Email Marketing: Recipe for Correct Plain-Text Letters
In the world of email marketing, discovery and click-through rates play a significant role, so marketers are constantly forced to find new ways to improve these metrics. When creating a mailing list, companies often resort to the development of complex templates that require knowledge of various layout technologies. However, nothing but high-quality segmentation does not increase conversion, like ordinary text letters.
In 2014, Hubspot conducted a survey of thousands of people, deciding to find out which letters they prefer to receive - HTML or plain-text, with images or text. The results of the surveys of 2011 and 2014 were the same: the majority of respondents (64% in 2014) answered that they prefer HTML letters.
On the other hand, the number of people who prefer plain-text letters has not changed, which means that it is necessary to optimize letters in both formats.
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A / B testing by Hubspot confirmed that a simple letter design is more efficient. Moreover, users open letters with fewer HTML elements more often. Any other marketing channel seeks to visualize, but in the case of e-mails, this approach gives the opposite result: adding GIF images to a letter reduced the discovery rate by 37%.
But it’s not just a matter of discovery. Most marketers assume that converting HTML letters is higher, because they look more attractive and better reflect the essence of the proposal. Wouldn't email with an image of an e-book be more attractive to a client than plain text? Does a plain-text letter seem too boring? After all, we are naturally drawn to beautiful things.
Unfortunately, this principle does not work in relation to email. And the reason is simple: emails, unlike other marketing channels, are perceived as personal communication. Remember your correspondence with colleagues and friends: for sure you do not create HTML templates and do not add a bunch of images to your letters. Similarly, your subscribers who are accustomed to using email for personal use. Thus, ordinary text letters from companies more often find a response.
Adaptability - plain-text letters are guaranteed to be well displayed on the maximum possible number of devices and mail programs. Therefore, if among the readers of your newsletter are many users of various devices and mail clients, then you should pay attention to plain-text.
Naturalness - if you want to humanize the letter and make it more personal, then HTML is not your assistant. People do not write HTML-letters to each other, they simply open the mail program window and type the text.
Avoiding spam filters - when a company sends an email list, plain-text and HTML versions of the letter are “glued” together using the MIME format. If the letter does not have a text version, for spam filters it will be a disturbing bell indicating that the message may be spam.
User tastes - there are those who prefer to read the text, rather than looking at HTML-letters. Therefore, some email clients, such as Gmail and Outlook, make it easy to switch to viewing text versions of letters.
E-mail clients - simple texts are easier and take less traffic, so it is much easier to open them. But HTML-templates contain a lot of different materials, they are loaded for a long time and therefore are sometimes ignored. So, by default, many devices open email mailing in text mode. Apple Watch is one of those, because it’s more reasonable to read a regular message from a smart watch because of the small screen.
Lack of opportunities for branding - if you put a lot of effort into creating a bright and attractive corporate identity, then you will not want to abandon it in marketing mailings.
Restricted statistics gathering capabilities - it is not possible to insert a tracking pixel into a plain-text letter to determine how many users opened a letter (although clicks can be measured using tagged links).
When using email marketing tools like MailChimp, CampaignMonitor, Pechkin-mail.ru and others, a plain-text version of the letter will be created automatically. However, even in this case, you should take time to optimize it to achieve the highest conversion rates. Our tips will help you create an effective text letter:
1) Use negative space
The so-called “negative” (empty) space around important elements of the letter - headings or calls to action, makes the letter more convenient for reading and general perception, helps to highlight the most important aspects and stimulates the reader's imagination. To verify this, simply compare two versions of a text letter: without free space, with free space.
2) To avoid incorrect text display, do not arrange line breaks manually.
3) Structure the content of the letter and be short
As a rule, when a user receives a long text message, he simply goes over it with his eyes in order to understand whether it is worth spending his time on it. Therefore, if at the time of such a “screening” the user sees a sheet of text from which nothing can be isolated by a quick glance, then this may scare him away. If the content of your letter is diverse, clearly identify individual fragments using symbols or white space. If the text of your letter contains a list, use symbols to label it:
4) Highlight call to action
Tests show that the presence of call-to-action buttons in a letter increases the conversion. Of course, it is more difficult to highlight calls to action in text letters than in the HTML template, but you can still draw the attention of readers to these calls by selecting them from the mass of the text using spaces, characters like asterisks (*) or angle brackets (< >).
5) Do not overdo it with links
If the link does not complement the content and does not add value to the email message, it is better not to add it. In addition, after seeing a letter consisting of a heap of links, the user probably will not read it.
6) Choose the right font
Last year, an article titled “Font in your emails ruins your life” was published on the Bloomberg website. The author came to the conclusion that fonts such as Arial and Helvetica are not very suitable for reading letters on the go. This is because the forms of some letters — such as p, b, q, d — are too similar to each other, and it is difficult for the reader to distinguish between them.
As an alternative to Arial and Helvetica, it is recommended that Georgia or Verdana be used for the layout of long letters. “As for emails, we usually look at a couple of paragraphs,” the article says. “The wide spacing between letters speeds up reading ... And the serifs help distinguish the letters between themselves.” For short letters and individual text passages, the sans serif (sans serif) group fonts are more suitable.
The main advantage of a good font is its readability: a combination of speed and convenience in the process of reading, as well as clarity of the text, something like an emotional font acceptance. The way the letters look, their size and the distance between them determines whether it will be easy to read the text.
The font in your letter should not only be readable - it should be a reflection of your brand and ensure its uniformity. Therefore, try to use the same font for the headline as for the main text of the letter, but with a larger size (and / or apply a different color and style, for example, by highlighting the headline in bold or typing in capital letters only).
Ultimately, in the case of emails, more is not better. It may be difficult for marketers to accept this bitter truth, because many of us are already addicted to using HTML when creating mailings. However, research results consistently show that plain-text letters are more effective.
As with any rule, there are exceptions. For example, e-commerce companies should send out HTML emails, because their customers expect to see product images. In any case, before making a choice, test your emails.
There is nothing wrong with a simple design. Having nothing but text at their disposal, marketers have to be creative in the basics — the title and text of the letter, the arrangement of elements and links — in order to achieve the desired result. Sometimes simple text letters can work even better with beautifully laid out templates.
PS Other materials from the blog Pechkin-mail :
People say they prefer HTML.
In 2014, Hubspot conducted a survey of thousands of people, deciding to find out which letters they prefer to receive - HTML or plain-text, with images or text. The results of the surveys of 2011 and 2014 were the same: the majority of respondents (64% in 2014) answered that they prefer HTML letters.
On the other hand, the number of people who prefer plain-text letters has not changed, which means that it is necessary to optimize letters in both formats.
')
... but in fact they like text letters more
A / B testing by Hubspot confirmed that a simple letter design is more efficient. Moreover, users open letters with fewer HTML elements more often. Any other marketing channel seeks to visualize, but in the case of e-mails, this approach gives the opposite result: adding GIF images to a letter reduced the discovery rate by 37%.
But it’s not just a matter of discovery. Most marketers assume that converting HTML letters is higher, because they look more attractive and better reflect the essence of the proposal. Wouldn't email with an image of an e-book be more attractive to a client than plain text? Does a plain-text letter seem too boring? After all, we are naturally drawn to beautiful things.
Unfortunately, this principle does not work in relation to email. And the reason is simple: emails, unlike other marketing channels, are perceived as personal communication. Remember your correspondence with colleagues and friends: for sure you do not create HTML templates and do not add a bunch of images to your letters. Similarly, your subscribers who are accustomed to using email for personal use. Thus, ordinary text letters from companies more often find a response.
So, what are the advantages of plain-text letters
Adaptability - plain-text letters are guaranteed to be well displayed on the maximum possible number of devices and mail programs. Therefore, if among the readers of your newsletter are many users of various devices and mail clients, then you should pay attention to plain-text.
Naturalness - if you want to humanize the letter and make it more personal, then HTML is not your assistant. People do not write HTML-letters to each other, they simply open the mail program window and type the text.
Avoiding spam filters - when a company sends an email list, plain-text and HTML versions of the letter are “glued” together using the MIME format. If the letter does not have a text version, for spam filters it will be a disturbing bell indicating that the message may be spam.
User tastes - there are those who prefer to read the text, rather than looking at HTML-letters. Therefore, some email clients, such as Gmail and Outlook, make it easy to switch to viewing text versions of letters.
E-mail clients - simple texts are easier and take less traffic, so it is much easier to open them. But HTML-templates contain a lot of different materials, they are loaded for a long time and therefore are sometimes ignored. So, by default, many devices open email mailing in text mode. Apple Watch is one of those, because it’s more reasonable to read a regular message from a smart watch because of the small screen.
Disadvantages of plain-text letters
Lack of opportunities for branding - if you put a lot of effort into creating a bright and attractive corporate identity, then you will not want to abandon it in marketing mailings.
Restricted statistics gathering capabilities - it is not possible to insert a tracking pixel into a plain-text letter to determine how many users opened a letter (although clicks can be measured using tagged links).
How to create an effective plain-text letter
When using email marketing tools like MailChimp, CampaignMonitor, Pechkin-mail.ru and others, a plain-text version of the letter will be created automatically. However, even in this case, you should take time to optimize it to achieve the highest conversion rates. Our tips will help you create an effective text letter:
1) Use negative space
The so-called “negative” (empty) space around important elements of the letter - headings or calls to action, makes the letter more convenient for reading and general perception, helps to highlight the most important aspects and stimulates the reader's imagination. To verify this, simply compare two versions of a text letter: without free space, with free space.
2) To avoid incorrect text display, do not arrange line breaks manually.
3) Structure the content of the letter and be short
As a rule, when a user receives a long text message, he simply goes over it with his eyes in order to understand whether it is worth spending his time on it. Therefore, if at the time of such a “screening” the user sees a sheet of text from which nothing can be isolated by a quick glance, then this may scare him away. If the content of your letter is diverse, clearly identify individual fragments using symbols or white space. If the text of your letter contains a list, use symbols to label it:
4) Highlight call to action
Tests show that the presence of call-to-action buttons in a letter increases the conversion. Of course, it is more difficult to highlight calls to action in text letters than in the HTML template, but you can still draw the attention of readers to these calls by selecting them from the mass of the text using spaces, characters like asterisks (*) or angle brackets (< >).
5) Do not overdo it with links
If the link does not complement the content and does not add value to the email message, it is better not to add it. In addition, after seeing a letter consisting of a heap of links, the user probably will not read it.
6) Choose the right font
Last year, an article titled “Font in your emails ruins your life” was published on the Bloomberg website. The author came to the conclusion that fonts such as Arial and Helvetica are not very suitable for reading letters on the go. This is because the forms of some letters — such as p, b, q, d — are too similar to each other, and it is difficult for the reader to distinguish between them.
As an alternative to Arial and Helvetica, it is recommended that Georgia or Verdana be used for the layout of long letters. “As for emails, we usually look at a couple of paragraphs,” the article says. “The wide spacing between letters speeds up reading ... And the serifs help distinguish the letters between themselves.” For short letters and individual text passages, the sans serif (sans serif) group fonts are more suitable.
The main advantage of a good font is its readability: a combination of speed and convenience in the process of reading, as well as clarity of the text, something like an emotional font acceptance. The way the letters look, their size and the distance between them determines whether it will be easy to read the text.
The font in your letter should not only be readable - it should be a reflection of your brand and ensure its uniformity. Therefore, try to use the same font for the headline as for the main text of the letter, but with a larger size (and / or apply a different color and style, for example, by highlighting the headline in bold or typing in capital letters only).
Conclusion
Ultimately, in the case of emails, more is not better. It may be difficult for marketers to accept this bitter truth, because many of us are already addicted to using HTML when creating mailings. However, research results consistently show that plain-text letters are more effective.
As with any rule, there are exceptions. For example, e-commerce companies should send out HTML emails, because their customers expect to see product images. In any case, before making a choice, test your emails.
There is nothing wrong with a simple design. Having nothing but text at their disposal, marketers have to be creative in the basics — the title and text of the letter, the arrangement of elements and links — in order to achieve the desired result. Sometimes simple text letters can work even better with beautifully laid out templates.
PS Other materials from the blog Pechkin-mail :
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/309754/
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