Sharing Outlook OFTs

[sierraforsberg]

We are trying to share an OFT file via link with a handful of our contacts in Marketo. Has anyone had any success in downloading their OFT file into the Design Studio and then linking the document in their email body? We've noticed the file seems to be corrupted when we send a test email to ourselves. 

We are all working in Outlook and planning to send the email to others who are using Outlook, so it is not an issue of having the right program to download the file. 

[SanfordWhiteman]

“Corrupted” is a bit vague. Marketo doesn’t alter the file after uploading to Design Studio.

In any case, I agree with Jo that this seems like a horrific UX. Everyday end users aren’t used downloading Outlook Templates, it‘ll be a wildly unfamiliar experience. This was what I got in Outlook 2016:

Why don’t you explain what you need in business terms, rather than jumping to a specific technical approach?

[sierratoman]

Our contacts at Microsoft have specific brand guidelines that they require if they are going to help promote co-hosted events. We've been advised that an OFT is the simplest way for them share the content. We prepared an email advising them that the link would be to an OFT file for them to download and share with their contacts, and as Microsoft reps they should be on Outlook.

The content is uploaded as on OFT file but it exists in Marketo as an application/octet-stream and doesn't give an option to open through Outlook. 

[Jo_Pitts1]

@sierratoman ,

Are you trying to get a prebuilt email that you can give to a partner (in this case MS) so that they can in turn use that email to promote a co-hosted event?

Cheers

Jo

[sierraforsberg]

Yes. We have prebuilt the email in Outlook and are trying to share the file via Marketo for the partner to then be able to send the original email to promote the event. 

[Jo_Pitts1]

@sierraforsberg,

OK, so this is confusing.  If all you're trying to do is share the file with a partner, why are you trying to do it via Marketo?  Why don't you just give them the OFT and let them load it into Outlook and send it.

It sounds like you need to step back, really clarify what you're trying to achieve, and then execute.

If you mean that the partner needs to send via Marketo, then OFT is 100% not the way to go.  

Regards

Jo

[SanfordWhiteman]

That’s still the same file, it isn’t corrupted. It just isn’t delivered with a vendor-specific MIME type. (No web server recognizes every single extension and turns it into a specific MIME type, and unknown extensions are treated as generic byte streams.)

I sent myself an (untracked) link to a Design Studio .oft to get the error message posted above. That is, the file was passed to the local Outlook app as expected, and in fact it even opens despite the error message! But Outlook doesn’t trust remote OFTs as templates. So you’ll never get an error-free user experience this way.

You can also steer people to download the OFT from a landing page, like so: Marketo :: OFT download page. This will give them more control over the download/open experience.

[sierratoman]

Do you mind sharing where you host the OFT file if it's not in the Design Studio? 

[SanfordWhiteman]

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Do you mind sharing where you host the OFT file if it's not in the Design Studio? 

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Not sure what you mean?

[sierraforsberg]

If I am understanding your suggestion, we can use a landing page built in Marketo and still have to upload the file to the Design Studio for them to click the link and download the OFT. This option has the same problem and the file still opens appearing the way it did in my previous screenshot. 

[SanfordWhiteman]

Did you click the link in my CodePen demo above?

[Jo_Pitts1]

@sierraforsberg ,

OFTs are a native Outlook email format.  I'd not be at all surprised if the Marketo Email builder breaks them in some manner (I'd need to see the generated output).  

The bigger question, why are you trying to use OFT format?  Why not just use an HTML email, and if you want to link to a file, just put a link in there.

Cheers

Jo

[sierratoman]

Hi, not sure if you can see my other response, but I am going to look into HTML as an alternative as well!