Email Marketing Basics – HTML vs. Plain Text Emails

Email marketing has become a highly used form of advertising in almost every industry.  Companies are turning to email because it is more cost effective than direct mail and, with more people having access day and night to their email accounts’, it gets to recipients much quicker.  For these reasons, many consumers receive several marketing emails to their inbox each day and, therefore, business owners need to be concerned with the design and function of their emails in order to stand out.  Sending well designed and formatted emails will increase the effectiveness of a campaign and lead to more opens, click-throughs and website traffic. 

                When developing an email marketing campaign, the first choice that a developer has to make is whether to send an HTML or a Plain text email.  Plain text emails are typically used for basic email communications, and lack many frills and analytic features that HTML emails have.  For instance, a Plain text emails cannot include images or colors and cannot organize the content of an email into columns or other small, easy-to-read, sections.  Additionally, in terms of analytic features, the only tracking feedback Plain text emails can offer is read receipts.  Those, however, are not automatic and need to be returned by the receiver which makes them less effective.  Without these features Plain Text emails are limited in their use for email marketing campaigns. 

                Using HTML emails for marketing purposes addresses many of the issues that arise with the limitations of Plain Text.  HTML emails are capable of including images and color schemes that can promote a company’s brand and website.  Additional formatting options can also break content into logically organized sections allowing multiple topics to be addressed while maintaining ease of understanding and readability.  Hyperlinks are also possible in an HTML email which can help an email to appear professional and can help drive traffic to a business’ website or other useful web content.  If using the right HTML email servers, hyperlink clicks are recorded and can be used to help refine development strategies.  With a little experimentation, HTML email developers can learn what gets the most users to open their emails and which links are visited. 

Analytic features combined with superior formatting make HTML much more useful for email marketing in comparison to Plain Text emails.  Developing HTML emails, or finding a professional to develop them for you, will no doubt increase the effectiveness of your campaigns, increase website traffic and ultimately your sales.