Comparison Between Plain Text Emails and HTML Emails

Email Marketers own a stressful job when it comes to choosing between plain text and HTML emails. The first question is – How to create an impressive email copy? You might have to deliver the emails to more than 50K addresses. In the end, nobody cares to open or read it! What do you feel? It kills your time and efforts! You are so much discouraged to write another email. All you can do is sit and wonder why did this happen? You just hope that people would like the email you produce. Now, a new confusion erupts! Which one to use? Plain text emails or HTML emails. Explore more about the comparison in this blog post.

Basic Difference Between Plain Text Emails and HTML Emails

Plain text emails consist of only text content. It is appropriate to use when you want to send a personal and text-heavy email. On the other hand, HTML emails tend to be visually appealing. Receivers find it easy to skim through the email copy quickly. But, this is not enough to judge which approach is better. You need to perform a deeper analysis. Most prominently, it depends on the type of content you wanted to deliver. Let us segregate the information under different topics. It helps you to understand better and finally arrive at the right decision.

Advantages Of Plain Text Emails

• There is a very high chance of email getting delivered right into the primary inbox. Generally, promotional emails are filled with images. So, Gmail considers only text content email copies as non-spammy.
• Due to the introduction of various new devices, it supports only the text display. As the diversity of devices increases, the number of reach of text emails also increases.
• Text emails are considered as personal communication. As a result, the plain text provides a customized touch to your emails.

Disadvantages Of Plain Text Emails

• It is not possible to track open rates. If you can measure the performance of email campaigns, then it is of no use. As a B2B email marketer, you will need certain improvement factors. Plain text emails will not enable you to embed the tracking.
• You have very minimal opportunities to design and customize the email copies. The plain text emails do not allow colors, graphics, or formatting. So, the final outcome will not have any kind of visual impact.
• Such plain text emails do not allow to interlink any URL. If you want to add any URL, it has to be typed in the naked format. You know how it looks! It just clutters the whole email copy.
• It is not easy to break the content into sections. When an email is composed of plain text, it cannot be divided into easy to read paragraphs. It happens because of the absence of visual graphics.
• Impossible to create a multiple column formatting. It is no more an easy task in case of plain text emails.

When Should An Email Marketer Prefer HTML Approach

• From the above points, it is very clear that plain text emails look visually okay. Majority of the emails are graphics oriented. Sometimes, you need HTML emails to grab attention in the market. Every email marketer must keep these advantages in mind.
• You can attain increased conversion rates. We have observed from the previous campaigns that HTML emails tend to have better conversion rates. It is observed especially in the e-commerce industry.
• The email copy is visually appealing. You can easily add the brand logo, images, colors, and URLs. Make it look neat and compact.
• HTML emails are personalized and dynamic in nature. When you already know about your client’s requirements, send them emails directly to the inbox. With the presence of formatting options, the design possibilities are endless.
• They are very easy to read and understand. The whole content is segmented into different sections.
• You can embed attractive CTA buttons. It easily allows the users to quickly navigate to the destination URL as expected.
• You can track the email campaign performance very easily. It is mandatory to consider open rates while measuring campaign success. Click tracking can also be enabled. It helps you to understand the customer’s click behavior.

Have You Heard Of Complex HTML Emails?

The same email copy was composed using both HTML and complex HTML. We ran the campaigns and experimented their effect on subscribers. The presentation of the content was different. Let’s say content A used rich HTML elements such as CTA buttons, clickable links, multiple-column format, and graphics. Content B basic HTML elements such as text formatting and clickable links. So, which content performed well? Content A or Content B? The right answer is Content B. Content B proved to be more proficient in engaging the customers. Too much of rich elements is not recommended.

Greater the use of complex HTML, lesser is the email open rate. Why do you think an email content with basic HTML elements tends to own a better response? It is only because the emails are directly dropped into the primary inbox. This happens when different email providers set up such settings.

How To Decide The Right Approach?

In the first place, you must understand the target audience well. Both the approaches own good and bad points. So, ask your audience and get to know more about them. You can do something like mentioned in the below list:

• Communicate with your audience and learn what they would like to have in their inbox.
• You can make use of form to gather user preferences.
• You can ask your subscribers to fill up the survey form. It gives you a better idea about preferences.
• Get feedback from your target audience by providing proper YES or NO buttons.

Hopefully, all the above points help you to decide which approach is better. Kindly focus on your email design and structure based on the type of audience you own. Compare between HTML and plain text emails. Do not get confused! Keep the above points in mind before you make the final decision.

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