Using Minification to Avoid Gmail Clipping

Flashy users often send emails that are filled to the brim with fantastic content. However, they can run into trouble with the byte size of the emails, as most servers have a limit on the size of emails sent (Gmail’s maximum size allowed is 102KB). If an email exceeds the limit, it will be clipped and readers will see a link to click in order to read the entire message.

At Flashy, we want your customers to be able to view the entirety of your beautiful, content-rich emails with only one click (and remember, you only have a few seconds of attention span in which to catch them and keep them reading!). To bypass this issue of clipping, we include a “Minification” feature in our email templates that makes it possible.

To view this feature, go to Templates in your Flashy dashboard at the top of your screen. Open an email template of your choice. In the left side General Settings menu, you’ll see a “Minify This Email” setting with a toggle. This setting is turned on by default.

What does it mean for Flashy to minify an email? Emails are composed of HTML code. The code often contains white spaces that significantly increase the size of the email. When minifying, Flashy removes these white spaces, which reduces the size of the email. This way, our users can enjoy a more effective and powerful email experience in which their customers see all they have to offer in an email upon the first open. 

While the minification setting is highly beneficial for most of our users, there are a few cases in which it is not effective (which is why it’s an optional setting). Some Flashy users have customers who use fairly old email servers - such as older versions of Outlook - or they manage their own mail servers. These servers have filters that don’t know how to properly read or analyze this minification. Since it looks strange to their filters, they’re likely to mark it as spam. In these cases, it makes sense to turn the minification option off. Additionally, if the emails that Flashy users send are not anywhere near the size limit, there’s no reason to have this option turned on.

But if you send emails that are on the large side, and most of your customers use Gmail, we strongly recommend using the minification option to avoid clipping. Let your customers see all of your good work so they can act on it!