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Preparing Your HTML Email for Feedotter Setup

Follow these best practices for a quick, error-free custom HTML template setup with Feedotter.

Before sending your HTML to the Feedotter team, please review the guidelines below. Preparing your template according to these recommendations helps us complete your setup faster and minimizes revisions.

Acquire a Clean HTML File

Work with your designer or developer to create a clean, responsive HTML email. Acceptable sources include:

  • HTML files exported correctly from your ESP (Marketo, Pardot, Eloqua, HubSpot, etc.)

  • HTML direct from your email developer

❌ Do not send EML files or code copied from email clients such as Gmail.

Ensure Elements are Implemented Properly

Header & Footer

  • Your logo and header images should be coded in place.

  • All links (homepage, disclaimers, unsubscribe, preference center) must be accurate and final.

  • FeedOtter will not edit these areas, so the code must be exactly what you want in your final email.

Images

  • All images must have a valid absolute SRC URL such as https://my.emailtool.com/path/to/my/image.png. Relative paths such as /images/mylogo.jpg should not be used.

  • This applies to logos, featured article images, social icons, banners, and ads.

  • If you need placeholders, use tools like picsum.photos or placehold.co.

  • Do you want your images to be linked? Ensure they are wrapped with placeholder links; href="#"

Text & Links

  • Any text that should be linked (article titles, “Read More,” etc.) must have anchor <a> tags.

  • Any images that should be clickable must also be wrapped in <a> tags.

  • If you don’t know the final link destination, use href="#" as a placeholder.

  • Anchor tags must be added by your team; FeedOtter cannot add them after handoff.

Failing to properly link images, placeholders, or other elements is the most common cause of delays in email setup projects.

Placeholder Content

  • Use placeholder text and images where blog posts or dynamic content will appear.

  • Include multiple article rows if you plan to show more than 1–2 articles, so spacing is clear.

  • CTA buttons should also be linked (use # if final URLs are not ready)

Design Considerations

Titles

Article titles are often much longer than placeholder text.

  • Issue: Designers often build with short placeholders like Lorem ipsum odor amet, but production article titles are often much longer (60–90+ characters).

  • Best Practice: Test with long sample titles and allow wrapping with consistent spacing.

Descriptions

Real blurbs may span 3–5+ lines, not just a couple of sentences.

  • Issue: Uneven content lengths can make columns look unbalanced.

  • Best Practice: Use flexible vertical layouts and consider truncation with a “Read More” link if uniformity is needed.

Repeating Content

You won’t always send the same number of articles.

  • Issue: Rigid designs built for “exactly 3 items” can look broken when you show 1 or 10.

  • Best Practice: Create repeating blocks that maintain proper spacing with any number of items.

CTA Buttons

Calls-to-action aren’t always short (“Read More”).

  • Issue: Longer text may wrap and distort button styling.

  • Best Practice: Test with multi-word CTAs and ensure buttons remain legible and properly padded.

Test Before Handoff

Your HTML email must be tested before sending it to our team:

  • Use a tool like Litmus or Email on Acid to ensure compatibility across all major clients.

  • Emails that fail a basic Litmus check will be returned.

  • Meeting these requirements ensures we can provide a timely, high-quality setup.

Final Checklist Before Sending

Once your template meets these requirements, send the exported HTML to our team. We’ll add the FeedOtter-specific tokens and set everything up for automation.

💬 Have questions? Contact us at success@feedotter.com.

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