Why Gmail Clips Emails and How to Avoid it

If your email is larger than 102KB, Gmail may clip it in the subscriber's inbox. In this case, your subscribers will only see part of the message, and the rest of the content will be hidden behind the "View entire message" link. Sometimes a piece of code may appear in the email if the closing tag of the code line is cut while clipping.

How Email Clipping Hurts You

First of all, the conversion rate decreases as a part of the email content, including buttons, and a call to action is cut. Not all subscribers will be inclined to open the full message in a browser.

Second, you may not get accurate data on email opens. When an email is clipped, it cuts the tracking code, which is often added at the bottom of the email. However, if you send an email campaign via SendPulse, the tracking pixel will be added at the top of your email.

The most important thing is that clipping emails may influence your deliverability. Unsubscribe links are usually placed in an email footer, which is not visible when an email is clipped. If subscribers want to opt-out of your email campaigns but can’t see the unsubscribe link, they may mark as spam.

What Affects an Email's Size

When we talk about the size of an email, we mean the size of the HTML file with the email's code. It includes message content, text version of the email, all website and image links, CSS, HTML code used to style the message, tracking codes, email headers, etc. The size of every character in the code is taken into account.

How to Avoid Email Clipping

Reduce the amount of content, and keep your message as short and clear as possible. Use hyperlinks to provide additional information.

Avoid inserting images with the help of base64 strings or remove unnecessary images at all. When you convert an image to a base64 string, you get a long code line, and the size of every character in this line is included in the general email size. Add images to emails by links from external servers.

Avoid inserting content from a website or word-processing programs, or insert it as plain text. When you paste content from a website or word-processing program, extra formatting code may be added to your email code. You can also use special services to clear the HTML code of your email, for example, https://compressor.andona.click/.

Use a different subject line for each email. Gmail combines emails with the same subject line in one thread. If you send several emails with the same subject line to one email address, at some moment, the email size exceeds 102KB, and then the email gets clipped.

If the email still larger than 102KB, but you can’t cut anything else, intrigue your subscribers so that they open the full message or warn them that the email may be clipped at the very beginning.

In a SendPulse account, you can check the approximate size of your email at the last step of the campaign creation.

To sum it up, keep your emails short and informative, clear extra code, remove unnecessary images, and use different subject lines. Always preview your messages and check their size before sending them to your subscribers.

Last Updated: 22.02.2023