters, so always validate the full message.

Documentation from W3.org explains that HTML emails must have the encoding set to UTF-8 to avoid cross email client compatibility issues.

Documentation from Oracle explains that if the character set is not correctly declared in the email header, the receiving mail server might misinterpret the characters, leading to display issues or bounces. Ensure the 'Content-Type' header specifies 'charset=UTF-8'.

Documentation from IETF explains that email messages are defined as using 7-bit US-ASCII by default. To send other character sets, MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) is necessary, which allows for different encoding methods like quoted-printable or base64 to handle characters outside the US-ASCII range. Not encoding correctly can cause bounces.

Documentation from Unicode Consortium explains that when using Unicode characters (like copyright symbols), it's crucial to specify the correct character encoding in the email headers. Otherwise, the characters may be misinterpreted or discarded by the receiving email server, leading to bounces or display issues.

Documentation from Mozilla explains that email clients vary in their support for different character encodings. Using standard UTF-8 is generally recommended for best compatibility, but it’s essential to test emails across different clients to ensure proper rendering.