Another reason to add a text version when you send HTML emails

August 07, 2006

Even when you’re sending a HTML email to your subscribers, it’s always a good idea to include a text version with the email. There are a few benefits to this approach, which I’ll highlight later, but I recently came across a great case study on MarketingSherpa that highlights another reason to always include a text version.

As well as the standard preview pane window, Microsoft Outlook also includes an auto-preview feature that displays the first 3 lines of your email. This gives your recipients a chance to preview your email before deciding to open it. Here’s a screenshot of it in action.

Outlook's auto-preview in action

By default, the auto-preview will display the first few lines of your text email. If you don’t include a text version however, things can start to get ugly. Instead of seeing a nice intro to your email, your recipient will actually see the first few lines of your HTML version. Outlook still strips your HTML tags, so it’s not all bad, but most HTML newsletters begin with standard content like the name and date of the newsletter or “Having trouble viewing this email” kinds of messages. Not the optimal content to encourage your recipients to open your email.

When you send a HTML email with Campaign Monitor and don’t include a text version, we still add a text version for you by default with a small message and a link to view your campaign in their web browser. Again, this works great if someone is having problems viewing your email, but not so hot in Outlook’s auto-preview area.

Our recommendation

Always include a text version of your email even if you’re only sending in HTML format. Try and provide an enticing summary of the contents of your email in the first sentence or two. This, combined with a good subject and a recognizable from name/address should have a big impact on anyone checking out your email using Outlook’s auto-preview feature.

Other reasons to embrace a text alternative

On top of the auto-preview benefits, sending both HTML and text in a single email means:

Those recipients who have their email environment configured to display text only will still be able to read your email.
You’re reducing the chances of your email being filtered as SPAM. Many popular spam filters like SpamAssassin will penalize you for not including a text-version. You’ll even lose points if your text version doesn’t contain similar content to your HTML version.
Better formatting when your recipients forward your email. Many popular email environments such as Hotmail will display the HTML version of your message, but when you forward the email it will actually default to the text-version of the campaign instead of garbling the original HTML message.

There you have it. A text alternative to your HTML email should increase the chances of your email being delivered AND being opened. Who can argue with that?

Posted in: Tips & Resources

8 Comments

Bryan Zmijewski
August 8, 2006 4:18am

Wow, great info David. Very informative. Just when you think you’re done with an email there is one more thing to add to the mix. I guess when you start looking at it the costs of formatting another text email far outweigh the potential benefits!
Scott Jacques
August 9, 2006 6:34am

David - Great story/info snippet. I read it as well and was going to forward it to you but figured you would somehow track it down.

One question that arises from this is the CM reporting system. Do you intend to add a reporting category so admin level (and client view potentially) can login into the reporting system - post email campaign send - and see some numbers around text email campaigns (opens, views of text version etc…)? This might be a nice reporting feature add on.
Matt Massey
August 10, 2006 2:48am

David! Just browsing the blog and noticed the Mets Tickets image :). LOVE the Mets :). I knew I liked you for some reason lol.
Dave Greiner
August 10, 2006 10:10am

Yeah Matt, we checked them out when we were in New York in May. First baseball game I’d ever seen live and absolutely loved it!
Brendan Vaughn
August 23, 2006 1:40pm

Hi Dave,
Assuming your screenshot is of Outlook, I believe this is actually displaying the first 3 lines of the HTML message, not the text message.
Dave Greiner
September 1, 2006 12:20pm

Brendan, thanks for poitning that one out and ye, it is Outlook. I took the results of the MarketingSherpa case study at face value but perhaps I should have run a few tests of my own first. If you’re right and it’s not using the text version, I’ll try and put together some tips on how to format your HTML to make the most of the auto-preview feature instead.
Erin Rush
October 11, 2006 6:15pm

Dave, you mention adding a text version by default with Campaign Monitor, but this doesn’t seem to apply with MailBuild? We’re having Lotus Notes fun and pain with our client’s recipients not seeing anything useful from an incredibly plain yet still unreadable in Notes e-newsletter. A text only version by default would probably get around it but it’s not available in MailBuild?
Dave Greiner
October 12, 2006 8:19am

Hey Erin,

When you create a HTML campaign using a template in MailBuild, we still actually create a text-only version for you automatically and send them both in the same message. The text-only version is basically a short explanation containing a link to the web based version and an unsubscribe link.

Having said that, we don’t allow you guys to edit this text version directly, and it’s certainly something we’d consider if we had enough requests for it.

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