When and How to Use Plain-Text Email in Marketing: Use Cases, Design Best-Practices

Email Marketing — Thu., Jun. 30, 2022

Creating effective HTML emails can be challenging due to rendering issues and accessibility concerns. As a result, many marketers return to plain text emails as a simpler alternative. However, plain text emails are only appropriate for a narrow group of email types and situations. It's important to use the best practices when crafting plain text emails in order to get better results.

Plain text emails are effective for important corporate news announcements and legally required updates. They also convey transparency and urgency in a crisis. For text-heavy content, plain text can be the best approach. Writers and designers should also work together to condense and simplify the information, and make sure CTA's are above the fold.

Finally, even when HTML emails are sent, plain text versions are automatically created for recipients whose email clients can't handle HTML. Marketers should go in and clean up the auto-created plain text version of their email to provide a better customer experience.

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