Should You Use HTML In Your E-Mail?
Posted January 29, 2009 in Marketing 38 Comments »
Judging from a recent question that I conducted on Twitter, to which two people responded, not many freelancers have thought about the use of HTML in e-mails.
That’s a shame, because e-mail is the lifeblood for most freelancers. It’s how we communicate with our clients.
Inserting HTML images and text in e-mail has been in favor with Internet marketers for some time now, and there are some good reasons for that. HTML lets you put all the bells and whistles in front of a client or prospective client.
In fact, the Internet is filled with free HTML e-mail templates to help you create HTML e-mail with just a little bit of effort on your part.
Of the two individuals who responded to my question on Twitter, one said that they had no opinion on whether HTML should be used in e-mail. The other said that they didn’t like HTML in e-mail and referred me to a post on the topic of what constitutes a good e-mail.
I tend to side with the individual who said that they didn’t like to receive HTML formatting and images in e-mail. Of my three e-mail accounts, I have the HTML option turned off on two of them. On the one account that accepts HTML, I often find my e-mail bogged down by incoming HTML messages (usually messages that are of no interest to me).
A few reasons you may not want to use HTML in e-mail
Whether you are in favor of using HTML in your e-mail messages or whether you oppose it, here are some factors that you should be aware of:
- Not all e-mail accounts accept HTML files. Some accounts have spam filters that will target an HTML file as potential spam (or even as a security threat). This means that your intended audience may never even see your HTML e-mail.
- HTML e-mail messages are larger than plain text messages. If your client or potential client has a very small e-mail box then your HTML message may seriously burden it.
- HTML code can carry security threats. While I know that you would never send out such a file, consider what would happen if someone tampered with your HTML message and forwarded it on.
- HTML e-mail doesn’t always look the same. Depending on your customer’s e-mail settings and system, an HTML file may look different on your customer’s machine than it does on your machine. In a worst-case scenario your codes will be visible and not your images or fonts.
- HTML e-mail is often viewed as spam. For better or for worse, HTML e-mail has come to be associated with advertisements and specifically with spam. For that reason, many recipients skim them quickly and dismiss them without reading them.
When to use HTML in e-mail
I can see a few valid uses for HTML in the world of e-mail communication. A subscription newsletter is one of those appropriate uses. However, in the case of a newsletter your subscribers sign up for the service. Since they signed up, they are likely to give you an e-mail account that accepts HTML formatting.
A final important word on e-mail: repeatedly sending the same e-mail message to multiple users who did not request it is spam. Don’t do it!
What about you? Do you send out HTML formatted e-mails? Why, or why not?
image by Mzelle Biscotte
About the author: Laura Spencer is a freelance writer from North Central Texas with over 19 years of professional business writing experience. If you liked this post, then you may also enjoy Laura’s blog about her freelance writing experiences, WritingThoughts
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38 Comments
Max
January 29th, 2009 at 11:32 amWell, I didn’t notice the small survey you made, but I usually send newsletters in both, html and plain text format.
There are many great tools available today which take care of it very well and even ensure they don’t get into spam folders because of suspicious subjects or contents.
Furthermore, there’s an amazing system called litmusapp which is perfect for testing the look of a HTML newsletter in both, webmail systems and software solutions.
So in my opinion there’s absolutely no reason why a HTML newsletter shouldn’t be used anymore except that it takes some time to design and develop one which works well.
Dragon Blogger
January 29th, 2009 at 11:35 amThis is why Thunderbird is great, you can set every email to send in both HTML and Plain Text, so it will deliver HTML if client can accept, or plain text if client email server cannot.
HART (1-800-HART)
January 29th, 2009 at 11:46 amSince I’ve moved all my email out to GMAIL … I always prefer to allow HTML in my email that I receive. This way – when emails com I can click that GMAIL link to “Display Images” and if I trust that site I will “Always DIsplay Images” … This way, it’s like an extra check to see what Spam is getting through – if I don’t see html.
Colin Wright
January 29th, 2009 at 11:51 amI have a LOT of clients that request HTML emails from me, and I find that generally, so long as you keep your code standards compliant and include a bit of text at the bottom of the email that links to a website with the same information as the email (in case it doesn’t show up, or doesn’t show up correctly), you should be fine.
Personally, I don’t mind some HTML emails (DailyCandy and Thrillist always get me to open their emails), but I likely wouldn’t use them myself. It seems like kind of an old-fashioned way of doing online marketing, when compared to social networking and such.
Assault
January 29th, 2009 at 11:51 amWe send out an html newsletter for our site, and we also do one at my day job. I have probably spent over 150 hours of my time the past few months tweaking and fixing this silly thing because it doesn’t look right on all email clients.
This is what happens when a CEO or president gets an html email from someone and then decides they want to make one for themselves, but have no understanding of how hard it is to code them to look the same and how limited you are because of the vast array of email clients.
Sites like campaign monitor make it a bit easier–but to me HTML email is like a Bush tax cut, it seems like an awesome idea, but there is a bad ROI for them.
A good personally written text only email would be more like food stamps, it ain’t pretty, bu the ROI for a well written, short email is always going to be better than some silly bloated html email that only 20% of the people open anyways.
add me up! (http://www.twitter.com/assaultapparel)
Brian Cray
January 29th, 2009 at 11:52 amAbsolutely I use HTML. I sacrifice missing a few for a huge impact on the rest. HTML e-mails are so much sexier.
Laura Spencer
January 29th, 2009 at 11:59 amGreat points!
Assault and Colin Wright – thanks for sharing your experiences. Even though they are different I think that you both make valid points.
Dragon Blogger I remember Thunderbird, but I wasn’t aware that it had the capability that you describe.
I’m still curious as to whether those that like HTML are more or less likely to be designers themselves.
Ramon Fincken
January 29th, 2009 at 12:00 pmKeep in mind that most non-HTML compliant e-mail software is capable of reading the ‘non-HTML’ / plain part of your email.
If sent correctly an HTML mail will exists of a HTML part and a plain text part for compatibility !
However some markup in your email could be quite handy if you ask me ..
Assault
January 29th, 2009 at 12:15 pmI should also mention that while Thunderbird is great, (I use it) you almost have to have the lightning addon installed to get all those silly outlook meeting invites that people send around. It’s also a bit of a trick to get it to sync your calendars to your iphone.
Isabel Gil Pereira
January 29th, 2009 at 12:17 pmI’ve just started to send newsletter emails in html in the last week and since then I understood that is much more professional, clean and is what everyone is starting to do in the real professional world.
I’ll use it always!
Laura Spencer
January 29th, 2009 at 12:26 pmGreat discussion!
I definitely think newsletters are good use of HTML in e-mail – particularly when the recipient has subscribed to the newsletter.
Mihaela Lica
January 29th, 2009 at 1:22 pmLaura,
personal emails with HTML embeds are really something that should be avoided.
Newsletters are a whole different story. I don’t mind HTML in those. I use thunderbird anyway, so HTML embedded images are turned off.
I do send HTML emails when I send subscription newsletters – but that’s it.
Mig
Vivienne Quek
January 29th, 2009 at 1:34 pmGenerally, I preferred non-HTML email. I agreed that a picture can tells a thousand words but words rule when it comes to online marketing. Anyway, I have not received any pictorial announcements, circulars or newsletters from internet guru like Joel Comm, Mike Filsaime, Steven Pierce etc. If these millionaire internet marketers are using emails with text only, they must have worked pretty well.
afterman
January 29th, 2009 at 1:55 pmJust recently a client approached me about creating an HTML email flier for his real estate business. I’d never done one before, so I figured I’d give it a shot and use the project as a learning experience…and what I learned is..HTML emails are a pain to make! And rarely work the way you want them to. And trying to explain to the client why some images would not show up no matter what you do, due to the recipient being in charge of the decision to view images or not, took about a week of emails and calls to explain. I went through setting the client up with a MailChimp account, got the HTML code all set and looking great, only to find out that MailChimp doesn’t send out real estate fliers! So we ended up having to send it through Outlook (bleh!). The whole process just took too long, and I’m not even sure of the outcome as I’ve yet to hear from the client as to it’s success or failure.. unfortunately, I love getting HTML newsletters in my inbox. I think they look great when done well, and help give a preview to the quality of whatever site or product being featured.. so, I’m kinda torn on the whole HTML-in-email thing I guess.. I think it really has to do with the purpose and intentions of the email..
Zach Dunn
January 29th, 2009 at 2:30 pmI will say that I love seeing a site’s design carry over to it’s email. Threadless, for instance, uses HTML in their newsletters and correspondence very well. It helps build the overall mood to the site. For the web application/ecommerce world I definitely favor HTML versus plain text.
Mathew Patterson
January 29th, 2009 at 2:55 pmThanks for starting the conversation! Our general experience at Campaign Monitor has been that while techy people feel uncomfortable (or downright hostile) about HTML email, in general business people expect it and want it.
Assault above, who kindly mentions Campaign Monitor, says
“Sites like campaign monitor make it a bit easier–but to me HTML email is like a Bush tax cut, it seems like an awesome idea, but there is a bad ROI for them”
However, in fact the ROI for email is actually far above any other marketing tool.
Checkout http://tinyurl.com/baugyx
Jonathan F. Mayer
January 29th, 2009 at 3:11 pmI definitely use html in email, but I tread very lightly here.
I use Thunderbird for my freelance work for the same reasons as others have already mentioned. The only formatting I do, however, is to set the font and to include my logo (embedded) in the signature. (Interestingly, when a client responds, it’s almost always in plain text, even though I can tell by the headers that they are using an html-capable client.)
Right now, I don’t have a newsletter, but it’s something I’m looking at in the future. If/when I do start one, I plan on keeping it as simple as possible, to avoid as many of the inherent pitfalls as posible. Along those lines, does anyone have an opinion on embedded versus linked graphics in e-newsletters? I lean towards linked myself.
At my day job, I use Entourage, but it’s mostly to other Entourage/Outlook users, so I don’t usually include any inline graphics there, but I do format my text. And I use the normal rich text/html options in my personal [Gmail] account for text formatting only as well.
Laura Spencer
January 29th, 2009 at 3:13 pmGreat discussion!
Zach Dunn – I understand your comment about consistency between the website and the e-mail. After all, isn’t that what we do with company stationary? Still, I’m not quite sure that alone is enough reason to justify the use of HTML in e-mail.
Matthew Patterson – Thanks so much for coming by to share your professional perspective on this issue. I went to your link and it looked like ROI for email marketing was high, but dropping in recent years. Did I misread it? At any rate, thanks for stopping by.
Is there anyone else out there who is having success with HTML e-mail?
Laura Spencer
January 29th, 2009 at 3:14 pmJonathon F Mayer – it looks like you and I were posting a comment at the same time!
I don’t have the answer to your question, but I’m guessing that one of the readers does.
Janet Martin
January 29th, 2009 at 3:27 pmI’m pretty hesitant to use HTML email myself (except for newsletters or special offers) but I agree that business people, especially marketing folks who are non-geeky are bigt fans.
Thanks Afterman. I had no idea mailchimp had that restriction on real estate, what a pain that must have been.
Janet Martin
January 29th, 2009 at 3:28 pmI’m pretty hesitant to use HTML email myself (except for newsletters or special offers) but I agree that business people, especially marketing folks who are non-geeky are bigt fans.
Thanks Afterman. I had no idea mailchimp had that restriction on real estate, what a pain that must have been.
Gavin Wray
January 29th, 2009 at 3:35 pmMy feeling is to use HTML email where it’s appropriate. Newsletters are ideal for HTML; they can have a real visual impact and add professionalism if they are designed consistently to tie in your existing brand.
For day-to-day email, I say keep it simple. No HTML. Even logo images will be switched off by default when the email gets to the recipient (e.g. Outlook).
Designing an HTML newsletter that displays consistently across all the major email clients is tough; identical display for all the email clients is impossible. If you’ve experienced getting a website running and then trying to get it to display across different web browsers, imagine this problem magnified by 10.
I’ve used the Campaign Monitor service for over two years now and find that it makes the whole process a lot smoother.
@Jonathan …does anyone have an opinion on embedded versus linked graphics in e-newsletters?
Linked graphics are better. Embedded graphics will look like email attachments at the recipient’s side, which increases the risk of your email getting blocked by the recipient’s spam filter.
Amy
January 29th, 2009 at 4:32 pmYe, I also agree that HTML emails works best with some clients, especially as a newsletter. Not so much in other instances. Benefit of using plain text email is that it makes it easier to read on mobiles, right?
I have not checked recently, but can you use as much of the CSS functionality in an HTML email as you can for web design itself? Just wondering.
Mathew Patterson
January 29th, 2009 at 5:01 pm@Laura
” it looked like ROI for email marketing was high, but dropping in recent years. Did I misread it?”
No, you read correctly, it is dropping, but it is still a long, long way ahead of all other techniques.
@amy
“can you use as much of the CSS functionality in an HTML email as you can for web design itself” – not quite, checkout http://www.campaignmonitor.com/css for our research in this area.
Nicole LaMarco
January 29th, 2009 at 5:05 pmI like to receive html emails because it looks nice and gives my eyes a break from the usual email. However, I have a newsletter and send it as text and html – the subscriber chooses which they prefer. I don’t design it at all because that’s just not what I do.
Newsletter: The Spoiled Writer: 72665-subscribe@zinester.com
Amy
January 29th, 2009 at 5:07 pm@ Mathew Patterson – Thanks for the link.
Laura Spencer
January 29th, 2009 at 6:51 pmGreat discussion everyone! I love the way all the commentators are pitching in with their own experiences.
Steve Atkinson
January 29th, 2009 at 7:01 pmIn general I don’t believe that e-mails should be nor do they need to be sent via html. But if you do it should be very basic.
But at the same times there are case where html is acceptable. That is with newsletters that are sent via e-mail.
Allen Taylor
January 29th, 2009 at 10:07 pmThe majority opinion here seems to be my own view as well. HTML for e-mail newsletters is fine. But I never include HTML in my e-mails. I do send out opt-in newsletters in both HTML and text formats and let readers decide which they prefer.
Meryl K. Evans
January 30th, 2009 at 10:59 amIf you can do it — offer a text version of the e-mail newsletter, or provide a link that takes the reader to the online version where HTML works fine in a Web browser. If you can only offer one e-mail formatting option, I recommend text. You can reach a wider base with text than one with HTML that doesn’t display right.
Melek
January 30th, 2009 at 11:12 amAbout 50% of the work I do for clients is creating/coding HTML based emails. In order to test it thoroughly in various email clients, I use Litmus.com. It’s great at showing you exactly what works/doesn’t work in each. Outlook 2007 is the bane of my existence as it doesn’t want to do anything the same as other emails.
When you are in the design phase, just keep certain things in mind such as:
• Many email clients no longer recognize the P tag. Use BR or use DIVs if you need to center text
• Many don’t recognize VSPACE. So, i use tables and set cell height. (Emails are one place where using tables is totally acceptable…so go crazy :))
• All your styles have to be inline. No external CSS style sheets
• Outlook wont display background images at all! Which can really mess up your design.
So, if you need a bkgd color, use a color, not an image.
• DONT use one big image as your email. Many spam filters will catch that as spam
• ALWAYS use ALT tags to describe every image. Most email apps keep images off until the user manually clicks to have them downloaded. ALT tags are key to telling the user what each image is, hopefully inspiring him to open the email and click thru
• A lot of email software (what you use to execute the campaign) will allow you to create a text and html version, then sends the correct version to each user based on his selected preferences.
And aside from design thoughts:
• Keep the subject line short enough to read it all in the preview pane. And front-load your subject line so the most important words are first in case it gets cut off
• Make your from line recognizable. Don’t have it coming from “Suzie”….have it come from your business name
• Be sure to review your stats from your email campaign (most email software has stats as part of what you pay for). Reviewing what people click can help you revamp the email for better results.
Ok, long enough comment! Thanks for the article!
Amy
January 30th, 2009 at 12:12 pmI always send HTML emails– my signature is a GIF; I like including hyperlinks; I am prone to italicize now and then. And I prefer receiving HTML emails, too. When I’m at my desk, that is. Those same emails are a real nuisance when I read them on my BlackBerry. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately…
Business Info
January 30th, 2009 at 3:33 pmSome great points. We sent our newsletters in both HTML and plain text format. If reader can’t or won’t want to use html, they still can read the plain version.
Thx
MoneyAside.com
Neil the Freelance Writer
February 2nd, 2009 at 7:01 amThe problem I have with receiving full-blown HTML emails, especially from people I don’t know, is that Outlook blocks all the images automatically. I then usually can’t be bothered to unblock the images and the email soon gets deleted.
As others have said some light HTML use, that won’t ruin the look of your email if not displayed correctly, is probably the way to go.
Thewirds
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:37 pmI never use HTML in my email since i can’t preview it not unless you preview it in Forum that support for HTML view. But really using non HTML and HTML in your email does not makes no difference, cause what is the really matter is your point and not the images, link, bla bla bla, don ever do that, cause they will accusing you spamming their inbox with your HTML
Also just for a note here, most spam email use a lot of HTML so if you intended to use HTML, you better not use it often
Internet Mogal
February 4th, 2009 at 5:33 pmIt really depends on the situation. If you are prospecting or “cold-calling” via email then it’s better to keep it text-based. HTML is great and I’m a big advocate for it but it’s more effective when your reader has chosen to receive emails as HTML. If you’re running a consistent email campaign (weekly or monthly) then HTML is a great way to keep your readers engaged and interested, but let your readers have the choice.
I tend to prefer HTML emails but when I get them on my Blackberry, it’s a pain to read them. I’m starting to steer towards subscribing to receive text-based emails for that reason. Even with the text-based emails, if they include a link to the HTML version I would definitely check it out once I got on my laptop.
People in the creative industries (web design, graphic design, even Internet marketing) tend to favor HTML emails. Unfortunately not everyone shares our preferences. I’ve run campaigns for others who saw an increase in their unsubscribes because their contacts didn’t want to receive HTML emails.
It really depends on the situation and the contact list. I’d say, if in doubt or if it’s your first correspondence, stick to text-based and include the link for an HTML version.
Alexander Kintis
February 11th, 2009 at 12:25 pmHTML e-mails are only good when the recipient is “fully” accepting your transmission(s). So many e-mail programs block or manipulate the content of the e-mail if it is in html, has images, or other non-textual information. And, that is if it gets passed the spam filters — which almost all make HTML e-mails considered spammy.
However, if your set of recipients — and you are sure! — have accepted and fully see your HTML e-mail, then go ahead. In this scenario, you’ll have much better reporting with regard to tracking your e-mail marketing campaigns, the “opens”, the click-throughs, and more.
Any other instance requires text-based e-mail transmission(s).
Mathew Patterson
February 11th, 2009 at 5:01 pmSo many e-mail programs block or manipulate the content of the e-mail if it is in html, has images, or other non-textual information. And, that is if it gets passed the spam filters — which almost all make HTML e-mails considered spammy
This certainly used to be true, but the facts today are that nearly all the major email clients send in HTML format by default now. Spam filters, if they really were considering all HTML emails spammy, would be totally overwhelmed.
That’s not to see there are not many challenges in deliverability, just that the format itself does not doom you to spam filter purgatory.
Besides, who hasn’t received a ton of plain text spam from Nigeria?