Background Color when Forwarding Emails

[MainStreetCommunityFoundation]

Is there a way to apply a background color or image that doesn't take over an email when someone replies or forwards it?

It appears that the background style is applied to the email body, rather than a content div, so when someone replies, the entire email body suddenly has the same background. I really feel as if there has to be a solution. I recently came from another email marketing platform and they were able to change it. I did, however, speak with three people from Constant Contact who all said it was not possible. Yet I have received an email from an organization using Constant Contact where the background does not take over the replies/forwards of the email. There has to be a way to add a white divider or white block across the entire top of the email before starting the actual design/template with the colored background. Has anyone been able to find a solution? I really don't have to resort to creating only templates with white backgrounds.

[MainStreetCommunityFoundation]

Hi @JeremyBRWS ,

Forwarding emails always runs the risk of having their formatting altered, regardless of the sending or forwarding source.

If you're curious why Outlook programs tend to have different ways of displaying emails from all sources, compared to most email programs, I'd recommend checking out our blog article that discusses common email display issues. This blog article will also contain have relevant links to our articles on outside resources on the most widely used email programs.

[Briody_W]

Hello @MainStreetCommunityFoundation,

Thank you for reaching out to us!  I'm sorry you are experiencing this with your replies.  We are actively collecting feedback on this issue and I would love you pass it along to the appropriate teams for review.  What email client was the email was replied from? The @email.com should be more than enough. Also, what is the email client you received it to? Do you have a screen shot of how the email looked when you received it?  I do apologize for the inconvenience.

[HilaryB]

Was this issue fixed? We have been using dark blue outer backgrounds on our email blasts and when clients reply the dark blue continues throughout the email. Which they then have to change their font color to white in order to be legible. 

[Frankie_P]

Hi @HilaryB 

While we do not currently have a resolution to this experience, we are still in the process of troubleshooting this further. If you can, do you have a screenshot of this email? What are the display issues (stretching, colors, etc)? What email client was the email forwarded from? What email client was the forwarded email received at? These are helpful details to have!

[PorterW5]

This is still an issue - when you add in new blocks, the space between the content becomes the border color. Very frustrating.

[Frankie_P]

Hi @PorterW5 

I apologize sections of your email are changing to the wrong color, I would however like to clarify exactly what you are experiencing. Are you seeing this border of color when adding in a new block in your email editor? Or is this color change happening when your email is forwarded? I also would like to mention having some of the details previously asked for in this thread would be very helpful. 

[CarrieS43]

We have long had the same issue with constant contact.  If you use an "outer background" that image/color persists with forwards or replies.  For obvious reasons, this is quite problematic.  Was a solution ever discovered?

[MainStreetCommunityFoundation]

No it was not unfortunately. I feel as if it is something that should be possible, we used to use another, very ameatuer, program and it was possible with that. It basically had the email start below a certain line so the background wouldn't extend past that box.  

[Alex_S]

Hi @MainStreetCommunityFoundation and @CarrieS43 

Thank you both for participating in the Community! We know how important it is for your emails to look professional and consistent even when forwarding them. 

However, once an email is forwarded we don't have any control over the format of the email. Will track feedback on both of your accounts regarding this and send to the appropriate teams for review. 

Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have more questions. 

[BradH350]

I came here to look up solutions after finding out that replies to our emails put the email text into the background colors. The reply text is illegible, but it's revealed here when I highlight the hiddent text. You're telling me you can't format the page so that response email defaults to black text on a white background? 

[Aaron_H]

Hello @BradH350,

When you hit reply in an email client, that email client is what actually chooses what pieces of code are over-written, and which are left alone.  There's no consistent methodology, so making the outcome consistent is nearly impossible.  If you try sending yourself this test in several different email clients, and respond from all of them, I'm fairly certain that you'll see different changes from all of them, and some may very well have different containers to keep background colors from bleeding over like you're seeing.

[econsultsolutions]

When forwarding Constant Contact emails, it completely changes the colors of the eblast. It's supposed to look like the first image, but when forwarded or replied to, it changes it to the second image. How can we stop this from happening?

[Frankie_P]

Hi @econsultsolutions 

Thank you for including your screenshots in this post! These images definitely helped us to understand what you are experiencing. With that said, I apologize you are seeing this change in your forwarded emails. This is something we are continuing to troubleshoot as these formatting changes are caused by the email clients itself. At this time we do not have a workaround, or a time estimate of when it will be resolves. I have however submitted this information in your account. I have also added you to our queue to be notified when it is resolved.

[CraigC181]

I am trying to find a solution to this very problem and looking at this forum makes me think that it hasn't been resolved? So I suppose the only solution is to keep a white background if you want your replies to be read-able... 

[Frankie_P]

Hi @CraigC181 

You are correct, at this time there is not an available solution to display changes when an email is forwarded. Because this isn't something all contacts experience, along with the fact that these formatting changes are caused by the email clients itself, we do troubleshoot on a case by case basis and collect the details previously requested in this thread. Details like what specific display changes you're seeing, a screenshot, the email client the email was forwarded from, and the email client the forwarded email was received at. In the meantime, I would suggest including a "View as Webpage" link in your email. Even if the email is altered, contacts can still view the unaltered version in a webpage through this link.

[WMGNA]

Same - Very Irritating 

[Zoe_H]

Hello @WMGNA,

We completely understand how you feel, and we are currently working on a solution. Thank you so much for your feedback, we appreciate it very much! 

[SteveH820]

Was a solution to this problem realized in the last month? 

[PorterW5]

Not as far as I know - it hasn't been fixed.

[CathyL846]

No it's not fixed, because we are still having that same issue to this day. 

[SheltonG18]

Just checkin in on this. Do we have an answer? This is persistent across all email clients I send it to. 

[Amber_L]

Hello @SheltonG18,

Thank you for reaching out. Unfortunately since it does depend entirely on the email client that is doing the forwarding, we do not yet have a solution to this. However, I am tracking it in your account so that our engineers can notify you when/if they devise a solution! 

[ESNS]

Hello,

I am also having the same issues, and I'm checking in to see if this issue has been resolved yet. Thanks!

[Mary_S]

Hello @ESNS, We agree it is important your email campaign displays as expected. At this time there is not an available solution to display changes when an email is forwarded. Because this isn't something all contacts experience, along with the fact that these formatting changes are caused by the email clients itself, we do troubleshoot on a case by case basis and collect the details like what specific display changes you're seeing, a screenshot, the email client the email was forwarded from, and the email client the forwarded email was received at. In the meantime, I would suggest including a "View as Webpage" link in your email. Even if the email is altered, contacts can still view the unaltered version in a webpage through this link.

[JeremyBRWS]

I made this grid, which I will hope highlights the issue. It seems–from my, admittedly, small data set–to be an issue only with Outlook. Thunderbird and iOS have no issues.

Maybe you all at Constant Contact can try to figure out why your code seems to make the most popular email client in the world unhappy?