Can placeholder texts and images cause problems?
Placeholder texts and images are powerful tools to help your stakeholders and email team to visualize the final email campaign. However, keeping those placeholders in place can cause some issues.
Obviously, leaving dummy text and images in an email sent to subscribers is an amateur mistake, but it happens. That’s why a thorough process with a pre-send checklist is important. But could placeholder text impact deliverability?
Years ago, some folks here at Email on Acid noticed templates using lorem ipsum texts were flagged during They concluded lorem ipsum content could cause false alarms during testing and deliverability issues if left in emails.
That may not be entirely true. Instead, Jonathan Torres, a deliverability expert at clarifies that it has more to do with unique content (of which lorem ipsum is not).
Jonathan says you should always use unique content when running spam tests and when building actual emails. Mailbox providers use content scanners to look for emails matching patterns of malicious messages from scammers.
So, if a bad actor used certain placeholder text in a spammy email, the content could cause deliverability issues because ISPs see it as a sign of something shady. Jonathan says emails should be 100% unique – even down to your logos and icons.
“Whether it’s placeholder text or images, or even a Facebook logo you got from a Google search, if you didn’t make it or write it so that it is unique, it could have an effect on content scanners that will then lump your email in with anyone else using the same generic text or images in their messages.”
~Jonathan Torres, TAM Team Manager, Mailgun by Sinch
Spam testing aside, the same applies when sending your emails into the wild. Double-check that you’re not including placeholder text or images that might impact your email’s deliverability.
When is it a bad idea to use placeholder text or images?
Placeholder text and images are great for drafting emails and giving stakeholders an idea of the final product. However, here are some things you shouldn’t do when it comes to using dummy text or images:
Don’t treat generic placeholder text as real text. Instead of using generic placeholder text like lorem ipsum, consider using proto-copy, low-fidelity writing that captures your intended content without being polished or grammatical. In other words, use your dummy text to provide direction for your email design. Text shouldn’t be an afterthought when your team designs email campaigns. Great designs involve interplay between text and design.
Don’t use placeholder text instead of proto-copy when soliciting feedback. Usually, your email design undergoes several rounds of feedback before approval. Give the stakeholders something to read as soon as possible – even if it’s quickly written, short dashes that don’t necessarily sound “good.” Stakeholders will sense how your content will interact with the email design.
Don’t use placeholder text when sending or testing emails. According to Torres, “If someone is testing and sending from their platform, and they Pakistan Business Email List don’t have a good sender reputation, then that gets recognized as content from a bad sender. Anything else that comes in with that same content could get flagged too. It’s definitely much more common with images, but I have seen it with lorem ipsum at times and with certain disclaimers.”
The bottom line
Placeholder texts and images have their place: they’re good for kicking off your layout and design process, but email teams should try to include proto-copy or actual copy and unique images as soon as possible.
Of course, we all make mistakes. That’s why a pre-send email checklist helps email teams find what needs fixing before hitting the send button. from Email on Acid by Sinch is an automated checklist that includes for collaboration.
Ready to get started? Learn how to test your email designs before sending them with Email on Acid. Try out our for free for seven days!
