Text vs HTML e-mails

Three of my clients are at about to begin email campaigns/ newsletters at the moment so I've been spending a lot of time looking at formats and strategies.

One of the first points is the text v/s html emails and what to do with the subject line.

I believe for a short campaign, a combination of text and html formats works best. If you just want to notify your mailing list, a text email is fine, but if your point is to give in-depth information, involve people and/or drive traffic to the website - you need to go for the html format.

Some people seem to like turning their print newsletter into a .pdf file and attaching that as a creepy kind of email newsletter. I have a sinking feeling those are the same people who believe the copy from their prospectus and annual report should be used for their website - this is one of "my bads" as the American kids say - one of my pet peeves!

And the subject line? You have only 50 characters to catch the reader's eye, to entice him/her to read your mail. So do it!

There has been so much written about the subject lines; you can even find lists of best open rates and worst open rates.

For me it is a case of read and absorb what you can. Know your product and your market really well and be honest at all times (within 50 characters). And watch out for spam filters.

Opt-in News Email Marketing Research Brief shows a clear favoring of html format for B2B marketing campaigns. Some factors considered when determining the selected format include:

1. Audience acceptance - Comprehending what email client a list audience possesses and what email formats the client supports.
   
2. Time to display - Calculating an audience connection speed coupled with the creative file size to determine the loading time for recipient to view an email message.
   
3. Source of broadcast - Depending on the source used for a mailing, what creative formats are supported; costs associated with broadcast; and file location (hosted or embedded).

Marketing Sherpa has just published a fascinating Case Study for a campaign where Text email and HTML are used in a Marketing campaign.
HTML vs Text Email: Which Works Better in a Short Conversion Cycle?

SUMMARY: Event marketers and others who need to convert products quickly can learn from a minor league baseball team who hit an email campaign out of the park.

See how they used text email first (to attract BlackBerry and mobile users) and then HTML to get a 262.3% lift over the rest of the season. Plus, how they landed a corporate sponsor in less than 48 hours.

Read more.