Text-Only Email Design Pitfalls & Guidelines: More Critical Than Ever (Especially for AOL Mailers)

Never underestimate the power of text when trying to crack Fortress
AOL:

Switching from HTML to text messages recently helped retailer Harbor
Freight Tools go from zero to almost 100% delivery to 300,000
addresses practically overnight.

What happened to Harbor Freight can happen to you, too, if you send
out big HTML-file messages to an AOL-heavy list without giving
recipients the option to select a text-only version.

This also affects b-to-b mailers because an increasing number of
corporate IT departments filter out HTML-heavy email. If previously
loyal readers haven't opened a single email you've sent for 30-60
days, testing text-only sends may be one key to your problem.
We aren't trying to revive the old text-vs.-HTML fight. Each format
gives you a benefit the other can't. You need both to have an
effective email-marketing program that covers as many bases as
possible.

"But my list clearly prefers HTML over text!" you protest. It
doesn't matter. If your recipients' mail servers block you, you're
out of luck.

And no, not a single so-called "sniffer" program can tell your
recipient's email system stops HTML. Your multi-format mailings
combining both text and HTML won't get through.

If you absolutely must boost your delivery rate, whether overall or
to specific domains, start by switching problem addresses to text.
Switching alone won't solve your problem, though. The text message
must be readable and compelling -- two qualities that don't always
go together -- in order to get read, evade spam filters and make up
for lost branding and metrics tracking.

You might not appreciate the subtle differences if you never had to
toil in text-message creativity. So, get ready to enroll in Text
Message Boot Camp.

Harbor Freight's story

Harbor Freight is a 36-year-old company based in Camarillo CA, and
the biggest tool retailer in the United States, with more than 100
stand-alone stores across the country outside of New England, plus
print catalog and Web sales divisions.

Martin Vrieze manages all the marketing for Harbor Freight and its
related home-and-garden and woodworking businesses, sending roughly
1 million emails a week to his house lists. His in-house email
tracking system showed him nothing was getting through AOL.

An outside delivery-improvement consultant pinpointed the problem:
AOL objected to his HTML formatting.

So, Vrieze switched to a text-only message for AOL addresses. On the
very next send, he found he was finally getting delivered, and to
the in-box, not bulk mail.

Since then, Vrieze uses text messages exclusively for AOL and some
other problem domains, such as Juno.

However, he and his team are busy testing various forms of HTML
messages on AOL addresses. One test turned up another unexpected
blocking factor: AOL objects to form tags in HMTL formatting,
interpreting them as possible virus indicators.

A test mailing with a form got only a 70-percent delivery, with 65
percent going to the in-box and 5 percent to bulk mail. Once Vrieze
dropped the form, 91.4 percent got delivered, with 86.7 going to the
in-box and 4.7 percent going to bulk mail.

Plain-Text Design: Pitfalls & Guidelines

A good text email isn't just HMTL's poor cousin. It's a mailing unto
itself. If you treat it like an afterthought, you won't get the
response you want, even if it does get delivered.

Lots of email service providers who do the HTML creative for their
clients offer to create a plain-text version at the same time. Be
very, very careful about this, and inspect sample text versions your
vendor has done for others before agreeing to this.

Watch for these pitfalls:

A. Do those lovely, precise tracking URLs that numbers people just
adore turn into long, ugly worms of characters that usually break
into two lines?

1. Can you tell right away who sent the email?

B. Can you read the message easily in a screen or two, or do you
have to scroll through long blocks of type that induce MEGO (My Eyes
Glaze Over)?

C. Does it have weird HTML tags floating around or oddball
punctuation?

Also, don't expect your text message to do the same heavy lifting
that your HTML message does. You can't track open or forwarding
rates, and some key features you identify with graphics in HTML
won't be as obvious in text.

These six guidelines will help you craft a useful, deliverable
message in plain text:

#1. DO: Use the "from" and subject lines to identify yourself
clearly to the recipient.

You should be doing this no matter what format you send in, but it's
doubly important with text, because you won't have your brand logo
in the message body to clear up confusion.

Your "from" and subject lines will show up differently in different
email clients. Test this for yourself with a handy online device
that shows how your information will look in different AOL versions,
plus Hotmail, Outlook and Express and several others. (See resource
list below.)

#2. DON'T: Waste space at the top of the email with boilerplate
(copy that never changes from one message to the next, such as who
you are, why you sent the email, how to unsubscribe).

Instead, lead off with your offer, newsletter title or other
compelling information. Put all standing copy at the end.

#3. DO: Use copious amounts of white space between and around copy
blocks.

This sets off offers and other key details and breaks up potentially
eye-numbing copy.

#4. DO: Give your copy more punch with these typographic devices:

-- Use white space between and around copy blocks to break up gray
areas, set off offers and key information.

-- Limit line length to 60 characters or fewer with a hard break at
each line (don't count on autowrapping.)

-- Limit paragraph length to four lines or fewer.

-- DON'T: Use punctuation marks or symbols to emphasize or set off
copy. They're catnip to spam filters.

-- Use a fixed-space typeface, such as 10-point Courier or Courier
New.

#5. DO: Shorten long URLs, even if you have to give up some metrics
precision. Consider using a redirect link such as tinyurl.com to
create short links. DON'T: Put URLs in mid-copy, even if that means
you have to reword the basic message.

HTML allows you to hide long, metric-rich URLs behind shorter URLs
or words, but they get long and distracting in text copy. Also, long
URLs usually break, becoming virtually useless.

Example: This long URL came from an HTML email, where it hid behind
"click here" in the message body. However when revealed in its
text-only glory, it shows it like:
http://***X.net/rspod/r2.php?b=4&100.../1000041338/T/
http%3A%2F%2Fwww.******.com%2Ffreerecipe1.asp%3FSK U%3D42729101**
It sends the reader to an order form with a simple URL:
http://www.******XX.com/order.asp?SKU=42729101** That, or one that's
even simpler, might have to be the one you drop into the text email.

Yes, you sacrifice the tracking data. Precision is great, but it
doesn't matter if the email doesn't get delivered in the first place
- or a response link is unclickable.

#6. DON'T: Pack too much into a text email.

Pick the most important concerns, such as the offer, the opt-out
link and any other subscription-management data, your street
address, and maybe a send-to-a-friend link. There's no good place
for your entire navigation bar along with your message.

If you must include multiple offers in a single email, add a brief
table of contents at the top to help your readers scan the contents
more efficiently.

Example:
1. Free shipping on orders over $50
2. 50 percent off fall/winter merchandise

Useful Examples to Copy
Well, we don't have any. The boss asked us to include sample
creatives for everyone to copy, but the folder marked "Good Examples
of Text Emails" is forlornly empty.

Got some text emails you think we should review? Send them here:
mailto:janetr@marketingsherpa.com

Resource list:
1. "From" and "Subject Line" Rendering Tool
Developed by EmailLabs:
http://emaillabs.com/from_subject_line_tool.html
2. Harbor Freight Tools:
http://harborfreight.com/
3. Delivery-management consultant Pivotal Veracity:
http://www.pivotalveracity.com/