Don't Forget The Plain Text Email rahman
On Saturday night, I was out with friends for dinner. My
friend was giving me grief about not responding fast enough
to her texts from earlier that week. I said, you know me, I'm
all about email. If you want a quick reply during the work
day - you've got to email me!
She complained about her cell plan as it makes her watch her
data usage, so she doesn't like to send emails.
Hearing her comments about her cell plan's data restrictions
made me think about a statistic I'd seen last month. A Net
Applications stat showed that only 7.3% percent of web
browsing occurs on mobile devices (smartphones and tablets).
The majority of web browsing, 92.4%, still occurs on
personal computers.
At the time, I was surprised to see such a small percentage
of web browsing on mobile. According to comScore as of
March 2012, 234 million Americans age 13 and older use
mobile devices. Web browsing it seems is not engaged in
frequently while mobile.
One reason web browsing is not a top mobile activity is data
limitations. Data plans are expensive and people watch their
data usage.
As an email marketer, you should recognize that data comes
at a price for your recipients.
Sending emails loaded with graphics is not going to get you
the response you desire. Mobile users simply aren't going to
load in your emails images.
So what should you do to accommodate the growing mobile
readership on your list?
First design emails for mobile. Second and equally important
include a plain text version of your message!
Your HTML email messages should always have a plain-text
version of your email included with it. The plain-text
alternative will save your data conscious subscribers
from using excessive data. Plus, some mobile devices
only display the plain-text.
What's more sending a plain text version of your message
every time you email has these 2 additional advantages:
1) Some people still prefer just plain text.
2) Plain text emails improve delivery. Spam filters don't like
HTML only messages. They want to see HTML in combination with
a plain-text alternative. Be sure your plain-text email has the
same content as the HTML email to get the delivery advantage.
To create a plain text version of your message on Windows
you can use the Accessories - NotePad. Mac users, try a
program called TextWrangler editor. Please keep in mind a
Microsoft Wordword document is not plain text.
Plain-text versions of your email are a critical component to
email marketing. Don't forget to include them.
###
Abbie Drew
DEMC Editor
|
