Issue No. 08
Plain text still beats your template
I ran the beautiful HTML version against a near-plain one for four months. The plain one won on every number I cared about.
Two issues ago I mentioned killing a design system I had paid a designer to build. Several of you asked for the numbers, so here they are.
The test
Four months, alternating issues. Version A was the full template: header image, brand colours, section dividers, a footer with social icons and a card layout for links. Version B was one column of text, a single rule above the sign-off, links in the body, and nothing else.
Same writer, same lengths, same send times, same list. Not a clean experiment — alternating means seasonality is baked in — but eight issues each is enough to see a direction.
| Template | Near-plain | |
|---|---|---|
| Open rate | 41.2% | 43.8% |
| Click rate | 3.1% | 4.9% |
| Replies per issue | 6 | 19 |
| Promotions tab (Gmail) | 68% | 22% |
| Unsubscribes per issue | 11 | 7 |
The open rate difference is inside the noise. The rest is not.
Why the plain one wins
It looks like mail. Gmail’s Promotions tab is not a spam filter; it is a classifier, and a header image with brand colours and a row of social icons is exactly the shape of a marketing email. Removing the furniture moved two thirds of my Gmail readers back into the primary inbox, which is worth more than every other change I have ever made.
It renders everywhere. There is no version of a one-column text email that breaks in Outlook 2016, in dark mode, at 320px, or with images disabled. The template broke in three of those four.
It reads as a person. The reply numbers are the real story. Nineteen versus six, from the same writing. People reply to letters. They do not reply to newsletters that look like product announcements.
What “near-plain” actually means
Not literally plain text. It is still HTML, because you want links, emphasis and a reasonable line length. It is just restrained:
<body style="margin: 0; padding: 24px 16px; background: #fff">
<div style="max-width: 560px; margin: 0 auto; font: 16px/1.6 system-ui, sans-serif">
<!-- the issue -->
</div>
</body>That is the whole template. A max width, a system font stack, a colour, and generous line height. Everything else is the writing.
Two rules I stuck to:
- No image above the first paragraph. The first thing in the message should be words.
- No tracking parameters on internal links. They make your URLs look like a campaign, and you can read the referrer anyway.
If your email needs a design system, the thing you are sending is not a letter.
The part I got wrong
I did keep one image per issue, in the middle, and I still think that is right. The argument against decoration is not an argument against photographs — it is an argument against chrome.
Next issue: Leah talks to someone who has sent three hundred issues without ever committing to a schedule.
