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Outreach Mailings and Outlook 2007
Answer ID 2684   |   Last Review Date 11/25/2019

I have included a web form in my mailing, but it won't work in Outlook 2007.

Environment:

Outreach, Feedback, Outlook 20018

Resolution:

Outlook 2007 uses Word 2007, and not Internet Explorer to render HTML emails. This is why a web form will not work within a mailing.

The following are other limitations:

  • No support for animated gifs
  • No support for Flash or other plug-ins
  • No support for CSS Floats/Positioning
  • No support for using images as bullet in unordered lists
  • No support for background images
  • No support for forms
  • Limited support for background color
  • Alt tags will be modified

Outlook 2007 is purposefully designed to not render webform fields and buttons inside a web form for delivered email. Furthermore, there are a number of email clients that do not allow webform submission: Gmail, Hotmail, Thunderbird, Windows Mail, Pegasus 4.41 (errors on submit), Eudora 7.1.


If you would like to use any of the above listed HTML you can generate and email a link to a URL for the document that you would have normally emailed.

To do this you will need to create a document, a campaign, and a mailing:

  1. Create a document that contains the content that would have previously been included in the email. Enable the document for both email and web.
     
  2. Create a campaign: Add a "Serve Web Page" to the campaign. update the properties of the serve web page to include the document you created above. Copy the URL of the serve web page. Set the status of the campaign to "launched". Save and close the campaign.
     
  3. Create a mailing to distribute the URL for the campaign.
     
  4. Send the mailing.

 

By following these instructions, you will be able to continue to deliver mailings and information to your customers, but you will avoid the problem created by various email clients that no longer allow webform submission via email.

Best Principles For Bulletproof Newsletter Delivery

Since newsletters are still an important part of marketing campaigns, to achieve the highest response rate you'd like to ensure the highest delivery rate. The principles and rules listed below might help you to increase the delivery rate of your newsletters.

  • Send newsletters regularly.
  • Tuesday / Wednesday 2-3pm = Increased Response.
  • Slow down your newsletter delivery.
  • Use a tag line at the beginning of the subject line.
  • Always insert the current date in the content.
  • HTML is OK, but only if MIME-Multipart is used.
  • Use CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) sparingly.
  • Avoid graphics and complex HTML-elements.
    Spam-filters consider a number of issues related to HTML. For instance, if the newsletter has too many closed tags, too many graphic (images) or structural (tables) elements it gets just as many spam score points. Besides, many readers use software (e.g. Outlook) which automatically blocks images; if users don't understand what the mail is about they'll report is as spam. Complex HTML (particularly if more than 50% of HTML-code are HTML-tags) is generously awarded with many spam score points — keep it simple. Colorful backgrounds, tables, JavaScripts and web forms shouldn't be in newsletters.
  • Motivate your users to add you to their safelists.
  • Screen your advertisers and partners.
  • Monitor new subscribers.
  • Verify your subscribers with signup confirmation.
  • Test your newsletters before sending them out.