Email responsive design inconsistent on phones

[Anonymous]

I'm all ready to send out a big newsletter email but when I test the responsiveness on various phones and email clients around the office I get all kinds of different results. Some iPhones connecting to our company Outlook account see a beautiful responsive layout exactly as I'd expect. Others display the email like a shrunken version of a full size web page. An Android phone viewing a hot mail account also see the non-responsive layout. My iPhone using the Comcast email client tries to display a responsive design but all the images are stretch, squished, and distorted with everything aligned center.

I just need to know if this is normal or should lose my mind trying to make it look the same on every phone?

PS. Regarding the selection for "In a Place" below - I have no idea what places are appropriate for my questions. Who are these audiences? I tried writing in, "at my desk" and "on the bus" but those don't appear to be the places you are looking for. I just want someone to reply who can answer my question. Is there someone in a place that does that?

[Anonymous]

Hi Clint,

This is probably the right place for this question.

About your question, it is normal for a template to look slightly different in different devices. However, although different, it is important to unsure that they are all user friendly and provide a good user experience. If you think they don't, I would suggest adapting the code of your template.

Are you using any type of software to check inconsistencies across different devices? Email on Acid and Litmus are pretty good for this.

I hope this helps,

Macarena.

[Anonymous]

Hi Macarena,

I'm obviously new at this so thanks for letting me know my question when to the right place. We are working with a consultant who is very helpful with this sort of thing but their services are also in high demand so I can't always get answers right away. My newsletter send is already delayed by two weeks because every time we think it's ready to go, some other obscurity pops up.

The software you recommend sounds a little dubious don't you think? "Email on Acid." I'm hoping this is actually a site similar to NeverBounce that will allow us to test the email's appearance rather than some additional software we have to install. That sort of thing never goes over well with our IS department.

And if I use this Email on Acid will it tell me what needs to be fixed on my template or will the results be the same as sending test email to various people in my office with different phones?

I suppose none of this matters. Today is the last possible day I can get our July newsletter email out. Our consultant will be here at 7:30 AM to help us wrap it up. Marketo typically takes a day or more to respond so this issue will be long gone by the time I hear back from you.

Thanks,

CjW

[Anonymous]

Hi Clint,

In that case I hope you can sort it out. Email on Acid or Litmus are very trustworthy softwares. They will not tell you how to fix the things that look different in different devices, but it will show you how it would look in every single device. You can find an example below:

It's up to you how you want to use it.

All the best!

[Hobie_Thompson1]

Clint Whitsett​, Macarena is absolutely right. Silly names or not, both Litmus and Email on Acid are fantastic tools that require no software installation. Which one you choose is ultimately going to be up to your requirements. Like Macarena said, nether would tell you specifically how to fix code if a template looks weird on a specific client, but a good email/HTML developer would be able to figure it out fairly easily (in most cases. Should be noted Outlook is a particular pain to work with)