When email is sent through an email marketing platform from an unknown sender, i an email client will sometimes prevent the display of images by default. This behavior was introduced by email companies as a response to spammers. Knowing that someone has viewed an image is a great way to confirm that at email address is real.
When an email program blocks images, it is preventing the sender from knowing that any action has been taken on the email without the consent of the recipient.
For the recipients, the way to prevent this from happening is generally simple: have them add your FROM email address to their address book. This is the most common and simple way to show images by default each time they receive your emails. Alternatively, an email recipient can configure their email program to always show images by default (and many email programs already do) or they can simply get used to clicking to show images when they receive an email they want to read.
For most email users who do not see images in email by default, they are used to dealing with email in this way. They will display the images, if the content you are sending is relevant and interesting for them to read.
There are two best practices that we recommend related to this issue:
- Use ALT attributes with your pictures. This is the alternative text that will be displayed when your images are hidden. This text generally describes what the missing picture contains and will be contained within the spot in the email where the picture would otherwise appear. Our newsletter templates generally add this information automatically to the thumbnails related to your articles. When you add other pictures through the online editor, fill out the Alternative Text field in the Image Properties dialog box.
- At the top (or bottom) of the email you can ask people to add your FROM address to their address book. This can appear next to the link allowing the recipient to view the email in their browser. For example:
Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. To ensure delivery, please add example@company.com to your address book.