Survey Invite Formatting in Qualtrics Is Not Exact | XM Community
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Does anyone know why the format of the survey invite I create in the Message Library doesn't match what the participant sees in the email they get? The spacing is off as well as colors of elements I've added, such as buttons. This concerns me because I am being very careful when I create the invite so that it looks professional when the participant receives it only to lose all control when it is sent.
Hello @thalljohnson ,



The settings of various mail(gmail, outlook etc), differs. Hence, we see sometimes the formatting issues. If this is not the case then you can paste your composed email code(removing sensitive data) here to get on this more clearly.
@Shashi nailed it- the differences in email providers causes some formatting issues. Particularly if you ARE using a lot of spaces, formatting, colors, and other things that are created using HTML.



There are some best practices that can help you achieve as much standardization as possible:

https://templates.mailchimp.com/getting-started/html-email-basics/



Or, just stay way from HTML and fancy formatting as much as you can!
I have included a screen shot of how the email looks when in Distribution and the email is loaded in from Message Library. Sorry, I had to heavily cross out certain information. But you can see what I mean about the odd formatting. In Distribution, the text after the "button" seems to run into the "button", but in the actual email that is sent, there is one line space under the button and the text starts on the next line! Unfortunately, I spent hours trying to correct the button/text issue based on the view I have here. It wasn't until I sent a Preview Email that I saw that the formatting did give me the line space I wanted even though you can't tell from this view.



!
We understand- it's just something you can't control, unfortunately. My email server will interpret a line break as being 10px wide, while yours will interpret 16px. Fonts can read slightly differently from machine to machine.



In your use case, it looks like adding some line breaks may help in some areas, like after your buttons. But... no matter how much time you spend it's going to display a little differently from what you created. Send the preview to a different email client- you'll see another version entirely.



You can go the route of creating an entirely image-based email, but then you run the risk of being interpreted as spam at a much higher rate.



I wish I had better advice, but :neutral: That is why and there's not a ton you can control about it.

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