[Ti] [OT] HTML/MIME emails

Thu Feb 13 01:26:02 PST 2003

On Wednesday, February 12, 2003, at 07:45  pm, Michael Bigley wrote:

>>> <body style="background-attachment: fixed; background-image: 
>>> url(england.jpg); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: 
>>> right top" bgcolor = "#FFFFFF" text="#000000" 
>>> background="england.jpg" bgproperties=fixed>
>>
>> HTML in emails is bad enough so I would not make use of CSS. Why 
>> don't you use the <img> tag to include your image at the top.
>
> Has your company polled the intended recipients of this email? 
> According to most recent research over 60% of email users still 
> disdain the use of HTML mail. Many (myself included) disable HTML 
> capability on my mail client and some even set up filters to 
> automatically delete HTML mail because most HTML mail is SPAM.
>
> Your companies attempt to "brand" their email will most likely have a 
> definitive negative affect.

Thank you for the words of advice Mike,

the company in question is actually a specialist in corporate 
communications, advertising and marketing, and one of the pioneers in 
this industry in using the internet for these purposes in this country 
(the UK).

Personally I abhor HTML emails but this is a decision that has been 
taken.

I have no facts about the use of HTML email in general, but from a 
study I read (conducted in the UK) the message was clear: (paraphrased)

"On the whole direct email marketing using HTML email is far more 
effective (better hit rate) than plain text. However by giving users 
the choice on whether to receive HTML or plaintext, hitrates improved 
even further."

I think the fact is that some of us may not like it, but HTML email is 
here to stay.

Most "advanced" practitioners in the field of email marketing and 
ebusiness (dabs.com is one in the UK) DO in fact allow users to choose 
whether to receive HTML or plain text postings.

I hear your concerns though Mike,

peace

--
Tarik Bilgin
Opalblue
tarik at opalblue.com