Nikunj Butani, Author at Email Mavlers

Like the unsinkable ship, which sank, the unbreakable email—breaks!

The curse of perfection? Perhaps. What do you do when everything is perfect? You test. Nothing like perfection to encourage testing.

The famous phrase goes, Test, test, test. (We’ll add our own version to that later.) This is because testing is undervalued.

And also because testing is hard. As Bill McCloskey, founder of Only Influencers and email entrepreneur points out, testing throws all your “training out the window.” It bins the textbook, essentially. “Successful testing means that you have to embrace the idea that you are wrong about something,” Bill argues. And that’s what puts people off.

Although, too much testing can also be a problem, as you’ll find out in today’s article on Klaviyo email design challenges and fixes. Our subject matter expert tackles a host of design issues upfront. Join him!

Klaviyo Font Issues

Fonts can be tricky to manage in email templates, particularly when using custom fonts in Klaviyo. Different email clients (like Gmail, Outlook, etc.) render fonts differently, which can result in inconsistent branding and poor user experience.

a. Inconsistent Font Rendering

Brands use custom fonts to design their email templates which are usually not supported by email clients like Outlook and Gmail because they use default web-safe fonts and may not display your required font.

Solution: Use Web-Safe Fonts or Font Stacks to get around Klaviyo email font issues.

Fallback Fonts: Use a font stack that includes both custom fonts and web-safe alternatives. This way, if a custom font is unavailable, the fallback font will be used.

Example: font-family: ‘CustomFont’, Arial, sans-serif.

Web-Safe Fonts: Use standard fonts such as Arial, Verdana, or Georgia that are universally supported across most email clients.

b. Font Size and Line Spacing Issues

Different email clients can often alter font sizes and line spacing, which can impact readability and design consistency.

Solution: Set Explicit Font Size and Line Height

Always specify the font size and line height in pixels (px) rather than relying on percentages or em units to maintain consistent rendering across platforms.

Example: font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px;

Related: 16 Overlooked Email Development Challenges

Klaviyo Email Clipping Issues

Email clipping occurs when an email exceeds a certain size limit and is truncated, typically in Gmail. This can be a big problem for email campaigns, especially if important information gets cut off and the recipient can’t see it.

a. Large Email Sizes

Emails that are too large in file size (usually over 102KB in Gmail) can get clipped, and users may not see the full content, including important offers and call-to-action buttons.

Solution: Optimize Email File Size

Minimize Image Sizes: Compress images to reduce the overall file size. Tools like TinyPNG can help reduce the image file size without sacrificing quality.
Avoid Excessive Use of Large Images: Try to keep a balance between text and images in your design. Relying heavily on images can lead to large file sizes.
Optimize HTML Code: Minimize your HTML code by removing unnecessary spaces, comments, and unused code.

Significantly, continuing on that last point, clipping doesn’t necessarily follow a pattern; sometimes, an email gets cut off relatively sooner. Others might stop short of the footer. Now, what causes these seemingly random behaviors? We consulted our development team on this.

“Some ESPs encode images or tracking pixels in Base64 format within the HTML. This drastically increases the email size, triggering earlier clipping,” says Divya S., Project Coordinator at Email Mavlers.

“Some variations in where Gmail clips the email could come from differing amounts of conditional code in each template,” she adds, even if conditional code applies only to Outlook, not Gmail.

The issue can also be caused by your ESP. “If your ESP dynamically replaces merge tags, the final email size varies based on the length of inserted content. This can cause emails with long names or company names to be clipped earlier than others,” Divya points out.

Gmail sometimes processes CSS differently before calculating the final size, so seemingly minor changes (like a different layout) can shift where clipping occurs.

“A taller email naturally requires more code, increasing the overall size. Even without excessive height, unnecessary or redundant code can significantly contribute to the total size, increasing the risk of clipping. While larger image files may slow down load times, they don’t directly affect Gmail’s clipping threshold,” explains Dhrupalsinh Barad, our senior HTML developer. Our development team proposes these best practices in general:

Minify HTML: Remove extra spaces, line breaks, and comments before sending.
Optimize Inline Styles: Avoid excessive inline CSS and repetitive properties.
Reduce Tracking Pixels: If possible, limit the number of tracking images or use lighter alternatives.
Simplify Code Structure: Avoid unnecessary deeply nested tables.
Test Variants: Use Gmail’s “View Original” option to check HTML size before sending.

b. Long Subject Lines and Body Content

Emails that are too long or contain excessive content (like long subject lines or an overloaded email body) are more likely to be clipped by email clients.

Solution: Streamline Email Content

Keep Subject Lines Short: Aim for subject lines that are under 50 characters to avoid clipping.
Keep Emails Concise: Avoid overloading your emails with large amounts of text. Focus on key messaging, ensuring important content is visible above the fold.

Sometimes, during testing, threading is mistakenly taken for clipping.

Gmail “threads” multiple emails from the same sender, so subsequent emails within the thread look empty. You can view all the emails within a particular thread by clicking on the three dots. (See below).

So, make sure you’re not rocking the boat over bogus leaks. You could be too conscientious while testing.

Klaviyo Email Design Tips

Ensuring that your email displays correctly across different devices and email clients is crucial. Klaviyo provides testing tools to preview your emails in different environments:

Klaviyo allows you to preview how your emails will look in various email clients (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook). This will help you identify potential font rendering and clipping issues.
Always send test emails to yourself or a small test group before launching your campaign. This allows you to check for clipping and rendering issues before the email reaches your audience.
Klaviyo’s editor is designed to create mobile-friendly and responsive email templates that adjust to different screen sizes. Ensure that your email designs are optimized for both desktop and mobile users.
The editor also provides a real-time preview feature, which allows you to test how the email will render across multiple devices.

So these are some of the standard best practices. You always start with them. For more specific details, consult Klaviyo’s guide.

Need help with designing customizable email templates? Let’s shake on it!

Ensure your emails render seamlessly, with Email Mavlers — flawless on every device, from mobile to desktop to tablets. We surpass CSS complexities to deliver pixel-perfect templates across clients. Also enjoy optimized images for smooth display, fast-loading clean code for reliability, and accessible, inclusive designs.

One is a late entrant into the world of email, the other is an established name in the industry.

Which one should you go with for your template needs?

That’s what we’ll discuss in today’s comparative overview of Flodesk and Klaviyo.

Flodesk came on the scene in 2018, by which time Klaviyo were slicing their sixth anniversary cake. That being said, within a span of just five years, Flodesk clocked a massive $25 million in ARR. Today, Flodesk has emerged as one of the major players in email marketing.

In this guide, our subject matter expert takes a bird’s-eye survey of the template libraries in Klaviyo and Flodesk. Let’s get going!

What Is Flodesk?

Flodesk, as you know, is a relatively new email marketing platform that’s gaining popularity fast. It’s especially popular with small businesses, creators, and entrepreneurs. The reason is that Flodesk makes it super easy to design beautiful, eye-catching emails with little effort. Its user-friendly interface and stylish templates are a big draw for people who want their emails to look great without needing any design skills.

Flodesk’s key features include the following:

Drag-and-drop editor: No coding needed, just a simple, intuitive way to design emails.
Curated templates: Flodesk offers a variety of aesthetic email templates that look professionally designed, ensuring your emails are always on brand.
Unlimited emails: For a flat fee, you get access to all features with no restrictions on the number of emails you can send.

What Is Klaviyo?

Klaviyo is a more established email marketing tool, well-known for its advanced features like detailed segmentation and powerful analytics. While it’s typically used by e-commerce businesses, it’s versatile enough for any type of marketing campaign. Klaviyo may require a bit more of a learning curve, but it packs a punch with its automation capabilities and sophisticated features.

Klaviyo’s key features include the following:

Advanced automation: Automated email flows based on customer behavior.
Segmentation and analytics: Deep insights into customer behavior to personalize campaigns.
Pre-built templates: Offers a variety of templates, especially for e-commerce businesses.

A for Aesthetics: Flodesk vs. Klaviyo Design

Flodesk’s Sleek & Modern Templates

Flodesk stands out because its templates are specifically crafted with visual aesthetics in mind. Flodesk’s email designs are created to make your messages visually striking without requiring deep design knowledge.

Bold, Creative Designs: From minimalist layouts to bold, image-heavy templates, Flodesk offers visually appealing designs that feel modern and stylish. It’s perfect for businesses that want to make a statement through their emails.
Customizability: The templates are easily customizable, allowing you to swap out colors, fonts, and images to match your branding.
Consistency: Flodesk ensures that your emails look polished and consistent every time you send them.

Source: Flodesk

Flodesk’s Design Strengths

Simplicity with style: Clean designs that can highlight your product or content without overwhelming the reader.
Perfect for creatives: Ideal for artists, bloggers, and businesses that want to focus on aesthetics.

Klaviyo’s Professional & Functional Templates

Klaviyo’s email templates are simple and professional, made to get things done. They’re mainly for e-commerce businesses, helping with things like promoting products, reminding customers about abandoned carts, or sending deals. The templates look good but are more focused on business needs than just being fancy.

E-commerce-Centric Designs: Klaviyo offers templates that integrate seamlessly with online stores, making it easy to showcase products, sales, and promotions.
Pre-built, Easy to Use: The templates are designed for easy customization, but with fewer options to play with compared to Flodesk’s more artistic templates.
Structured Layouts: While they may not be as “artsy” as Flodesk’s options, the designs are still clean, modern, and effective at driving conversions.

Klaviyo’s Design Strengths

Action-oriented layouts: Great for businesses focusing on conversion optimization, with templates like cart abandonment emails, product recommendations, and review requests.
Clear focus on functionality: Perfect for businesses that prioritize efficiency and direct sales.

Source: Klaviyo

Ease of Use: Which Is More User-friendly?

IBM summed it up nicely when they said, “Ease of use may be invisible, but its absence sure isn’t.” That’s a journal’s worth of wisdom to remember when it comes to ESPs. Turn to Capterra and co., and you’ll see that ease of use is next only to price on the user’s checklist.

So, Flodesk or Klaviyo—which platform does better in ease of use? Find out below.

Flodesk: For a beginner, Flodesk would be incredibly intuitive. The drag-and-drop editor is so easy to use that even if you have zero design skills, you can still create stunning emails. The templates are pre-designed and ready for customization, so you don’t have to start from scratch.
Klaviyo: Klaviyo can be a bit tricky to learn, especially if you’re new to email marketing. Its interface is more technical, and while the drag-and-drop editor works just fine, it’s not as simple as Flodesk. However, if you already know email marketing and need more advanced features, Klaviyo is suitable.

Pricing Comparison

“Making a comparison between the different kinds of ESPs is similar to comparing smartphones without knowing the price,” points out Grant Saxon Rowe, co-founder, Mercato Agency. And we concur.

So, as far as price is concerned, our SME argues thus:

Flodesk: Flodesk has a simple pricing plan where you pay one flat rate, no matter how many emails you send—whether it’s 500 or 50,000. This makes it a great option for businesses on a budget.
Klaviyo: Klaviyo has a pricing system that changes based on how many contacts you have and how many emails you send. As your business grows, it can get more expensive. But if you’re an e-commerce business needing advanced features and integrations, it could be a worthwhile investment.

Flodesk is recommended when:

You value creative, eye-catching, and sleek email templates.
You’re looking for a simple, budget-friendly email marketing tool.
You’re a creator, solo business owner, or small business that cares about design and looks.

Klaviyo is recommended when:

You have an e-commerce business or need advanced automation and segmentation.
You want templates that focus on sales and customer interactions.
You’re comfortable with a more complex interface and want to dive deeper into analytics

Your Choice, Our Chops!