Email Marketing Basics: Which Format?

Writing by Brick Marketing on Wednesday, 14 of November , 2007 at 3:29 pm

Email format is on of the most important email marketing basics. Will you offer your email newsletter in text format? HTML? Or both.

Text
Everyone can receive text emails. They aren´t pretty and don´t include photos, unless attached, but this is one of the formats that will get through to any email server. Accessibility is a super important email marketing basic. If your subscribers can´t read your email, they won´t be able to buy what you´re selling.

Text also has the advantage of appearing more personal, but it can be fairly limited in the presentation. It takes up less space, as well. Many newsletter writers prefer HTML as text doesn´t allow for tracking open rates.

HTML
HTML allows you to design a more magazine-like newsletter, with graphics and photos incorporated into the body of the email. Links can also be made into clickable text, which looks far neater than full URLs, which have to be used in a text email.

HTML newletter formats also allow you to track open rates, so you can test various subject lines and the like. Email marketing is all about testing and tracking to find what works, and HTML is the best format for this.

However, HTML email marketing newsletters also have their downside. Some email servers can´t display the newsletter correctly and since these tend to be larger, anyone with only a small amount of free space won´t receive them. HTML emails can also take longer to download than text, making them less likely to be read.

Another option is to offer both text and HTML, allowing the reader to choose.

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Category: Email Marketing Basics

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