The best solution is to have support in the email for both HTML and plain text. The specific technique I am referring to is called multipart text/HTML format and it allows you to utilize HTML’s design possibilities while also sending out the message in plain text form.

Plain text email lacks any formatting or graphics and looks very plain. Using plain text email marketing is like sending out a direct mail piece without any design…. there are no hooks in place to grab them by the collar.

HTML emails have more visual appeal and support color, images, and formatting. There is good reason to develop email in both HTML and also support plain text. You can take advantage of the strong design HTML brings to the table and still, at the very least, have the ability for it to be viewed in plain text.

When creating an HTML email, it is very important to follow email-friendly HTML and CSS techniques that are supported by popular email clients like Microsoft Outlook and Google Gmail. Improper HTML design ( i.e., too heavy on imagery, embedded video, etc), can risk being flagged as spam and blocked.

Here is an example when relying too much on images can go wrong when there is too many images and not enough text…


Tools such as Habeas show screen renderings across the most popular email clients depicting the design. Campaign Monitor also offers great resources for email design standards for HTML.

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