HTML or Text emails for solo ads?

9 replies
Im setting up a solo ad and series of emails to promote various affiliate products.

In the emails Id much rather have:

www.Cool-Product123.com be seen in the copy and then have it link to my affiliate URL.

Than have it be a text link like this:

Clickbank ID.cool-product.hop.clickbank.com

How many people use text-only email readers vs ones that support HTML emails?

Should I just send out HTML based emails so I can have a cleaner looking link?
#ads #emails #html #solo #text
  • Profile picture of the author zoldusta
    text emails are the best. generally for im products text ad is the best. but for other niches such as weight loss, you can of course try html.
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    • Profile picture of the author brentb
      I manage lists and my own lists to the effect of about 2+ million outbound emails monthly.

      HTML emails for all segments and lists performed higher for ecommerce, gaming and general untargeted. But there are definitely things you should do and not do.

      For example, you can send text and html in the same email. People who can't view html can view the text version.

      In your html, don't use graphics because graphics don't always go through for gmail for example unless people click to view graphics. So they should only be there to make it look pretty, not for your main content.

      Sure, not everyone can see it, and people with text only will still not ALWAYS be able to view the text only versions BUT conversion rates are significantly higher across the board so that a few people missing out on the message isn't close to making up for the much lower conversion rate.

      Plus if you think about it, for most lists, your emails are going to be a lot from hotmail.com, gmail.com, yahoo.com, aol.com and a few others, they can all view html. People who can't usually view html are those from @joesblog.com because they are reading it in squirrel mail or something. Some disable html but I think they are the minority.

      With that all being said, some people BELIEVE html performs poorly for two reasons:

      1. SPAM - just like you shouldn't write FREE FREE FREE FREE !!!!! in your subject and email text to avoid spam filters, html cues are picked up too. Like tons of HUGE text and lots of multi color text. Or emails with one giant graphic. That will all get you auto spammed. This is one reason why people think html email doesn't do well.

      2. They just lack poor creative skills and the creative is ugly. So in that case, text only may work better.
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      • Profile picture of the author TerranceCharles
        When it comes to my list, I prefer using HTML because it gives better tracking and a smother look. However, when it comes to sending a Solo Ad to someone else's list, I would recommend Text instead of HTML because not every subscriber is collected the same and will have different options setup.

        Some prefer HTML while some prefer Text based. HTML does come with a catch, if you don't do it correctly you could risk your HTML codes being wrong and not displaying correctly in their email inboxes or sometimes it can make your URL's not clickable. However it is up to the Solo Ad sender to make sure everything is correct, I would just eliminate all risk and stick with text based.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Blades
    Text is best. Alot of people have slow connections, and you want your call to action to be the focus of the email, not some pretty graphic...
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  • Profile picture of the author himanuzo
    Always use the plain text because most email softwares (e.g: Outlook Express) blocks images in the default setting. Due to security.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    I would roll with text emails. But it never hurts to test. The most common email providers will have images and banners disabled by default.
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  • Profile picture of the author dengkane
    Most of e-zine emails I received are plain text format, and it is still a standard.

    But I think you can support both versions for one message, and many auto responder providers can provide such a function.
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