Found this great post at AWeber Communications on HTML versus text only emails.
There are some good comments (including my own, if I might add) on the benefits and disadvantages of both email formats. At Cre8tive, we typically will send both versions automatically and let the recipient’s server decide which version is appropriate. With Microsoft Outlook 2007 coming, the rules around HTML email coding have changed a bit. With the new version, Outlook will use MS Word as it’s HTML rendering engine instead of Internet Explorer. It does affect how you need to program and layout your HTML emails. You need to be aware of the new rules and issues. Here are the reasons behind the change.
The good thing about text only versions is that they are super stable. You don’t have to worry about horizontal or vertical viewing panes or images being disabled or your CSS/table layout being screwed up. It just works. Unfortunately, it’s not as trackable as the HTML version – but you can track all external links to your mini-site or landing page. And once on your website, you have the full benefits of your installed analytics engine to take care of the tracking details.
I recommend sending both. And in each version, include a full link to a web version as well. And like all good marketing efforts; test, evaluate, tweak, rinse and repeat. The beauty of email marketing is the immediate feedback and the cost effective nature. It allows very easy A/B testing, personalization and ROI tracking. It’s a great way to stay in front of your customers while offering a lot of value in a small package.
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