We're just starting an e-mail marketing campaign. What other options
are there for sending to both plain text and HTML recipients, other than
multipart MIME e-mails? Is there any program that reports back to us what
type (plain text or HTML) the recipient can receive and read? Is there
a list that specifically states what e-mail programs can receive and not
receive HTML? For example, can AOL receive HTML e-mails?" -- Chrystie
Chase, PDI Global
My recent surveys indicate that nearly 99% of US e-mail recipients use
an e-mail program that enables them to read HTML e-mail. This makes multipart
MIME nearly obsolete. About 20% of recipients, however, prefer plain text
e-mails over HTML if given a choice. While recent AOL e-mail versions
can read HTML e-mail, hyperlinks in plain text e-mails don't show up as
clickable links unless specially treated, so I prefer to send HTML to
AOL subscribers. However, the default setting for newest version of Microsoft
Office Outlook doesn't show graphics in the preview window, making it
harder for recipients to see your pretty HTML graphics. Fortunately, most
modern e-mail listservers allow you to send e-mails according your customer's
preferred format.
My recommendation: Send the first e-mail to your list in multipart MIME,
asking text only recipients to switch to the text-only version. For the
second and subsequent e-mailings, send HTML to everyone unless they specifically
request to switch to text. You can find more complete information on this
and the results of my surveys in The
E-Mail Marketing Handbook (www.wilsonweb.com/ebooks/handbook.htm?c1=dre0820&source=ebooks&kw=handbook).
