These experts test and test and test to find what works best, it\u2019s reasonable to assume that less email design is better. But is this assumption true?<\/p>\n
Read on to see if we can answer this question and determine a winner in the email design Thunderdome!<\/p>\n
[et_pb_section global_module=\"112902 \"][\/et_pb_section]<\/span><\/p>\n Why are we featuring a showdown between plain text and HTML email design?<\/p>\n The simple answer is ROI.<\/p>\n Email marketing averages a return on investment (ROI) of $38 on every $1 spent<\/a>, which makes it a powerful marketing communications tool when it comes to customer generation.<\/p>\n Related Reading:<\/strong> White Label Email Marketing Software & Services to Grow Revenue<\/a><\/p>\n This is an exceptional ROI, which makes email a key tactic in your marketing arsenal.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, many agencies and SMBs still don\u2019t take email marketing seriously. We continue to focus heavily on the sexier choices (ie social media), or the more immediate return (ie PPC).<\/p>\n This is a missed opportunity! An investment in sound email marketing strategy can lead to the ROI dividends I\u2019ve highlighted above.<\/p>\n The truth is that it\u2019s going to get harder to stumble upon that 38\/1 ROI<\/a> in the future. Right now, one out of every five commercial emails never even reaches the inbox (only one in four in the US!).<\/p>\n Beyond pure deliverability issues, you\u2019ve got to make sure your emails are designed correctly for your industry and an increasingly mobile pool of recipients.<\/p>\n What is HTML email format?\u00a0<\/strong>HTML formatted emails typically have visual graphics and are often designed with a template that uses HTML coding.<\/span><\/p>\n What is plain text email format?\u00a0<\/strong>Plain text email is much simpler, typically including only written text, without any visual graphics.<\/span><\/p>\n With this in mind, let\u2019s take a look at the results from a few businesses who tested both email styles and see if we can find any trends.<\/p>\n Our main goal is to build our email list and spark conversations with those people who downloaded our content and received our drip emails as a result.<\/p>\n Taylor Galipeau<\/a>, our Marketing Analyst, investigated our plain text and HTML emails and found that design changes had an interesting effect on the responses we receive:<\/p>\n \u201cOur intro emails to our content nurture drip (saying hi thanks for downloading our content, you should check out our blog if you want more) saw an increase in CTR by ~3% since changing to plain text.<\/p>\n However, our nurture emails promoting our Modesto Bee Case Study<\/a> saw NO CHANGE in CTR switching to plain text. Results can vary depending on the type of email you are sending.<\/p>\n The biggest change we saw was in replies.<\/p>\n We’ve had 602 conversations since Oct 2016 by switching to plain text, and before that, the only replies we got were people getting angry. Therefore, it’s proven to be a great medium for answering marketing questions and connecting our prospects with their sales reps (even with no previous connection).\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Increases in open rate and click-through rate are great, but we\u2019ve found replies generated<\/strong>\u00a0to be a more valuable metric: After all, starting a dialog via email grows relationships and truly nurtures potential clients!<\/p>\n For Vendasta it\u2019s all about replies, which the plain text emails delivered. Why were plain text emails so much more effective at prompting a reply?<\/p>\n In our market, flashy design comes off as salesy.<\/p>\n In the marketing industry, information and authenticity are essential trust-builders. Simple plain-text email provides a personal feel that communicates familiarity. This breaks down barriers and invites our audience to participate in a no-pressure 1-on-1 conversation.<\/p>\n Yan shared his experience testing plain vs. HTML email designs for their own marketing campaign:<\/p>\n \u201cWe had quite an interesting experience with our email campaigns. We tried both: a fancy design and a plain text. Surprisingly, ordinary plain text emails sent to our customers performed 2 times better!<\/p>\n We have an autoresponder email chain, which is sent to each of our customers after he or she downloads the distribution package of our software. When we first launched this chain, all the emails in it were plain-text. Emails performed good\u2014the open rate was 78%. Then we redesigned all the emails to make them look nice. The open rate quickly dropped to 42%. Then we re-made the emails again to plain text. The rate became 80% again.<\/p>\n Most of our customers have Gmail mailboxes. And Google is more likely to put fancy emails to the Promotions tab. And plain-text emails go straight to the Primary tab of Gmail. Consequently, that’s why the open rate here is better.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Here\u2019s the graphically-designed HTML email that generated an open rate of 42%:<\/p>\n In CS-Cart\u2019s case, winning email marketing is all about getting past that Gmail promo filter. Even if your business is extremely visually-oriented, having an overly designed email template could bump you out of the “Primary” tab in Gmail. Infusionsoft<\/a> backs this up \u201cClever email templates look great and businesses love them, but businesses end up in Promotions by default.\u201d<\/p>\n Nabeena Mali, App Institute\u2019s Head of Marketing, notes:<\/p>\n \u201cFor B2B emails – the simpler and more personalised the email, the better. We\u2019ve tested both HTML emails with graphic content and plain text emails and the no-frills emails are always a winner. Plain text emails saw a reply rate of 34% compared to 4% when using more stylised, HTML content.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Here\u2019s the plain-text email design with an 18% open rate and 34% reply rate:<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, subject titles play the most important role, and we\u2019ve found that being able to include the business name does the best in terms of open rate,\u201d Nabeena continues. \u201cWhen it comes to copy, keeping emails short, polite and to the point has always had the best response rate.\u201d<\/p>\n This offers a very personal feel, and that’s important when you’re asking someone to give you their time. Stylised HTML emails have the downfall of coming across like a sales campaign, which people are less likely to respond to.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Again, this B2B email marketing example, coming across as “sales-y” kills your chance at creating a dialogue between you and your prospects. With all the work that you put into acquiring that email, this missed opportunity is tough to swallow.<\/p>\n Daniel Bamigboye, Digital Marketing Strategist at Firebrick Digital<\/a>, has seen different results from his email marketing campaign testing:<\/p>\n \u201cI have been running email campaigns for about two years now and all I can say from my experience is that the major difference between a graphically designed email and a plain text email is the open rate and click through rate of the emails.<\/p>\n Graphically designed emails just win especially when it comes to call-to-action click through rate. Open rate isn\u2019t affected much because little is seen in email previews.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Here\u2019s Firebrick’s graphically designed HTML email, with an open rate 20.05% and CTR of 3.325 %:<\/p>\n Depending on the business and the offer, a bit of graphic-design to help branding can lead to improved performance in your email campaigns. A distinct call to action that matches what your audience wants and expects plays a big part in this.<\/p>\n Voodoo Video Marketing<\/a> sends thousands of campaigns to millions of recipients on behalf or their corporate clients and their sales reps.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re advocates of \u201cplain text\u201d emails,\u201d CEO Robert Cassard explains, \u201cand here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n Our clients often test and measure the CTR of “plain text” emails vs. more heavily designed HTML graphic emails, usually under the following circumstances:<\/p>\n CTR rates vary widely based on industry sector and whether the contact lists are \u201ccold\u201d or \u201cwarm.\u201d In general, though, plain text emails generate significantly higher CTR than \u201cprettier\u201d HTML graphic emails.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n A typical client campaign was recently sent to comparable \u201cCold\u201d Prospect lists of a few hundred recipients.<\/p>\n Despite 130 fewer recipients of Plain Text and a slightly lower open rate (8.4% vs. 10.3%) in that group, the plain text email nonetheless generated much higher CTR (32.2% vs. 4.7%) – yielding 4.75X<\/strong> the number of click-through video viewers compared to HTML design email.<\/p>\n This is typical of the results Robert’s seen in most campaigns.<\/p>\n Why does plain text work here? Again, it looks like people in this campaign responded to the email design with a more personal feel.<\/p>\n “While I can\u2019t conclusively explain why,” Robert hypothesizes, “my own email opening\/reading\/responding patterns make it easy to guess.”<\/p>\n “When I receive a \u201cplain text” email (one that looks personally written and is addressed from a real person) it looks like all the other emails I receive from other real people. I\u2019m more likely to look at it, read it, and respond to that real person\u2019s request. In this case, they\u2019re asking me to watch a video they think I\u2019ll find helpful to my business. My likely response is either, \u201csure, I can give it a quick look\u201d or a momentary a twinge of guilt for NOT responding as asked…”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n With almost 5X the video viewers in a plain text email vs HTML design, simple email design is clearly worth testing.<\/p>\n Related Reading:<\/strong> How We Generated $42k ARR With a Simple Re-Engagement Campaign<\/a><\/p>\n In the examples above, 4 of the 5 businesses found that plain text email worked better for their campaigns. The primary factors cited were:<\/p>\n These case studies reflect current trends. As recently as August 2017, email marketing powerhouse Marketo<\/a> found that plain text emails had a 17% higher unique click-through rate on offer links! (Anne Mitchell<\/a>)<\/p>\n Another factor that looms over this email design debate is deliverability<\/strong>. Email filtering systems have evolved over the years to keep unwanted or dangerous emails from surfacing in our primary inbox:<\/p>\n Using graphics may lead to better CTRs and may generate more leads in your industry…if potential clients ever see them.<\/p>\n “Of course,” says Anne Mitchell, email law and policy lawyer and CEO of the email reputation and deliverability service SuretyMail<\/a>, “if the email you send never makes it to the inbox due at least in part to (over)use of graphics and other code-based elements (HTML, cloaked links, video, etc.), then it doesn’t matter how pretty your email is, because people aren’t actually going to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n Adds Mitchell, “Email spammers use graphics to get around content-based spam filters, so a high image-to-text ratio makes you look like a spammer.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Related Reading:<\/strong> Spam Laws: How to Comply and Keep Your Email Marketing Afloat<\/a><\/p>\n Related Reading:<\/strong> Humans Versus AI: Email Marketing Trends for 2018<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Despite the results we\u2019ve shared from the 5 companies in this showdown, it\u2019s impossible to say that there\u2019s one surefire way that all companies should design emails.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll still need to test different campaigns out and track the results you get for your clients and your business. Then go out and test some more!\u00a0HTML email design could still really work for you, but you’ll need to find out for yourself.<\/p>\n If you\u2019d like some help with email marketing solutions for your clients<\/a>, we can provide premade campaigns built specifically to target local businesses.<\/p>\n Or you can take a step back and download our most successful email marketing scripts for the top 10 email types!<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I VIVIDLY remember my first email design attempts in my early days in the marketing biz. I worked at an agency and our remodeling client wanted to dip their toe into email marketing for the first time. My instincts told me to make the email a mini version of their website…for the branding, ya know?! […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":124074,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"I VIVIDLY remember my first email design attempts in my early days in the marketing biz.\r\n\r\nI worked at an agency and our remodeling client wanted to dip their toe into email marketing for the first time. My instincts told me to make the email a mini version of their website...for the branding, ya know?!\r\n\r\nI was convinced that more design-y = better results. The design came out...not hot. But the open rate and CTR results weren't bad, so I moved forward with HTML design style email.\r\n\r\nIt wasn\u2019t until I started signing up for content from marketing gurus like Neil Patel, Seth Godin, Pat Flynn, and Rick Mulready that I realized there was another way. These emails were short - they told stories and kept it simple.\r\n\r\nThey looked like an email from a good friend<\/strong>...which I\u2019m sure was the point.\r\n\r\nThese experts test and test and test to find what works best, it\u2019s reasonable to assume that less email design is better. But is this assumption true?\r\n\r\nRead on to see if we can answer this question and determine a winner in the email design Thunderdome!\r\n\r\n What is HTML email format?\u00a0<\/strong>HTML formatted emails typically have visual graphics and are often designed with a template that uses HTML coding.<\/p>\r\n What is plain text email format?\u00a0<\/strong>Plain text email is much simpler, typically including only written text, without any visual graphics.<\/p>\r\nWith this in mind, let\u2019s take a look at the results from a few businesses who tested both email styles and see if we can find any trends.\r\n Related Reading:<\/strong> Humans Versus AI: Email Marketing Trends for 2018<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\nIntro to Email Marketing Design<\/h2>\n
Email Design Showdown: 5 Email Marketing Case Studies<\/h2>\n
Vendasta Case Study: Getting More Email Replies<\/h3>\n
![\"Taylor](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/07\/taylor.webp\")
At Vendasta, we try to provide a lot of value for our audience in the form of interesting, engaging data-driven content.<\/p>\n\n
Winner: Plain Text Email<\/strong><\/h4>\n
CS-Cart Company Case Study: Getting Past Gmail\u2019s Promo Email Filter<\/h3>\n
![\"Yan](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/07\/yan-kulakov.webp\")
Yan Kulakov is a marketer for CS-Cart<\/a>, a company that develops and sells a shopping software platform for online stores and online marketplaces<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
![\"email](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/07\/cs-cart.webp\")
<\/p>\nWinner: Plain Text Email<\/strong><\/h4>\n
App Institute Case Study: Getting More Personal With Email Marketing<\/h3>\n
![\"Nabeena](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/07\/nabeena-mali.webp\")
For online App builder, App Institute<\/a>, the winner of the email design showdown has been clear.<\/p>\n\n
![\"email](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/07\/app-institute.webp\")
<\/p>\n\n
Winner: Plain Text Email<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Firebrick Digital Case Study: Adding the Right Touch of Email Branding and Design<\/h3>\n
\n
![\"email](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/07\/know-thyself-and-thy-business.webp\")
<\/p>\nWinner: Graphic Design Email<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Voodoo Marketing Case Study: Warming Up \u2018Cold\u2019 Prospects With Email Marketing<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
Winner: Plain Text Email<\/strong><\/h4>\n
\n
Which Type of Email Design Wins?<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
![\"gateway](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2025\/07\/gateway.webp\" "\\"gateway\\"")
<\/p>\n\n
6 Key Tips to Design Emails that Convert<\/h2>\n
\n
Final Thoughts on Email Design<\/h2>\n
\r\n\r\nTable of Contents<\/h2>\r\nIntro to Email Marketing Design<\/a>\r\n\r\nEmail Design Showdown: 5 Email Marketing Case Studies<\/a>\r\n\r\nVendasta Case Study: Getting More Email Replies<\/a>\r\n\r\nCS-Cart Company Case Study: Getting Past Gmail\u2019s Promo Email Filter<\/a>\r\n\r\nApp Institute Case Study: Getting More Personal With Email Marketing<\/a>\r\n\r\nFirebrick Digital Case Study: Adding the Right Touch of Email Branding and Design<\/a>\r\n\r\nVoodoo Marketing Case Study: Warming Up \u2018Cold\u2019 Prospects With Email Marketing<\/a>\r\n\r\nWhich Type of Email Design Wins?<\/a>\r\n\r\n6 Key Tips to Design Emails that Convert<\/a>\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\nIntro to Email Marketing Design<\/h2>\r\nWhy are we featuring a showdown between plain text and HTML email design?\r\n\r\nThe simple answer is ROI.\r\n\r\nEmail marketing averages a return on investment (ROI) of $38 on every $1 spent<\/a>, which makes it a powerful marketing communications tool when it comes to customer generation.\r\n\r\nRelated Reading:<\/strong> White Label Email Marketing Software & Services to Grow Revenue<\/a>\r\n\r\nThis is an exceptional ROI, which makes email a key tactic in your marketing arsenal.\r\n\r\nUnfortunately, many agencies and SMBs still don\u2019t take email marketing seriously. We continue to focus heavily on the sexier choices (ie social media), or the more immediate return (ie PPC).\r\n\r\nThis is a missed opportunity! An investment in sound email marketing strategy can lead to the ROI dividends I\u2019ve highlighted above.\r\n\r\nThe truth is that it\u2019s going to get harder to stumble upon that 38\/1 ROI<\/a> in the future. Right now, one out of every five commercial emails never even reaches the inbox (only one in four in the US!).\r\n\r\nBeyond pure deliverability issues, you\u2019ve got to make sure your emails are designed correctly for your industry and an increasingly mobile pool of recipients.\r\n
Email Design Showdown: 5 Email Marketing Case Studies<\/h2>\r\n
Vendasta Case Study: Getting More Email Replies<\/h3>\r\n
![\"Taylor](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/12\/Taylor-Galipeau-vendasta.png\")
At Vendasta, we try to provide a lot of value for our audience in the form of interesting, engaging data-driven content.\r\n\r\nOur main goal is to build our email list and spark conversations with those people who downloaded our content and received our drip emails as a result.\r\n\r\nTaylor Galipeau<\/a>, our Marketing Analyst, investigated our plain text and HTML emails and found that design changes had an interesting effect on the responses we receive:\r\n\u201cOur intro emails to our content nurture drip (saying hi thanks for downloading our content, you should check out our blog if you want more) saw an increase in CTR by ~3% since changing to plain text.\r\n\r\nHowever, our nurture emails promoting our Modesto Bee Case Study<\/a> saw NO CHANGE in CTR switching to plain text. Results can vary depending on the type of email you are sending.\r\n\r\nThe biggest change we saw was in replies.\r\n\r\nWe've had 602 conversations since Oct 2016 by switching to plain text, and before that, the only replies we got were people getting angry. Therefore, it's proven to be a great medium for answering marketing questions and connecting our prospects with their sales reps (even with no previous connection).\u201d<\/blockquote>\r\nIncreases in open rate and click-through rate are great, but we\u2019ve found replies generated<\/strong>\u00a0to be a more valuable metric: After all, starting a dialog via email grows relationships and truly nurtures potential clients!\r\n\r\nHere\u2019s an example of the type of lead generating response we get from our email drip campaigns:\r\n\r\n
![\"email](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/email-marketing-showdown-vendasta-plain-text-email-646x1024.png\")
\r\nWinner: Plain Text Email<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nFor Vendasta it\u2019s all about replies, which the plain text emails delivered. Why were plain text emails so much more effective at prompting a reply?\r\n\r\nIn our market, flashy design comes off as salesy.\r\n\r\nIn the marketing industry, information and authenticity are essential trust-builders. Simple plain-text email provides a personal feel that communicates familiarity. This breaks down barriers and invites our audience to participate in a no-pressure 1-on-1 conversation.\r\n
CS-Cart Company Case Study: Getting Past Gmail\u2019s Promo Email Filter<\/h3>\r\n
![\"Yan](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/12\/yan-kulakov-cs-cart.png\")
Yan Kulakov is a marketer for CS-Cart<\/a>, a company that develops and sells a shopping software platform for online stores and online marketplaces<\/a>.\r\n\r\nYan shared his experience testing plain vs. HTML email designs for their own marketing campaign:\r\n\u201cWe had quite an interesting experience with our email campaigns. We tried both: a fancy design and a plain text. Surprisingly, ordinary plain text emails sent to our customers performed 2 times better!\r\n\r\nWe have an autoresponder email chain, which is sent to each of our customers after he or she downloads the distribution package of our software. When we first launched this chain, all the emails in it were plain-text. Emails performed good\u2014the open rate was 78%. Then we redesigned all the emails to make them look nice. The open rate quickly dropped to 42%. Then we re-made the emails again to plain text. The rate became 80% again.\r\n\r\nMost of our customers have Gmail mailboxes. And Google is more likely to put fancy emails to the Promotions tab. And plain-text emails go straight to the Primary tab of Gmail. Consequently, that's why the open rate here is better.\u201d<\/blockquote>\r\nHere\u2019s the graphically-designed HTML email that generated an open rate of 42%:\r\n\r\n
![\"email](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/12\/email-marketing-showdown-cs-cart-html-email-1.png\")
\r\n\r\nIn contrast, here\u2019s the plain text email that generated an 80% open rate:\r\n\r\n![\"email](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2017\/12\/email-marketing-showdown-cs-cart-text-email-1024x359.png\")
\r\nWinner: Plain Text Email<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nIn CS-Cart\u2019s case, winning email marketing is all about getting past that Gmail promo filter. Even if your business is extremely visually-oriented, having an overly designed email template could bump you out of the \"Primary\" tab in Gmail. Infusionsoft<\/a> backs this up \u201cClever email templates look great and businesses love them, but businesses end up in Promotions by default.\u201d\r\n
App Institute Case Study: Getting More Personal With Email Marketing<\/h3>\r\n
![\"Nabeena](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/12\/Nabeena-Mali-app-institute-1.png\")
For online App builder, App Institute<\/a>, the winner of the email design showdown has been clear.\r\n\r\nNabeena Mali, App Institute\u2019s Head of Marketing, notes:\r\n\u201cFor B2B emails - the simpler and more personalised the email, the better. We\u2019ve tested both HTML emails with graphic content and plain text emails and the no-frills emails are always a winner. Plain text emails saw a reply rate of 34% compared to 4% when using more stylised, HTML content.\u201d<\/blockquote>\r\nHere\u2019s the HTML email design with the 7% open rate and 4% reply rate:\r\n\r\n
![\"email](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/wordpress-www-vendasta\/2017\/12\/email-marketing-showdown-app-institute-html-email-568x1024.png\")
\r\n\r\nHere\u2019s the plain-text email design with an 18% open rate and 34% reply rate:\r\n\r\n![\"email](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/12\/email-marketing-showdown-app-institute-plain-text-email-1.png\")
\r\n\r\nYou\u2019ll notice that the email copy and subject lines are different for these emails, which does factor into the open and reply rate.\r\n\u201cOf course, subject titles play the most important role, and we\u2019ve found that being able to include the business name does the best in terms of open rate,\u201d Nabeena continues. \u201cWhen it comes to copy, keeping emails short, polite and to the point has always had the best response rate.\u201d\r\n\r\nThis offers a very personal feel, and that's important when you're asking someone to give you their time. Stylised HTML emails have the downfall of coming across like a sales campaign, which people are less likely to respond to.\u201d<\/blockquote>\r\n
Winner: Plain Text Email<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nAgain, this B2B email marketing example, coming across as \"sales-y\" kills your chance at creating a dialogue between you and your prospects. With all the work that you put into acquiring that email, this missed opportunity is tough to swallow.\r\n
Firebrick Digital Case Study: Adding the Right Touch of Email Branding and Design<\/h3>\r\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/wordpress-www-vendasta\/2017\/12\/Daniel-Bamigboye-firebrick-300x300.png\")
Daniel Bamigboye, Digital Marketing Strategist at\u00a0Firebrick Digital<\/a>, has seen different results from his email marketing campaign testing:\r\n\u201cI have been running email campaigns for about two years now and all I can say from my experience is that the major difference between a graphically designed email and a plain text email is the open rate and click through rate of the emails.\r\n\r\nGraphically designed emails just win especially when it comes to call-to-action click through rate. Open rate isn\u2019t affected much because little is seen in email previews.\u201d<\/blockquote>\r\nHere\u2019s a typical plain-text email design which generated an open rate 16.625% and CTR of 1.45%:\r\n\r\n
![\"email](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/12\/email-marketing-showdown-firebrick-text-email-1.png\")
\r\n\r\nHere\u2019s Firebrick's graphically designed HTML email, with an open rate 20.05% and CTR of 3.325 %:\r\n\r\n![\"email](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/12\/email-marketing-showdown-firebrick-html-email-1.png\")
\r\nWinner: Graphic Design Email<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nYou'll notice that the HTML design in Firebrick's design is pretty minimal. Depending on the business and the offer, a bit of graphic-design to help branding can lead to improved performance in your email campaigns. A distinct call to action that matches what your audience wants and expects plays a big part in this.\r\n
Voodoo Marketing Case Study: Warming Up \u2018Cold\u2019 Prospects With Email Marketing<\/h3>\r\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/wordpress-www-vendasta\/2017\/12\/Robert-Cassard-voodoo-video-marketing-300x300.png\")
Voodoo Video Marketing<\/a> sends thousands of campaigns to millions of recipients on behalf or their corporate clients and their sales reps.\r\n\u201cWe\u2019re advocates of \u201cplain text\u201d emails,\u201d CEO Robert Cassard explains, \u201cand here\u2019s why.\r\n\r\nOur clients often test and measure the CTR of \"plain text\" emails vs. more heavily designed HTML graphic emails, usually under the following circumstances:\r\n
\r\n \t
![\"email](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/wordpress-www-vendasta\/2017\/12\/email-marketing-showdown-voodoo-html-email-590x1024.png\")
\r\n\r\nHere\u2019s their plain-text email design:\r\n\r\n![\"email](\"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/wordpress-www-vendasta\/2017\/12\/email-marketing-showdown-voodoo-text-email-1024x439.png\")
\r\n\r\nThe results are pretty stark. Despite 130 fewer recipients of Plain Text and a slightly lower open rate (8.4% vs. 10.3%) in that group, the plain text email nonetheless generated much higher CTR (32.2% vs. 4.7%) - yielding 4.75X<\/strong> the number of click-through video viewers compared to HTML design email.\r\n\r\nThis is typical of the results Robert's seen in most campaigns.\r\nWinner: Plain Text Email<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nWhy does plain text work here? Again, it looks like people in this campaign responded to the email design with a more personal feel.\r\n
\"While I can\u2019t conclusively explain why,\" Robert hypothesizes, \"my own email opening\/reading\/responding patterns make it easy to guess.\"\r\n\r\n\"When I receive a \u201cplain text\" email (one that looks personally written and is addressed from a real person) it looks like all the other emails I receive from other real people. I\u2019m more likely to look at it, read it, and respond to that real person\u2019s request. In this case, they\u2019re asking me to watch a video they think I\u2019ll find helpful to my business. My likely response is either, \u201csure, I can give it a quick look\u201d or a momentary a twinge of guilt for NOT responding as asked...\"<\/blockquote>\r\nWith almost 5X the video viewers in a plain text email vs HTML design, simple email design is clearly worth testing.\r\n\r\nRelated Reading:<\/strong> How We Generated $42k ARR With a Simple Re-Engagement Campaign<\/a>\r\n
Which Type of Email Design Wins?<\/h2>\r\nIn the examples above, 4 of the 5 businesses found that plain text email worked better for their campaigns. The primary factors cited were:\r\n
\r\n
\r\n \t
![\"\"](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/12\/email-path-to-the-inbox-1.png\")
\r\n\r\nUsing graphics may lead to better CTRs and may generate more leads in your industry...if potential clients ever see them.\r\n\"Of course,\" says Anne Mitchell, email law and policy lawyer and CEO of the email reputation and deliverability service SuretyMail<\/a>, \"if the email you send never makes it to the inbox due at least in part to (over)use of graphics and other code-based elements (HTML, cloaked links, video, etc.), then it doesn't matter how pretty your email is, because people aren't actually going to see it.\u201d\r\n\r\nAdds Mitchell, \"Email spammers use graphics to get around content-based spam filters, so a high image-to-text ratio makes you look like a spammer.\"<\/blockquote>\r\n
![\"drake](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2017\/12\/drake-email-marketing-design-spam-filters-danger-1.png\")
\r\n\r\nRelated Reading:<\/strong> Spam Laws: How to Comply and Keep Your Email Marketing Afloat<\/a>\r\n6 Key Tips to Design Emails that Convert<\/h2>\r\n
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Final Thoughts on Email Design<\/h2>\r\nDespite the results we\u2019ve shared from the 5 companies in this showdown, it\u2019s impossible to say that there\u2019s one surefire way that all companies should design emails.\r\n\r\nYou\u2019ll still need to test different campaigns out and track the results you get for your clients and your business. Then go out and test some more!\u00a0HTML email design could still really work for you, but you'll need to find out for yourself.\r\n\r\nIf you\u2019d like some help with email marketing solutions for your clients<\/a>, we can provide premade campaigns built specifically to target local businesses.\r\n\r\nOr you can take a step back and download our most successful email marketing scripts for the top 10 email types!\r\n\r\n[adrotate banner=\"77\"]","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[884,217,248,885,703],"class_list":["post-15799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing","tag-email-design","tag-email-marketing","tag-email-marketing-december","tag-html-email","tag-sending-emails"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n