Re: Text vs. HTML Emails Ads
I'm really surprised by the anti-HTML sentiment
I'm reading here.
Back in my early ClickZ days (1997 to be exact)
I launched ClickZ FIRST as an HTML newsletter
and later brought out a text edition. When I
left ClickZ last year, the ratio of HTML to
TEXT was about 60-40 as I recall.
Probably 90% of those who have subscribed to
Bourland.com chose HTML.
The challenges for using HTML as an email platform:
* Keep it light
* Use the tools of HTML to enhance and clarify the
message, not to obscure it with dazzling ads and
animated graphics.
* Coding it as cleanly as possible
A great example of an HTML newsletter is Apple's eNews.
It's clean, light and visually interesting. Prints well,
too. Here's a link:
http://www.apple.com/enews/2002/02/07enews1.html
Perhaps this was unique to ClickZ, but I got an
incredible number of emails from readers telling me
that they printed out their email newsletter and
read them on the train or plane or subway. So as
much as possible, I like to make my HTML printer
friendly.
Frankly, I find text editions tedious to assemble,
and often very dense to read. The right use of
space, font selection and prudent graphics makes
HTML newsletters far more reader-friendly.
The major point so many have made is that email
clients aren't HTML friendly. Well... Most of the
DOMINANT email clients are HTML friendly.
Most of my subscribers use the Microsoft or Netscape
mail client (both support HTML mail) a free email
address like Yahoo or Hotmail (all of them support
HTML mail) or Eudora (which is the sketchiest of the
three).
Anyway... Just my two cents worth.
Andy
--
Andrew Bourland
http://www.bourland.com
Helping Publishers Shift from Free to Fee
Received on Thu Feb 14 2002 - 08:26:50 CST
