Technical specifications for the sending of newsletters

Part 2: Not only for web designers

Technical specifications for the sending of newsletters and e-mails

This information is meant for your web designer. If this is not your field of activity or you are not familiar with the contents, then please do commission CEBUS with the implementation.

E-mail programs, so-called clients, such as Outlook and Thunderbird or web mail programs such as those from AOL, MSN and Yahoo have their own particularities. And on top of that, they are different from version to version
The client programs can do practically anything, except that sometimes things don't work with the presentation. In the worst case, the e-mail recipient just receives an empty page. So that things don't get that far, we have put together the most important technical rules. The closer you follow these, the more recipients will see your e-mail message just as planned by the designer.
 

Whole page images

A challenging design can often only be represented in a full page (picture) image. Some client programs suppress the showing of images in the standard setting for as long as the recipient does not acknowledge the advertisement. Therefore, you should at least include a notice that says, for example: "If you cannot see the image, please click on this link for a HTML view."
Then underlie this text with a hyperlink to your website on your web server.
Naturally, you should be able to click the whole image and end up on the same landing page (target page).
 

HTML
Send a validated HTML data for forwarding. The recommended coding is ISO-8859-1. The validation can take place here:
http://validator.w3.org/
If you only have a Word or text document, you can of course commission CEBUS to convert it.
 

Size | Width/Height
For an optimal view, the width should not exceed 650 pixels. There is no restriction for the height. The maximum volume of your e-mail should not exceed 75 kilobytes.
 

Pictures | Images
Use exclusively GIF or compressed JPG images. Avoid animated JIFs because not all client programs will play these back. The maximum volume of your e-mail should not exceed 75 kilobytes. The images have to be hosted on a web server with an absolute link. Example:
<img src=“http://www.CEBUS.net/img/cebus.gif“>
If you do not have a web server, your images can be put onto a CEBUS server.
 

Formatting | Style/DIV/CSS
Not all client programs accept style or div elements. If you want to use style elements, you have to follow the style instructions online. Example:
<p style=“font-size: 12px;“>This font has 12 pixels </p>
Position details with CSS are not supported. CSS is generally of only very limited use.
 

Attachments
Attachments, for example, PDF or Word documents are generally not accepted by the server.
 

Target page | URL
The landing page/target page has to have a domain name and cannot be represented as, for example, http://123.123.123.123. Generally, the URL is diverted or masked in order to allow statistical analyses.
 

Web server | hosting
If you do not have a web server, CEBUS can get one for you, in some cases, free of charge.
 

Form Elements
Fields to be filled out, forms and form elements are not supported by all browsers.
 

Subject line
- The character of the mailing should be recognizable and must not be misleading.
- The subject line should have a maximum of 45 characters.
- No accents, special symbols, copyright or trademark symbols.
- Capital letters in a long row are not allowed.
- The display of the recipient's name in the subject line is only supported by very few senders.
 

Functions | Javascript
JavaScript is not supported. So avoid JavaScript programming as the corresponding functions will not be supported in the e-mail delivery.
 

E-Mail delete option | OPT-out
The opt-out notice is generally added by the list owner or sender.
 

Content | Body
- No background images.
- Personalization is seldom supported by senders.
- Attributes in the body tag are not allowed.
- Do not repeat the subject line in the text.
- No hidden contents, e.g. white text on a white background.
- No videos or other animation.
 

Line break
Avoid paragraph instructions for line breaks. Instead, we recommend <br>.
 

Spam trigger in subject line | Trigger subject
E-mail filters react allergically to specific catchwords and delete or move the e-mails to the spam folder. So avoid using the following in the subject line:
- Numbers, at least up to the first 8 characters.
- Germany words such as "Angebot, kostenlos, gratis, new, unbedingt, probieren, günstig, frei" the Euro sign or exclamation marks.
- English words such as "advertisement, ads, !, $, free, download.
- Capital letters.
 

Spam trigger in contents | Trigger body
The same goes for the text body, in other words, the text part of the e-mail. Avoid the following:
- German expressions / words such as "kostenlos, kostenfrei".
- English expression such as "money back, money back guarantee, cards accepted, !!, $$, 100% satisfied, check or money order, click here, click below (better: visit…, press…).
You can also find tools on the Internet that will calculate the spam value of your e-mails.
Header and footer
The list owner will have a header and/or footer. Through this, it's evident who has the opt-in (= permission to make contact by e-mail).
 

E-Mail sender
The sender's details on the e-mails are those of the list owner. This goes for the sender, reply-to and display names. The basis for this is the CAN- SPAM Act.
 

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