HTML vs. Text: Which is the Best for Sending to Your Opt-In E-mail Leads
Until the use of Extra Sensory Perception (ESP) becomes a standard mode of communicating, e-mail is the best from of communication throughout the world. Promoting your products and/or services through e-mail is still a very powerful option for Internet marketing. E-mails can be sent directly to those who are interested and the opt-in technique gives you the opportunity to entice them with other products and/or services that will eventually lead to an increase in your profits.
There are advantages and disadvantages to generating a list on your own or using the list from a third party:
- When you generate a list from your website, you can use the opt-in or double opt-in method. Those consumers who opt-in through your website have shown an interest in your products and/or services. They will be more receptive to your e-mails. If you use a list from a third party, it will not be as targeted as the one you create for yourself.
- The leads you receive from a third party list may have already been bombarded by so many e-mails that they will simply delete further attempts by your or anyone else. You have to consider this consequence when purchasing a list from a third party.
- You should know that you are not renting a list from a third party rather you are buying each e-mail lead and this could be costly if you are looking to build a large list.
You can build your own list from your website using software that enables you to:
- Collect e-mail addresses using the opt-in or double opt-in method
- Automatically remove hard bounces and those who want to opt-out from your list
- You can personalize the e-mail that you send with the information your prospect has provided on your website
- The delivery of your e-mail will be in the correct format that you decide HTML or text or a combination
- You have the ability to review the results of each e-mail campaign that you have sent out.
Now you have decided the best way to generate your leads, which format should you use HTML or text.
E-mail that is created using HTML will bring the visual art that you see on the Web to your e-mail campaign. Using HTML instead of plain text will automatically separate your e-mail from the hundreds of others that consumers receive on a daily basis. The tools at your disposal are graphics, background colors, and formatted text. This type of formatting allows you to communicate more information that is eye-catching to your leads and this can potentially bring in a higher response rate than the use of plain text e-mail. The downside is that the time it takes to load still is not optimal but you will have to weigh the advantages of a slower load time with the objective of standing apart from the crowd.
HTML allows the user to subscribe or unsubscribe to forms or articles directly within the e-mail and of course, the easier you make anything for the consumer, the higher the chance they will stay with you as opposed to going to your competitor.
When you are deciding to use HTML or plain text, you want to take into consideration what your target consumers use the most. If you send your e-mails in HTML and fifty percent, can only read plain text then half of your leads will be come frustrated with your correspondence and delete it without saying anything to you or they will complain and give you a chance to fix their problem. You may want to consider sending a survey to your target list to find out what they use. That way you will not be wasting valuable time, effort and expenses to make an eye-catching e-mail campaign only to find half of your leads cannot read it.
Another option you have is to determine who can read HTML and who cannot, send the e-mail campaigns, brochures, newsletters, and other paraphernalia in the appropriate format according to your prospects preferences. This may take a little more work and determination on your part but the reward will be worth it. When you take this effort you will not be disconnecting a portion of your prospects who do not have the ability to read HTML and remember the purpose of your e-mail campaign add is to increase your leads not send the looking for your competitors.
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