The Great Email Debate -- Rich Media V. Text

by Doug Hudiburg

If there is one thing that gets marketing geeks all sweaty
and excited, it's something new that promises to help us get
the attention of our target market.

It's little wonder that marketers are excited about the
possibility of using rich media email (HTML and Flash are
the most common) as a way to jazz up emails and make them
more interesting.

Being able to use rich media email as a marketing tool
allows marketers to do things they never could do in the
past.

Retailers, for instance, can send an email with a picture of
a close-out product and a quick "buy me" button, a strategy
that has been proven effective for increasing sales.

With Flash technology, you can even send a full multimedia
presentation via email, the perfect digital salesperson.

If you look to the leaders in opt-in list marketing, however,
you will find that 99% of them still use plain text email as
their media of choice.

People with huge opt-in lists such as Cory Rudl, Ken Envoy,
Terry Dean, and Marlon Sanders, all use text formatted email
messages.

There are a number of reasons why they refuse to change to
HTML, but the most important is that it creates results.

They have proven time and time again that the best format is
still plain text. Results count. Here are some reasons why
text email is still the way to go:

~ Most of the new spam filters (software that kills spam
before it hits your inbox, see "resources" below) will
*automatically* delete HTML email unless the user adds you
to his/her friends list.

~ People receive mostly text email from their friends
and associates, rich media doesn't come from "people" it
comes from "companies". Who would you rather buy from?

~ Many email clients still don't handle HTML well, so
in order to reach everyone with a high-quality message, you
need to produce to the lowest common denominator.

~ Rich media takes longer to load which frustrates
prospects. Frustration is a state-of-mind that effective
email marketers avoid like the plague.

~ Finally, and this is strictly my opinion, Text email
generally looks better and is easier to read as long as it
is formatted correctly.

I've decided to go with the experts and keep my ezine in the
text only format.

About the Author

Doug Hudiburg is a self proclaimed Marketing Geek and the founder of
Business-Marketing-Advisor.com a central source for
marketing insight and resources for businesses of all sizes.