2003 L-Soft

HTML vs. TEXT

DC Web Women“Blacklists, Whitelists and Read All Over”

June 17, 2003

Gabriela LinaresVP Marketing

2003 L-Soft

Industry Research – Study #1Source: Survey of E-Mail Format Preferences and Programs, Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, April 2003 - N=954

2003 L-Soft

Bible Study Business

Yes 87.1% 93.1%

Only Partially 7.6% 4.5%

No 5.3% 2.4%

Respondents 394 468

HTML Readability Today:

Industry Research – Study #1Source: Survey of E-Mail Format Preferences and Programs, Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, April 2003 - N=954

2003 L-Soft

Industry Research – Study #1Source: Survey of E-Mail Format Preferences and Programs, Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, April 2003 - N=954

E-Mail Client Program

Casual users:

Business users:

Outlook Express 34%

AOL 6.0 to 8.0 17%

Yahoo! Mail 13%

Outlook 98/2000/XP 12%

HotMail 10%

Outlook 98/2000/XP 48%

Outlook Express 27%

Eudora 11%

AOL users: 92% of users studied used version 6.0 and higher and could read HTML e-mail

2003 L-Soft

Industry Research – Study #1Source: Survey of E-Mail Format Preferences and Programs, Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, April 2003 - N=954

2003 L-Soft

Bible Study Business

Dial-up Access 24.1% 41.3%

Broadband Access 20.3% 17.3%

Plain Text Preference

Industry Research – Study #1Source: Survey of E-Mail Format Preferences and Programs, Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, April 2003 - N=954

2003 L-Soft

2003 L-Soft

Reasons for HTML preference:• Readability (78%) • Attractive display (68%) • Ease of scanning (64%)• Overall design (64%)

Reasons for text preference:• Readability (73%) • Security from viruses (68%)• Ease of saving for future use (63%)• Ease of scanning (61%) • Download speed (54%)

Industry Research – Study #1Source: Survey of E-Mail Format Preferences and Programs, Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, April 2003 - N=954

2003 L-Soft

Poll on HTML vs. Text preference - #2 Readers of “Splash” and “E-zine Tips”, N=600, February 2003

2003 L-Soft

Reasons for preferring text: Can't read HTML 6% Just want the meat without the distractions 32% Like to read offline 15% Ads are more intrusive in HTML 22% Slow to download 14% Other 11%

Reasons for preferring HTML: HTML email can be laid out more effectively 28% Color can be used 24% Images can be included 21%    Ads can be more effective in HTML 20%   

Poll on HTML vs. Text preference - #2 Readers of “Splash” and “E-zine Tips”, N=600, February 2003

2003 L-Soft

Preferred e-mail advertisement formats worldwide, Q1 2002- #3

Source: Opt-In News, May 2002

35%

62%

3%

HTMLTextRich Media

2003 L-Soft

(21%) of consumers use a Spam filter within their email messaging programs.

(52%) do not use this type of service and

(27%) are uncertain if they are using a filter feature

Use of anti-spam filters - #3aSource: Opt-In News, May 2002

2003 L-Soft

Response rates per format- #4Source: IMT Strategies, Sept. 2001

1.20%

7.40%

9.00%

18.50%

3.20%

7.70%

5.30%

15.60%

0.00%

5.00%

10.00%

15.00%

20.00%

Unsubscribe

Bounce

Conversion

Click-Through

HTMLText

2003 L-Soft

Other Industry Research #5Source: Debbie Weil, WordBiz Report, N=300, May 2003

One-third publish HTML only

Text-only subscribers are typically less than 50% of list recipients

70% survey respondents prefer HTML

2003 L-Soft

Best practices is a moving target- #6Source: Jupiter Media Metrix, May 2002

Best practices for campaigns are a moving target, depending on campaign objective.

“There is no one best practice for these factors. Only with testing can an e-mail campaign be fully optimized”

Audience segmentation, message content and e-mail format should be tested prior to rolling out any campaign

2003 L-Soft

Anti-Spam filtersSpam report from the anti-spam filter product Spam Assassin

HTML_FONT_COLOR_RED (0.1 points) BODY: HTML font color is redHTML_MESSAGE (0.0 points) BODY: HTML included in messageHTML_LINK_CLICK_CAPS (1.1 points) BODY: HTML link text says

"CLICK"HTML_FONT_BIG (0.3 points) BODY: FONT Size +2 and up or 3

and upLINES_OF_YELLING (0.0 points) BODY: A WHOLE LINE OF YELLING

DETECTEDHTML_LINK_CLICK_HERE (0.1 points) BODY: HTML link text says

"click here"HTML_FONT_COLOR_GRAY (0.1 points) BODY: HTML font color is

grayHTML_FONT_COLOR_YELLOW (0.0 points) BODY: HTML font color is

yellow

2003 L-Soft

HTML vs. Text issues

Attachments blocked by Anti-Spam & Anti-Virus filters

Embedded images are attachments Referencing images from web site does not include

attachments A Multi-Part message may include attachments

• Multipart/Alternative doesn’t have attachment• Multipart/Mixed has an attachment• Multipart/related has an attachment

2003 L-Soft

Design preferences Both formats are visually appealing to different groups Both formats are easier to scan according to different

groups Format depends on company’s image & personality HTML protocol & e-mail applications’ inconsistencies -

AOL Text convenient for those readers that need specific

information and don’t care about format

HTML vs. Text issues

2003 L-Soft

Size of message Larger size for HTML than for text only messages HTML with embedded images is larger than with

referenced images Slows transmission and download time for dial-up

connection users Recommended maximum size of an e-mail message is

15k-20k to not alert mail watcher software

HTML vs. Text issues

2003 L-Soft

Tracking recipient behavior HTML allows for tracking open-ups, click-thrus,

frequency, date, time, personal data and demographics Same tracking capabilities available for text messages

BUT doesn’t include open-up tracking

User reading e-mail online or offline HTML messages with referenced images, will not

display correctly when read off-line Network firewalls sometimes strip HTML messages that

contain links to outside sources

HTML vs. Text issues

2003 L-Soft

Evaluate options

HTML & Text: • Offer two separate

mailing lists if possible• Provide recipient with

alternative at registration

HTML only• Text-only recipients are

not reached• Test how message is

viewed in different e-mail clients

• Attach images? Or reference web site?

Send multi-part messages• Providing alternative for

those who cannot read html

• “Sniffing” technology is not an established e-mail protocol therefore is not reliable

Text only• Reaches entire audience• Cut text at 60 characters• Message can be creatively

designed and easy to scan

2003 L-Soft

Recommendations

1. There is no right or wrong format

2. Determine internal capacity & needs

3. It is all about your recipients: survey them about desired format

4. Consider ISPs’ anti-virus and anti-spam measures – AOL, MSN, Earthlink measures -- which are DYNAMIC

5. Consider personal anti-spam applications

6. Test, test, test