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Question: If I send HTML emails, do I still have to create plain text versions?
Answer: In short, yes, even though almost all email clients can render your HTML messages as you intended, and even though our experience shows 95% of email messages are sent in HTML (showing images, colors, type fonts, and other graphics).
Why do you need to create a plain text version if virtually all of your subscribers can read your HTML messages just fine?
Two reasons: Subscriber preference and multi-part messaging.
1. Subscriber Preference
Most newsletter subscribers prefer the attractive nature and usability of HTML emails, but not all do. In certain vertical markets, such as software programmers, some newsletter publishers report as much as 95% of their subscriber base prefers text emails.
Some of your subscribers read your emails on their PDAs or offline where images won't load. Others use older or alternative email clients that don't render HTML well or at all, such as older versions of Lotus Notes, Eudora and AOL versions before 6.0. The rest just don't want all the bells and whistles of HTML.
Here's a real-life example: 4.4% of Intevation Report subscribers have requested our plain text version.
Bottom line: Allow subscribers to choose which format they want when they opt in to your email list by providing a check box or drop-down menu on your registration page.
2. Multipart Messaging
Most email marketing programs send HTML messages as "multi-part" messages. This means that the message is sent in "multi-parts," both HTML and plain text.
When a subscriber's email client receives a multi-part message, it accepts the HTML version if it can render HTML. Otherwise, it presents the text version. Additionally, some email clients allow the user to select to receive text versions of emails by default.
So, beyond the percentage of subscribers who have requested plain text, another percentage receive plain text versions because their email clients can't render HTML or are set to receive the text version.
Some marketers and publishers decided not produce a text version because of the additional time and resources required. But, why would you want to alienate and likely lose perhaps 5 percent or more of your subscribers? Email is, after all, a game of percentages.
Text Can Be Tricky, Too
Don't take the easy way out with your text version by running just a few lines of type and then linking to the full version at your Web site. That doesn't offer your readers much value or incentive to click through.
Your text version should give readers the gist of your message and enable them to click through to specific pages. This will allow them to take the core actions you want them to take without going to the HTML version.
Also, you must use text and white space creatively to keep the email looking attractive. Avoid long paragraphs or blocks of copy; break them up with white space and use a format that allows no more than 60 characters or so per line. This keeps the content readable.
Remember: While you may view text versions as a pain to create and monitor, it is the preferred format for potentially 5% or more of your readers. Don't short-change them.
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