In the high tech world of digital media, using plain text email to market a product or service may strike some as an old-fashioned approach out of step with the times. That mindset couldn’t be further from the truth.
Effective, well-rounded email programs often use both HTML and text to ensure optimum rendering and delivery. The fact is, with HTML formatting often disabled by image-blocking platforms or aggressive spam filters, plain text email is still “old reliable” for delivering a marketing message that gets read and acted on.
The Art and Science of Email Text
Offering a text version of your email or incorporating text segments into HTML messages is a smart way to meet a broad range of reader preferences. But your text message must be shaped with an artist’s flair and a technician’s care to take full advantage of the medium that delivers it.
With “crisp, clean and simple” as your guide words, here are some tips to keep your text on target:
- Using too many URLs can bog email text down. Avoid overload by selectively showing only the most important links such as landing page, home page and contact page.
- Limit paragraphs to four or five lines deep to keep text from appearing too dense and uninviting to the scan-and-go reader.
- Restrict the use of typographical devices like stars and asterisks — they can trigger spam filters that are sensitive to ambiguous punctuation.
- Use a title line to announce your offer or publication name that is visible in a standard email preview pane that displays only the top 2 to 4 inches of the message.
- Test the message prior to sending with an eye out for bulky copy blocks, broken URLs and awkward layout elements.
For more ideas to drive sales check out the archives or visit Ambit Advertising and Public Relations.
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