HTML or Plain Text Email?

Aweber lets you send both, but if I had to choose I'd pick plain text because some email clients don't display html links correctly.

HTML is required to get any type of statistics unless you are using something like bit.ly or clixtrac for link analytics.

If you have the option to do both, do both for sure.

Travis

I honestly prefer the way HTML looks over plain text

I use Aweber and i love this. aweber is much user friendly and much professional.
and i love to send plain text email.

I always always always always use both...

Best deliverability, readability and trackability

Both. I'm actually surprised how many emails I get from marketers that use only html. Why gamble when you don't have to?

it seems like 90% of IMrs send plain text but I have much better response rates with HTML email that looks nice and professional. Maybe it stands out more...

Yeah, with Aweber your click stats won't track at all if you use plain text messages. Use both.

When you use HTML you can incorporate any font, graphic and color turning your messages into professional online newsletters so I'd rather choose HTML over just plain text...!

Go for plain text. Not everybody can read the html stuff. It also seems as if plain text is just the standard. If you're using Aweber, it's the second box.

Joey

I would use plain text. That insures everyone sees it and it doesn't load the smtp server bandwidth.

For me, plain text.

Not as pretty but everyone can read it - not everyone downloads images by default, which can make HTML layouts look weird.

I use Plain Text

Some businesses/services might benefit from HTML email, but I usually find the images annoying. An image or some colors may help get your customers ready, but it's the text that really gets them buying. Go for plain text.

My vote is for sending HTML emails that "look" like a plain text email. Have done a lot of testing and this is the type that converts the highest for me in certain niches.

No big images, javascript, css or anything funky.

Keep it simple.

Use HTML to customize the call to action with your own link display text.

HTML allows you to track open rates too. Most email clients block the beacons anyway, so the statistic itself is not as useful as some would say it is, but still, some data is better than no data.

And I wouldn't worry too much about sending both text and HTML versions - there are almost no "text only" email clients any more. All of the meaningful ones - like Gmail/Yahoo/Hotmail (when it comes to web mail), Thunderbird, Live Mail, Eudora (and even AOL) can handle HTML email.

In certain niches, like spirituality, parenting, self-help, etc, we've seen clients have great success with greeting card-esque, massively formatted "pretty" emails. That's partly the reason why some services like constant contact are signing up people, because they provide pretty-looking templates that come ready-to-use.

So make sure you test it for yourself.

And it's also a good idea to find out what your actual readers prefer :-). Do a survey and ask them directly (and don't forget to offer them a nice incentive for taking your survey).

- Ravi Jayagopal

>>...with Aweber your click stats won't track at all if you use plain text messages<<

That is not true.

Click-tracking has nothing to do with plain text or HTML emails. You can track clicks even with plain-text emails with Aweber.

You just need to turn on the "Track links in this message" (or whatever it's actually called) option for each email. When you do that, Aweber will convert all links in that email to an encrypted version that tracks all clicks.

What is true, however, is that you CANNOT track "open rates" using just plain-text emails. That's where you really need an HTML version of your email.

- Ravi Jayagopal

I prefer HTML (even though I upload a text version too just in case).

In my opinion, HTML is easier to read (you can bold, color and format paragraphs), plus you get better tracking.