HTML or Plain Text Emails

Should you create your email newsletter as HTML or as plain text?

Most list services allow you to send HTML messages, enabling you to add graphics and use multiple fonts, so it will look more like a professionally printed publication.

The upside of HTML is that the visual possibilities with HTML can make newsletters more pleasing to the eye and much easier to scan. HTML newsletters look like a web page and can make use of graphics, different fonts etc. It also helps with your branding if you have or are trying to establish a logo. A well designed HTML newsletter will make you look more professional.

The downside to HTML is that it can annoy customers and take forever to download, especially over slow modems; plus it can be time consuming to create an HTML newsletter. In addition some customers will have their email manager (Outlook, Outlook Express etc) set to receive ONLY plain text emails. In addition HTML emails can carry the threat of viruses and email worms.

The ideal system is to provide your readers with the ability to choose what format they prefer. This requires a more powerful program to manage the list and you will probably need to format a plain text and an HTML version, which is more work.

Plain text emails look identical on different email systems such as Hotmail, Outlook, Palm computers and corporate email like Lotus Notes.

The ideal solution is to offer both. Some email services can identify the customer's email program and send HTML or plain text messages accordingly. Programmes such as Constant Contact offer the option to send either Plain Text or HTML versions.

Alternatively, you can offer customers a choice. If you find it too time and resource intensive to offer both, start with Plain Text and graduate to HTML as your list expands.