Plain Jane Email Marketing

Which is a better email marketing format, sending a plain text message,to your list of subscribers or emailing your list a full colored, full image HTML message?   Is that even a consideration when you create your email messages?

It is a consideration for some; discussed by many. The format debate   
over which email is better in terms of deliverability and other nuances

that go with email marketing, has been around, well since the first HTML message was created and sent.  Up until that time, (a mere 20 yearsago) email was strictly sent as a text email.  As HTML became the norm,marketers discovered, not only could they send a visual and audio
representation of their product and services in email, they could track
their messages, complete with statistics showing email engagement using clicks and opens.

As HTML emails evolved, next came the HTML template and eventually the mobile friendly responsive design HTML.  Design companies and EmailService Providers began to offer pre-designed WYSISYG HTML templates,with drag and drop capabilities. So many to choose from, and if luck is
on your side you wouldn’t be using the same template as one of your competitors selected.


If your email provider only offers a handful of templates, you can find free responsive design templates anywhere on the Net, some already compatible with your email program, some offering the HTML code, ready to copy and paste right into your ESP’s html editor.  And if all else fails, hire a template designer, to get that perfect look and feel.


Plain text is so much easier.  There are no concerns with colors, pictures, and layouts.   ListManager hosted by Dundee has always created a plain text version of the created HTML email, so that the recipient receives the correct formatted email their device accepts.  For tracking purposes, such as clicks and opens, our customers can use the built in editor, to add those links.

However, for what it’s worth the majority of people who were surveyed say they prefer HTML emails over plain text.

We know HTML emails are designed to be appealing to the eye, sometimes with three or more images that most mail clients will not render automatically without a click of the mouse to do so.  And a mobile, laden with images, email may require some scrolling to seeeverything; this should be disconcerting to most marketers  looking to the future, as the average Gen Z has the attention span of about eight seconds.


Are HTML emails really the preferred format?   If you test that theory on your own email subscribers, you may find the email you sent with the least number of images or plain text are the most preferred.

That could be because of:

• Readability: Android, IPhone to Samsung can all render plain text
  messages, no mobile friendly html coding necessary, no fancy templates.
• Smaller sized email, may get your message delivered to places an
  HTML message can’t get to, because they aren’t being filtered by email
  providers.  Do you download every image in your received HTML messages?
• HTML can carry viruses, so some Email Service Providers regularly
  strip out some of the HTML elements from the incoming messages, making
  the format display improper.
• And then you have devices that users wear, like smart watches and
  smart glasses: plain text may be the only way to reach this audience.

HTML has its own issues with:

• Improper coding, which does happen and broken links,
• Some of the free Email Providers filter email messages, to keep the
  mail flowing for their customers.  In some cases, unless your recipient
  re-configures their email setting, providers will filter out
  “commercial” email from their inbox, automatically.
• Reduced click-through rates.   You are selling dog collars,
  different colors, styles for different dogs.  To enhance your email, you
  provide your subscribers a well-designed crafted HTML email with
  several images showing collars.  Do you think one picture would work,
  click here to go to your collar landing page, or plain text with a link
  to your landing page?  To best answer this, test this theory out with
  one image of your product, no image of your product and several images
  of your product with a segment of your users.

What does this mean, well without testing you may never know for sure? Your subscribers may opt for HTML in their profile page, but inreality will they read a text email from you first, as it’s more
personal, like an email message from their friend,or will they click on that image?

 Let us know how your testing goes.