Forum Moderators: phranque
Should I send them a Plain Text or an HTML email?
My fear is that not everybody can read HTML email. Anyone know the percentage of people who can read HTML email nowadays? Or do some people deliberately block HTML email for fear of virus?
Regards,
Jon
Plain text can be equally or far more effective at clearly conveying a message than any glitzy HTML email can. (I only mention this because some people seem to think that more flash == better, but it's not necessarily so - though I will admit that prettiness is a big issue for me).
Plain text is also a safe convention, you can be sure anyone will read it. Unless email is a HUGE part of your application, I would recommend you make a note of it and move on to more important things :)
This makes it much, much easier to read and much more visually appealing.
The one circumstance we could come up with was when you really need that email to close the sale. That is, if you're using email to primarily communicate receipt, order status, and other follow-up information - use plain text. However, if you're still trying to land that person as a customer, then a few simple-but-compelling graphics may be extremely helpful in getting your sales message across.
Of course the problem, as you pointed out, is that not everyone can read HTML emails. So I'd give them the choice upfront. But if they opt-in for HTML, and you're trying to close a sale, then HTML might be the way to go.
My best suggestion: if you have enough volume, then test this! Send half of your emails as text, send half as HTML, track your leads-to-sales and sales amounts per type of email, and see which ones work better for you. This is going to be the best way for you to figure out which type of email works best for your individual situation.
IMHO you should be perfectly OK sending HTML emails, provided the text part was properly formatted as well - for those of us who think HTML emails are ugly things ;-)
I also heartily endorse the suggestion of putting line breaks in to give better visibility. Of course you have got to make sure that the line is not too long for someone with a relatively smaller number of characters per line.
I also add a tab at the start of every line (while still making sure that the line will not be word-wrapped if read in Courier 10 point). This means that the message does not start at the extreme left of the screen. It's easier on the eye and I've had a number of compliments on the appearance.
Barry Welford
Sometimes you can afford to lose a small percentage of the people you're dealing with, though. That's why I suggested testing between the two modalities to see which one works best.
I've often sacrificed customers because they cost too much or the ROI on them isn't worth it. This may be one of those times.
1. No one has mentioned multipart mime emails - this takes more bandwidth because you're sending both formats to everyone, but everyone can open one or the other.
2. Consider using HTML but only use the text formatting, not images. It's a nicer look than plain text and it still gets past the spam filters.
3. I want to underline what Hawkgirl said about testing. This is a key ingredient in all marketing, and for some reason frequently overlooked.
4. Also, I agree with bwelford about line breaks; they are critical for a professional look. I break at 65 characters maximum. This makes for an easy read and avoids problems with the mail clients that add their own line breaks.
