Email marketers today want their campaigns to run successfully with emails they design to display just as they thought in every inbox. But it doesn’t always happen as they imagined.

With over 60% of consumers preferring to be contacted by businesses through email, it is highly important to have an alternate viewing method for emails. This is also why an increasing number of email marketers add a ‘view email in browser’ link to their emails.

In this post, we will explore the ‘view email in the browser or share it with friends’ feature, the advantages of using it, and how you can add this feature in MassMailer.

What is the ‘View Email in a Browser’ Feature?

The ‘view email in a browser or share it with friends’ feature is primarily a quick hyperlinked text that is usually placed in the header or footer of an email. Also called a mirror link sometimes, it allows readers to open emails as web pages on the default browser they are using (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari, etc.). 

Put simply, ‘view email in a browser’ is an excellent feature that allows your readers, who may find it difficult to view HTML messages or share them with friends, to access an online version of your email.

Incorporating this feature ensures that your email is easily viewable as well as shareable to all readers in its entirety, irrespective of factors such as email client, settings, or any similar rendering issues. 

When to Use the ‘View Email in a Browser or Share It with Friends’ Feature

While it is always a good idea to include a way for subscribers to view HTML emails in a web browser or share them with friends easily, there are specific situations in which the feature can be really helpful, such as:

  • Email Campaigns with Multiple Images 

Since automatic image downloading doesn’t exist in general, giving users an option to view emails as a web page and share them as well makes a smart move for every email marketer.

  • Emails with Animations 

While incorporating animations in email campaigns with GIFs and CSS is a great idea to boost user engagement, Outlook’s desktop version doesn’t support such animated GIFs most of the time.

This makes adding a ‘view in browser’ link an excellent choice for an animation-packed viewing experience for readers.

  • Emails with Interactive Content 

A lot of email marketers today develop interactive emails to better engage with their audience, but inconsistent email support is something they invariably struggle with.

This is where a web-hosted version of interactive email can be a great way to engage your target audience.

 

When to Use the 'View Email in a Browser or Share It with Friends' Feature

 

How Do I Add a Link to View Emails in Browsers or Share Them with Friends in MassMailer?

MassMailer is a native Salesforce app with a range of robust features to help you master your email campaigns. It has the option to add a mirror link to your emails automatically.

Here are the two ways you can add this feature in MassMailer.

1. Use this default tag anywhere in your email just as text.

<%mm_view_in_browser%>

Apart from this, you can add a URL that allows your recipients to forward the email to their friends or someone else. You can also add the following HTML code block to the template. The link text can be customized as per your specific requirements.

<div class=”our-class”> <a href=”<%mm_view_in_browser_link%>”> forward to your friends</a> </div>

2. Add a button with the following value for the hyperlink

<%mm_view_in_browser_link%>

What you need to remember is that this feature does not work in the ‘Send Test’ mode, so you would need to use the MassMailer Outreach Wizard and launch an outreach to test this out.

 

Complete Guide to Adding the ‘View Email in a Browser’ Feature in MassMailer


Advantages of the ‘View Email in a Browser and Share It with Friends’ Feature

There are several advantages that businesses can get with the ‘view email in the browser’ feature. Among these are the following. 

1. Easy Accessibility 

Some screen readers are not compatible with email inboxes. In specific instances, email clients strip out semantic HTML attributes that are used to code accessible emails. Viewing or opening an email in a browser feature could specifically help people with vision difficulties avoid such issues.

2. Sharing and Bookmarking

Another advantage of this feature is that web-hosted URLs for all your email campaigns could be conveniently posted on social media. This allows subscribers to share, learn or even bookmark the web version for easy access later.

Additionally, people can use the link to share their email campaign designs for review and approval. Apart from these, having this feature makes your email campaigns more viewable and shareable by:

  • Allowing users to bookmark the email so that they can return to it later 
  • Allowing subscribers to use their Google Translate Chrome plugin to reach a wider audience
  • Making it easier to share around with friends on many messaging services 

 

To Wrap 

Today, an increasing number of email-building template programs include hyperlinks to help their subscribers view their content, making the ‘view this email in your browser and share with your friends’ feature an important marketing tool. 

The feature also acts as an add-on for your email builder, allowing most subscribers to find it easily at the header or footer of an email.

In this post, we have shared how you can use the view email in your browser feature, add it in MassMailer and ensure to make your emails as accessible as they can be.

A great tool for email marketers, you can use this feature by adding the hyperlink to your email sends for a great reading experience to suit every subscriber.

If you wish to explore this feature with MassMailer, open a free account to access our advanced email marketing platform and start your free trial today.