HTML Newsletters

Though Levitate's mantra is personal keep-in-touch, and we know statistically speaking, a plain email has much higher open and reply rates than a fancy HTML newsletter -— we still recognize that at the end of the day, some of our users actually do have a real use-case for HTML newsletters.

By allowing graphic-rich email content, our HTML Newsletter feature is another way for you to keep in touch with your clients and prospects more efficiently.

At a high level, here's how our HTML Newsletter feature works:

You can use our pre-built template, or create your own using an easy-to-use drag and drop email template builder.
Rather than using your email provider to send HTML newsletters, we will use our email sending capabilities, through a custom HTML domain that's associated with your company. Replies will still come back to the email address you have connected to Levitate! This applies to all of our customers with the exception of the ones in the financial industry. For our financial customers, we can still deliver using your email server for FINRA compliance purposes.
Like our regular campaigns, you can track open, view, and click rates.

Now, let's take a deeper dive and see how you can send out your first HTML newsletter step by step.

Building a Template

First, you can find the HTML Newsletter feature in the Campaign section.

Please note that if you are an admin, you can automatically activate this feature after you enter your business' physical address. If you are not an admin of your Levitate account but would like to have this feature turned on, please reach out to your success manager or support@levitateapp.com.

You can start by building your own HTML template, or start with the one we've provided for you and go from there.

On the right-hand side of the panel, you will see many tools to help you create the layout of your newsletter.

If you'd like to make sure that the newsletter you're working on autosaves while you're creating it, so no important work gets lost, you can enable autosave:

One cool feature to highlight here — just like our regular campaigns, you can insert the "first name" of the recipient into the body of your newsletter, along with some other fields (however, be careful with these to make sure you actually have all of the fields correctly in Levitate).

No doubt, building out your template to your heart's desire is the hardest part. Feel free to save it and work on it later. You can also take the same template you've built and save it as another template. When you feel like you are getting closer, you can preview how the email will look on someone else's desktop or on the mobile phone.

When you a ready, you can test out the newsletter first by sending a test. You'll receive a copy of the newsletter, so you can see how it looks before sending it for real.

Once you are ready to send, you can just click on the green Send out HTML Newsletter on the top right. The rest of the experience should feel very familiar to the regular campaign send flow. You select the tag groups you want to receive the newsletter, and go from there!

One thing to note is that by default, Levitate will include an unsubscribe link at the bottom of your newsletter to comply with the CAN-SPAM Act. Recipients would see this link and unsubscribe on their own (which is a little different from how our regular email campaigns work). There's nothing to do on your end to make sure it works. Once a user is unsubscribed, they will have the "unsubscribe" tag and will also stop receiving ALL email campaigns from you.

Reporting

Once your HTML Newsletter has gone out, you can start seeing the open and reply rates as usual, but we've also added the click rate in case you've embedded any links or buttons into the HTML Newsletter!

HTML sends to contacts will also show on their contact profile's timeline. These sends will write back to your source system if integrated. Write back for HTML sends began in July 2024, so moving forward from then, all HTML sends will be logged on contact profiles and written back to integrated source systems.

Along with saving a draft or copy of an HTML newsletter to your Levitate library, there are a few options for enhancing your HTML newsletter creation experience.

Autosave— when this box is checked, your progress while creating and editing an HTML newsletter will be periodically saved so that you don't lose any important work.
Save— this will save all the work you've done on the current newsletter
Save as New Template— this will save a new copy of the newsletter you're currently working on
Export— this will allow you to download the HTML newsletter as a PDF or as HTML to your computer

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Navigate to the Reporting page for your sent newsletter

2. Click on “Download Report” to get a list of all contacts that received that newsletter.

3. On the exported spreadsheet, remove all columns except for (first name, last name, E-mail address and status).

4. Filter the spreadsheet by the “status” column and remove everyone else who does not have the correct status.

5. Add a tag to that spreadsheet to identify those contacts and then import those tags into Levitate.

6. Go to the newsletter section and send it out as normal to the newly created tag group.

Best Practices

Timing: Wait at least 3-7 days after initial send before resending
Subject Line: Consider modifying the subject line for better engagement
Frequency: Avoid resending more than once to the same non-openers
Testing: Check your open rate threshold before deciding to resend

Common Questions

Q: Can I do the “send follow up email” workflow for HTML newsletters?
- A: no we do not currently support “send a follow up email” for HTML newsletters
Q: How long does open tracking take to update?
- A: It is instantaneous, when anyone click the email, regardless of who, it will trigger the tracking pixel and will update in real time.

FAQs

The subject line for my HTML newsletter is showing something weird in my inbox— what do I do?

You need to change the 'Preheader.' To do this, you'll go to the newsletter, select 'Body,' scroll down, and you'll see 'Preheader Text.' There, you can update the preheader.

My HTML newsletter is not showing images or formatting in my inbox.

This is more than likely due to Outlook blocking the images based on your settings. Outlook users must sometimes allow images to show in received messages. Furthermore, Outlook can sometimes handle HTML poorly and show a distorted version of your newsletter built in Levitate.

We recommend that you look at the full newsletter on outlook.com instead of in your email client.

I need to update the signature on my HTML newsletters— what do I do?

If you need to update or change the signature used on your HTML sends, reach out directly to Support at support@levitateapp.com— they can get it updated on their end.

With newsletters, there is a required signature field for CAN-SPAM compliance that is unable to be edited or removed.

Can I embed videos directly in my newsletter?

No. Videos cannot be directly embedded to play inside email newsletters. Most email clients such as Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail do not support embedded video playback due to security restrictions and technical limitations.

Why email clients don’t support embedded video

Security concerns – Videos could potentially contain malicious code
File size limitations – Video files are often too large for email delivery
Compatibility issues – Embedded video does not work consistently across different email clients
Bandwidth and loading concerns – Large media files can cause slow load times for recipients

Because of these limitations, embedded video playback is generally not supported in email marketing.

Best Practice: Link to Videos Using a Thumbnail Image

The recommended approach is to use a clickable thumbnail image in your newsletter that links to the video hosted on a video platform or your website. When the recipient clicks the image, the video will open in their browser.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Host Your Video

Upload or host your video on a video platform such as:

YouTube
Vimeo
Your website
Any other video hosting service

2. Create a Thumbnail Image

Create an image that will represent your video in the newsletter.

Suggestions:

Take a screenshot from an engaging moment in the video
Add a play button overlay so readers know it is a video
Use an image editing tool or the video platform’s thumbnail creator
Recommended size: ~600px wide for a standard single-column email layout

3. Add the Thumbnail to Your Newsletter

In the HTML builder, add an Image content block
Upload your thumbnail image
Adjust the image width
Typically 100% width for full-column layouts
Or adjust to fit your design

4. Link the Image to Your Video

Click on the thumbnail image in your newsletter editor
Scroll to the Link section in the image settings
Paste the video URL (YouTube link, Vimeo link, or webpage link)
Click Save

5. Add Supporting Text

Add a text block above or below the thumbnail to provide context and encourage clicks.

A clear headline describing the video
A call-to-action, such as “Click to Watch” or “Watch Now”
A short description of what the video covers

Troubleshooting

Issue: Recipients Don’t Realize the Image Is Clickable

Solution:

Add a visible play button icon on the thumbnail image
Include a clear call-to-action, such as “Click to Watch” or “Watch Now”
Consider adding a text link below the image as a backup option
Use contrasting colors so the thumbnail stands out from the rest of the newsletter

Issue: Video Link Doesn’t Work When Clicked

Solution:

Verify that the video URL is correct and publicly accessible
Test the link yourself before sending the campaign
Ensure the video is not set to “Private” on platforms like YouTube or Vimeo
Use the full video URL instead of shortened links that may break

Issue: Thumbnail Image Looks Blurry or Stretched

Solution:

Use high-resolution images (at least 600px wide)
Set the image width to 100% to prevent distortion in the email layout
Compress images carefully without reducing their dimensions

Follow image optimization best practices for email design

Best Practices Summary

To ensure the best experience when including video content in newsletters:

Host videos externally (YouTube, Vimeo, or your website)
Use high-quality thumbnail images with a play button overlay
Include clear call-to-action text encouraging readers to watch
Test all video links before sending campaigns
Provide context explaining what the video contains
Be mindful of email client limitations your audience may have

Following these guidelines will help ensure your video content is easy to access, visually engaging, and compatible across email platforms.

Still have questions about designing a newsletter? Check out our HTML FAQs here.

HTML Newsletters

All HTML newsletter sends will show on each recipient's contact profile! Just like plain text emails, text messages, and other activities, this send will write back to any integrated softwares.

Building a Template

Sending the Newsletter

Reporting