[webproducers] Re: html vs text

m o r r y wrote:

> The big thing for me is to find acutal statistics that indicate how much
> more successful html is over text like is it 10%, 50%, 80%?  If it's not
> that much better than maybe we should just go text and have a link to the
> website with more info.

I think it will be difficult to pin that number down, for the following
reasons:

1) I doubt someone has done a formal study with a controlled group, to
determine the effectiveness of HTML e-mail- the stakes are not as high as
they are for other media, like TV or radio. Thus, any stats you turn up are
likely to be anecdotal.

2) Even if you do turn up stats, there are many different shades to the
question. It sounds like your client is running an opt-in list; therefore,
the response to any e-mails- text or HTML- is likely to be better, as the
user has already initiated the relationship. I would bet that most HTML
e-mailers are concerned with upping the hit rate for their UCE (spam), and
see HTML as a "grabber" rather than a tool to improve the user experience.

3) In my own personal experience, e-mailing 70,000 weekly HTML newsletters
to an opt-in list for FoxKids.com, the only true metrics you have are the
number of bounces (returned e-mails) and the number of unsubscribes. Any
other numbers are pretty much guesswork.

We hosted the images on our own server, rather than e-mailing them; and we
included tags to help identify when an e-mail was opened, and created
special landing pages per campaign to help track conversions. We did
everything we could to measure the success of our campaigns, short of
anything that would be contrary to COPPA rules. However, there where still
limitations to the amount of useful information we could garner.

For instance- nearly 40% of our addresses were AOL addresses. AOL screws
with unique visit numbers since thousands of users could be hidden behind a
single AOL proxy. 

I would suggest steering your client away from hard numbers as a decision
factor, and toward the idea of HTML e-mail improving the user experience.
Explain how you can maintain your brand ID with HTML e-mail, vs. plain text.
Explain how you can present and organize your content in a superior manner.
Those are things you can defend with experience, unlike stats of dubious
origin.

My 2 cents,


----
marc siry
freelance interactive creative director
new york city, usa 




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