{"id":8968,"date":"2024-10-14T15:14:16","date_gmt":"2024-10-14T15:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tup.kxe.temporary.site\/stop-insulting-your-audience-with-this-email-behavior\/"},"modified":"2024-10-14T15:14:16","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T15:14:16","slug":"stop-insulting-your-audience-with-this-email-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/okdesign.ca\/fr\/stop-insulting-your-audience-with-this-email-behavior\/","title":{"rendered":"Stop insulting your audience with this email behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Warning: I am in rant mode today. This happens fairly often because I understand email\u2019s potential. Over my 25 years in email, I have seen email greatness come from large and small email teams at large and small companies. I have written about it and ranted about companies that sacrifice this potential by cutting back on their funding for email in 2024<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Today, one ongoing email problem has mushroomed into a colossal problem. I am compelled to set aside my other topic for this month and discuss it.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not the first to address this problem \u2014 and yes, I am leaving you in suspense for a moment. John Theis, CEO of Email on Acid, was the loudest voice in the email community to condemn the practice. Since he retired, the spotlight has moved away. Now, it\u2019s time to yank it back.<\/p>\n

The problem? Image-only emails.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the big deal, Ryan?<\/h2>\n

You might be thinking that right now. Maybe because you\u2019re so used to seeing or sending them that you don\u2019t understand how they can undermine your email program and affect your relationships with your customers.<\/p>\n

Let me explain. I am enraged when I get image-only emails from top-level companies with stellar email track records. An email marketer might say, \u201cHey, I need to produce something pretty and get it out the door fast,\u201d and assume that\u2019s the end.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not. Image-only emails have downstream implications for companies. It seems like a no-brainer solution, but companies that do this consistently are actively excluding specific audiences from being able to interact with the message \u2014 to view it, to act on it, to convert and provide value from it.<\/p>\n

Yeah, that\u2019s a big deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why image-only emails are stupid<\/h2>\n

There, I said it. I am calling them \u201cstupid.\u201d As I said in an earlier MarTech article, image-only emails can get you sent to email jail<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yes, email teams are short-staffed, underfunded and overworked to keep up with everybody\u2019s demands to get email campaigns out the door. Some people want to send gorgeous, all-image emails that better represent the brand.<\/p>\n

The easy answer might be to take a design, cut it up into images, drop it into a template and send it out. But the need to rush a campaign out the door is no reason to cut corners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The biggest corner you\u2019re cutting is assuming everyone will see your images. I will explain why you can\u2019t do that below.<\/p>\n

Here are three reasons why image-only emails are bad for your subscribers, your email program and your company.<\/p>\n

1. New subscribers won\u2019t see your pretty designs if they block images by default or intent<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s say your subscriber uses Gmail, and Gmail sees something in your email (like an out-of-proportion image-to-text ratio). Gmail will block those images by default and ask if the subscriber wants to view them. The automatic answer will not always be \u201cSure!\u201d I block images by default, and I\u2019m not the only one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What will your subscribers see instead? This email from Magnolia, the home brand made famous by the husband-and-wife design team of Chip and Joanna Gaines, is typical:<\/p>\n

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\"Magnolia\"Magnolia<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Not much of a first impression, is it? At least the text links are informative, unlike the email in the recording below that repeats \u201cClick here to see image\u201d repeatedly.<\/p>\n

Magnolia\u2019s email is a good example of what not to do, but I have to give them credit for using descriptive text links. They would give me some idea of what was in the email and whether I should bother to click on anything. This next email \u2014 not so much. Look at all that lost opportunity!<\/p>\n

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\"Home\"Home<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

When you send emails like this, you assume either everyone views images or they will grant you image viewing rights. That\u2019s not realistic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Outlook still blocks images by default unless the user changes a setting. Don\u2019t assume your subscribers will either want or know how to fix that. Outlook accounts for less than 5% of the email client market<\/a>, but if you market in B2B, that percentage will be higher.<\/p>\n

Even though most desktop and mobile email clients now enable images by default, there\u2019s no guarantee your readers will see or act on them.<\/p>\n

Dig deeper: How to produce brand-approved email designs on time and on budget<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

2. Image-only emails are mobile-unfriendly<\/h2>\n

Image-only emails designed for desktop viewing can be too hard to read and click on in mobile email clients. With three of four email viewers using phones instead of desktops most often to check email, image-only emails cost you a significant chunk of your audience, along with the engagement and conversions you\u2019ll lose.<\/p>\n

That is not just a bad practice; it can also violate laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires emails to be accessible to people with visual, physical or cognitive limitations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you send emails for banks, insurance companies or other regulated companies or emails with legal notifications, you could face class-action lawsuits if your emails are not accessible by protected classes like people with disabilities.<\/p>\n

Screen readers, which people with low or no vision rely on to read their email, make a mess of image-only emails. They recognize only live text like copy blocks or specially coded, descriptive alt tags. Clicking on tiny buttons and even tinier text links is hard for people with hand tremors, artificial limbs or hands or other physical limitations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Note<\/strong>: People without visual limitations also use screen readers and other voice assistants to listen to their email instead of reading it. The audience for these assistive devices is wider than you think.<\/p>\n

Listen to this recording<\/a> of a screen reader going through a typical ecommerce image-only email. Ouch, right? Think of what that does to your brand equity and your customer\u2019s impression of your brand.<\/p>\n

Dig deeper: How to survive (and learn from) email marketing mistakes<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

How to balance beauty and usability<\/h2>\n

At this point, you might be thinking, \u201cI\u2019m with you on this, Ryan, but I have to take what my design team gives me, and they love all-image emails.\u201d<\/p>\n

I hear you. The good news is that fixing the image-only email problem can take less work than you might think.\u00a0<\/p>\n

First, remind your boss that emails with key info embedded in images (i.e., offers, unsubscribe links, contacts, store hours, directions and the like) don\u2019t perform as well as emails that use text or rich text.<\/p>\n

You have a business case for not using image-only emails, too. My email industry colleague Jeanne Jennings (also a MarTech contributor) discovered that an email with an offer in rich text generated 64% higher revenue per thousand emails sent<\/a> than one that embedded the offer in an image. The image-plus-text email also had a 74% higher average order value than the image-only email. With Jennings\u2019 play-by-play testing guide, you could replicate this easily with your team.<\/p>\n

Next, raise your text game:<\/p>\n