Introduction Newsletter. What format should I save in to email please?

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patientlady

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  • #1
    Good day
    Please can you help. I have put together over the holidays from a Word template an Intro newsletter that I would like to send in the body of an email, rather than as an attachment.
    I have selected all, copied and pasted into the body of the email and sent a test to myself. The size is different and none of the pics, logos show, although the links do.
    I have tried it saved in different formats, to no avail. I am sending to & from Mac Bookair should that make a difference.
    I thought this would work, is there a simple solution or should I go back to the drawing board ? My aim is to use this to send maybe 10 or 15 of these a week to businesses that have agreed they would like an email introduction, which to be fair, was really to get me off the phone in the first place lol
    Any assistance would be appreciated...
     
    ryedale

    ryedale

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  • #2
    Unfortunately, Word text doesn't carry across into emails, it just produces a complete mess of styling rules that confuse most email systems.

    You would be better using something like Mailchimp which would be free for the volume of mails you want to send. This has a number of predefined templates and an editor that allows you to style the text and layout and puts into HTML format for you.

    It also has a lot of reporting tools so you can monitor how people respond to your mails.
     
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    ffox

  • #3
    As you are working from a Word template I assume that you're using Outlook. Create your email using the formatting tools in Outlook, rather than pasting Word text. Save it as 'Outlook Message Format - Unicode (*.msg)'. When you want to use it just double click the stored .msg file and it will open in outlook ready for editing and sending.
     
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    fisicx

    fisicx

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  • #4
    And when it arrives the formatting will be all wrong, the images may not load and and links may trigger spam filters.

    I've got a client that has done just you suggest and his emails look awful and a lot of them get filtered out before they reach the inbox. I'm sure there are ways to make this work but the simpler the email format the better the chances of it getting through.
     
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    fisicx

    fisicx

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  • #6
    Still doesn't work. Saving as HTML will result in a file with a whole load of code that the email client will ignore. Just about the only thing that works are HTML tables and inline CSS.
     
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    fisicx

    fisicx

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  • #8
    My iphone, all sort of webmail and Thunderbird.

    Word adds a whole load of caggage to it's HTML which is why a lot of it just doesn't work. CSS has to be inline, anything else will just be ignored (there is no <head> or <body> in an email).
     
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    patientlady

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  • #10
    Thank you all for replying. Nothing is ever simple to a simpleton! Cannot spend anymore time on this today as off out. I do not want to send as an attachment as people are wary of opening them, also I have probably the first 30 secs to get there attention.
    I think I might try Mail chimp as suggested above. I am just hoping I will be able to understand it
    Wish me luck! :)
    Thanks again p/l
     
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    fisicx

    fisicx

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  • #11
    You will be able to understand it. Just follow the getting started guides and don't miss out any of the steps.
     
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    ffox

  • #12
    Test results.
    Sample specification: Newsletter email template created using Outlook 2016. Title with 3 column layout using inserted table, logo image in column 1, text in column 2, column 3 left empty (to see if it unbalanced the layout).
    Signature (text).
    The template formatted using tools available in Outlook 2016 and saved as .msg file.

    Sent to three mail addresses.

    1. Received in Outlook 2016 client - format okay.
    2. Received in OWA (Outlook web application) - format okay
    3. Received in Google mail client (Android tablet - format okay
    4. Received in Android tablet native mail client - format okay
    5. Received in IoS (iPad) native mail client - format okay
    6. Received in Lumia mobile phone native mail client - format okay

    This covers around 92% of the email client usage globally. http://emailclientmarketshare.com/

    A thing to remember about email newsletter type format is that the font calls are shipped with the mail, but the display uses locally installed fonts. If a font you use when authoring the newsletter is not available on the recipient machine it will be substituted for something the machine decides is close. This can lead to weird results. So, always use common fonts.
     
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    fisicx

    fisicx

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  • #13
    And the CSS?

    Tables are fine as I said and you have discovered. Add a load of CSS and see what happens.

    The OP did say she created the newsletter in Word (not Outlook). Have you tried sending a formatted word document as an email?
     
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    fisicx

    fisicx

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  • #15
    Yes, but she didn't do that, she said she had written the newsletter in Word. She needed a fix for this. You just assumed she was using Outlook.

    And you may not write the newsletter in Word but lots of people do. Word even has an option to send the document as an email which is why people do it.

    It is however irrelevant as she is going to use mailchimp for her newsletter (which is a much safer way to do things).
     
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  • #16
    @fisicx My response, given in good faith, was to propose a simple solution to a frequently asked question. The solution is well documented in the MS knowledgebase and is available to everyone. You posted that the solution would not work. I re-tested it and reported that it does work.
    Another contributor suggested Mailchimp, which is fine if the user needs a mail marketing tool, but advice to load unnecessary software onto a machine to solve issues which don't exist cannot be seen as good advice.
     
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    fisicx

    fisicx

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  • #17
    You don't need to load anything onto your machine. Mailchimp is SAAS.

    I agree that your solution was simple and effective but people like my parents don't have the knowledge or the skills to do this. I know one person who creates newsletters in word, prints, scans and embeds the resulting image in their email (which then often gets blocked).

    Note also that many don't know about table and inline CSS for email formatting. Using a free service like mailchimp takes away all the ambiguity.
     
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    patientlady

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  • #18
    Good morning
    So before I go down the root of Mailchimp, just a further thought please
    I am using Safari on MacBook Air, but do have Outlook 2016 but have not used it (not that I had realised that until just checking) I have Safari linked to my iPhone, iPad and work Samsung tablet, which I assume is Outlook.
    Would I be silly to start trying to use Outlook at this point, and just go with learning Mailchimp, or spend the time setting up Outlook?
    many thanks p/l
     
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    fisicx

    fisicx

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  • #20
    I use mailchimp and it's brilliant. You can create mailing lists for different groups and even prepare newsletters in advance and have the system send them on a set date and time. It reports back who has read the email and provides all sorts of other useful stats.
     
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    patientlady

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  • #21
    Update - Absolutely chuffed. I have sent out my first newsletter this evening (well only to me so far), using Mailchimp. I used a help video for idiots by some crazy 'awesome' sounding American lady who was most helpful and talked me through Campaigns, lists etc...
    Thanks to all above for your help :)
     
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