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How do you format your emails for your subscribers?

by BillyBee
12 replies
I've been using 50-character line breaks for my Aweber emails, but I notice that on my smartphone they don't wrap as I intended them.

With so many people using smartphones and tablets, I wonder what your recommendation is for the formatting of your emails.

Whenever I look at an email on my computer that has NO line breaks (spread as wide as it wants to be), it looks unprofessional and less readable to me.

But if I format them I want them to look readable and sharp on all devices, too.

Any insight? Thanks.
#emails #format #subscribers
  • Profile picture of the author writeaway
    Plain text works for me. However, I make sure that the mail outs have the proper headings which fit with the overall context of my lists. If you don't do this, you might alienate your list members.
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    • Profile picture of the author BillyBee
      Originally Posted by writeaway View Post

      Plain text works for me. However, I make sure that the mail outs have the proper headings which fit with the overall context of my lists. If you don't do this, you might alienate your list members.
      Thanks, writeaway, but this wasn't my question. :/
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      • Profile picture of the author WillR
        Originally Posted by BillyBee View Post

        Thanks, writeaway, but this wasn't my question. :/
        Yes, and they have been banned by the looks of it so don't listen to them :-)

        I know exactly what you mean. It's tough. I don't think there is anyway around it. If you use no line breaks I think those emails just look really tacky on a desktop. If you use the line breaks then they don't look so great on mobile devices. I think people on mobile devices are probably able to get their heads around it and so I still use the line breaks with my messages.

        I wonder if you are using HTML emails if you could use some type of code to check the screen width and show a different version depending on the screen width.

        Not sure.
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        • Profile picture of the author BillyBee
          Originally Posted by WillR View Post

          Yes, and they have been banned by the looks of it so don't listen to them :-)

          I know exactly what you mean. It's tough. I don't think there is anyway around it. If you use no line breaks I think those emails just look really tacky on a desktop. If you use the line breaks then they don't look so great on mobile devices. I think people on mobile devices are probably able to get their heads around it and so I still use the line breaks with my messages.

          I wonder if you are using HTML emails if you could use some type of code to check the screen width and show a different version depending on the screen width.

          Not sure.
          Thanks, WillR, that's helpful. I'm with you on the line-break issue. That's exactly how I view it, too. Would be interesting to see what percentage of people view their emails on desktops vs mobile devices. I'm guessing I'm like a lot of people --- I do read email on a mobile device but I will almost always take an action (purchase, opt-in, etc) from a desktop, not a mobile device. So my feeling is that I ought to format the email for the desktop format because I think that's where the majority of sales come from.
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          • Profile picture of the author WillR
            Originally Posted by BillyBee View Post

            Thanks, WillR, that's helpful. I'm with you on the line-break issue. That's exactly how I view it, too. Would be interesting to see what percentage of people view their emails on desktops vs mobile devices. I'm guessing I'm like a lot of people --- I do read email on a mobile device but I will almost always take an action (purchase, opt-in, etc) from a desktop, not a mobile device. So my feeling is that I ought to format the email for the desktop format because I think that's where the majority of sales come from.
            I guess if you were really worried, one other option would be to publish your email message online without the line breaks and then at the top or bottom of your message you could say click here if you are viewing this email on a mobile device. Probably not the greatest option but an option none the less.
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  • Profile picture of the author shane_k
    So I guess when you write your emails you are writing them in the Aweber form right?

    Have you tried writing them in microsoft word and just hitting enter at your line break.

    and then copying and pasting into Aweber?

    This is how I write all my emails and I don't seem to have a problem with Mobile.

    Just a thought.
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    • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
      I use a very basic HTML template that allows the text
      to be wrapped after around 55 characters. (The table
      width is 400px).

      I send both HTML and plain text versions of my e-mails
      but no longer use a hard return on the plain text version
      because of the line break issue with mobile devices.

      Years ago, it was considered best practice to use a hard
      line break in plain text e-mails to improve readability.
      However, if more of your subscribers view your e-mails on
      mobile devices, the line break issue may hurt readability
      and response rates.

      Check your analytics to see what percentage of your
      subscribers are viewing your e-mails on a mobile device.

      Test out a hard line break vs non-hard line break version
      to see how it affects your list response.

      Dedicated to mutual success,

      Shaun
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      • Profile picture of the author BillyBee
        Originally Posted by Shaun OReilly View Post

        I use a very basic HTML template that allows the text
        to be wrapped after around 55 characters. (The table
        width is 400px).

        I send both HTML and plain text versions of my e-mails
        but no longer use a hard return on the plain text version
        because of the line break issue with mobile devices.

        Years ago, it was considered best practice to use a hard
        line break in plain text e-mails to improve readability.
        However, if more of your subscribers view your e-mails on
        mobile devices, the line break issue may hurt readability
        and response rates.

        Check your analytics to see what percentage of your
        subscribers are viewing your e-mails on a mobile device.

        Test out a hard line break vs non-hard line break version
        to see how it affects your list response.

        Dedicated to mutual success,

        Shaun
        This is great, Shaun, thanks.

        But when you say you use "a very basic HTML template," what do you mean by that exactly?
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        • Profile picture of the author Shaun OReilly
          Originally Posted by BillyBee View Post

          But when you say you use "a very basic HTML template," what do you mean by that exactly?
          What I mean by a very basic HTML template is that it
          has just one column into which you type your content.

          Nothing fancy.

          So, there's no fancy headings, images, sidebars, headers
          or footers in the template as you commonly see in the
          more advanced 'corporate-looking' templates.

          I just want to have the one column set to a width of
          about 400px so that the HTML wraps the text to make
          the e-mails more easily read.

          I also add HTML messages because it allows me to track
          the performance of my campaigns as well as giving me
          more formatting options. (E.g. bold, underline, italicize,
          color text and use call-to-action words in the hyperlink
          anchor text).

          Dedicated to mutual success,

          Shaun
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    • Profile picture of the author BillyBee
      Originally Posted by shane_k View Post

      So I guess when you write your emails you are writing them in the Aweber form right?

      Have you tried writing them in microsoft word and just hitting enter at your line break.

      and then copying and pasting into Aweber?

      This is how I write all my emails and I don't seem to have a problem with Mobile.

      Just a thought.
      Interesting. No, I have been writing them using a plain text editor, and then I paste that into an online email formatting tool that lets me break the lines in whatever length I want. Then I paste that version into Aweber.

      I use a Mac, so I can't use Word, but I have found that when I use Pages (which is Apple's version of Word, basically), that things like dashes don't display properly and I'm better off using something like a basic text editor.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randall Magwood
    I typically stick with plain text. HTML is fine, but many email providers block images and graphics by default.... leaving you with a discombobulated looking email that people have to wander through.
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