The superiority of HTML email to plain text email for driving response has become an accepted truth in email marketing. And not without justification.
Alchemy Worx, for example, recently demonstrated the power of images: adding a small, relevant icon to an email boosted total clicks by over 50%.
Now that nearly all marketing email is HTML email, might you try the occasional plain text message as an alternative?
Why?
First, plain text is now so rare that it could actually stand out more among the plethora of multi-colored HTML missives. Like a blank canvas in a Picasso exhibition.
Second, the success of HTML for one-to-many marketing communications means it’s associated with exactly that: one-to-many marketing communications.
Plain text still says “personal” (all my personal email is plain text) and/or “important” (much transactional email is still text-based).
This might work well where the message itself:
* needs to do something different to stand out…such as in a reactivation campaign (see this Firebox example)
* is specifically “human”…such as a message from the CEO or some other personality (see the Crutchfield email in the middle of this post)
* tackles a serious or emotional issue, such as a charitable cause, politics, or the economic crisis (see this example from the Obama Presidential campaign)
A good compromise for such emails might be a rich text approach, with a subdued HTML masthead (so logos etc. ensure recognition in the preview pane) and then plain text in the main message?
From Mark Brownlow, E-Marketing Reports