Why do broken symbols appear in emails?
These occur due to character encoding mismatches, leading to garbled text (e.g., ’ instead of '). They often appear normal in email clients but show as hexadecimal codes in the raw email source.
What are broken spelling symbols?
These symbols pop up when the encoding used to send an email doesn’t match the one used to read it. For example, sending an email in UTF-8 but reading it in ISO-8859-1 can turn a simple apostrophe into a confusing mess like “’.
Why does this happen?
Encoding mismatches: Different systems handle text differently.
Copy-pasting from word processors: Hidden formatting tags can sneak in.
Common culprits and their fixes
Broken symbol | UTF-8 | Correct | Hex code | HTML entity |
é | é | e | C3=A9 | é |
’ | ’ (apostrophe) | ' | E2=80=99 | ’ |
“ | “ (left quote) | " | E2=80=9C | “ |
— | — (em dash) | - | E2=80=94 | — |
… | … (ellipsis) | ... | E2=80=A6 | … |
Be cautious, as some services like ChatGPT and others may only display one version of a broken character. For example, an apostrophe might appear correct in some tools, but when you add your template to a sending tool, it could change to a broken version. Please be mindful of this.
How do broken symbols affect your emails?
Domain reputation: Frequent use of broken symbols can lower your domain reputation and negatively impact overall deliverability.
Spam filters: Spam filters detect broken symbols as suspicious, leading to your emails being marked as spam.
How to fix and prevent broken symbols?
Use correct symbols: Make sure you are using only the correct versions of the characters that we specified in the table above.
Test before sending: Preview emails to different clients.
Stick to plain ASCII: Avoid fancy characters, especially in subject lines.
Check the source code: Inspect the raw email source if something looks off.
If you use Google Docs to edit/store your templates, we have a tip to avoid automatically replacing correct characters with broken ones. Go to Tools -> Preferences -> uncheck "Use smart quotes," then go to the "Substitutions" tab in the same window -> disable "Automatic substitution" -> and save the changes by clicking "OK".
Best practices for consistent email quality
To keep your emails looking polished:
Audit your templates regularly: Outdated templates can carry hidden encoding issues.
Keep up with email client changes: Clients update how they display text frequently.
It’s crucial that your templates on Folderly are identical to the ones in your outreach tool. If, for example, you forget to update the template on Folderly without broken characters, Folderly won’t be able to effectively restore your domain's reputation. This will lead to a drop in efficiency, and the metrics will no longer reflect the actual performance.
Final thoughts
Even small details like broken symbols can significantly impact deliverability today. We strongly recommend you pay attention to this issue and fix broken symbols using the correct versions provided above. This simple step can enhance your email's performance and protect your domain reputation.