Create an interactive ad unit and copy its tag

An interactive ad unit is one slot in your email. It needs its own unit, because it carries a tag for the AMP part of the email and a fallback for the HTML part.

Before you start

• You have checked your platform on the Interactive Setup page.
• You know the address you send from.

Steps

1. Open Ad Units and select New Ad Unit.
2. Name the unit and set its Placement Key. Set Ad Format to Interactive (AMP for Email).
3. Under Where the slot sits, choose Top of the email, Middle or Bottom.
4. Set Maximum ad height, from 160 to 900 px. The default is 600 px. The form warns you which formats are usually too tall for the height you pick.
5. Under Formats this slot accepts, tick the ones you want. Leave them all unticked to accept every format that fits.
6. Under Sending addresses, add each address you send this newsletter from, up to 10 per unit. The ad serves only in emails from these addresses.
7. Under Look, set the accent colour, label, font, corners and text colours so the ad matches your newsletter. The label is Sponsored, Advertisement, Partner or Ad.
8. Under When no ad wins, choose Show nothing (the slot closes) or one of the free house modules.
9. Open Style of the static fallback to set how the fallback looks in Apple Mail and Outlook.
10. Select Create Ad Unit.

Copy the tag

1. In Ad Units, select the code icon on the unit, or open it and select Get Interactive Ad Tag.
2. Choose Your email platform. The tag changes to suit it.
3. Choose a Slot number in this email. Use a different number for each slot in one email.
4. Copy the four parts:

Part	Where it goes
1 · AMP head	Inside the <head> of your AMP part, after the AMP runtime script, once per email
2 · Style	Inside your existing <style amp-custom>. AMP allows one style block
3 · AMP slot	Where the ad goes in the AMP part
4 · HTML fallback	At the same place in the HTML part

How the slot behaves

The slot works the same at the top, middle or bottom of the email. It reserves up to your maximum height while the ad is chosen, then shrinks to the ad. If no ad wins and there is no house module, it closes and takes no space.

The ad's first screen must fit your maximum height, or that ad won't serve in this slot. What appears after a tap, such as a revealed code or poll results, can grow past it. A carousel needs 160 px for its slides as well as its headline and button.

House modules

A house module fills the slot when no ad wins. It is free and never billed.

• Reader poll: readers vote and see the results. 2 to 5 answers.
• Feedback question: only you see the answers. 2 to 5 answers.
• Issue rating: readers rate the issue.

A house poll also makes a good ad-free first issue to register with Google and Yahoo. Answers appear in Interactive Reports.

What happens next

Add the tag, then send yourself a test from the setup page.

Changes to position, height and colours apply to tags you copy afterwards. A tag already in your template keeps working as it was copied, so copy it again after these changes. Sending addresses and accepted formats apply straight away.

Prefill the reader's email in sign-up forms shows as coming soon. For now, readers type their email.

If something goes wrong

• "Add the address you send this newsletter from". A unit can't be active without one. Add a sending address.
• "The accent colour is too light for white button text". Pick a darker accent.
• "Text and background colours need more contrast". Choose colours further apart.
• "The maximum ad height is 160 to 900 px". Enter a height in that range.
• "Too tall" in your report. Ads were turned away because they need more height. Raise Maximum ad height, then copy the tag again.