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Within the last year we have seen a dramatic increase for the demand of HTML emails.  To keep up with the demand we have created some default templates for schools and colleges, as well as a very basic template to keep the Wayne State University brand uniform across campus.

There are two basic methods on sending email to your clients: HTML version and text only version.  There are various advantages to each and it seems the HTML version is more popular based on demand.

HTML Email

Advantages: Allows you to brand you emails, with the use of colors, logos and stucture Visually appealing and you can get your point across with images You can track your your email campaigns and see their effectiveness Better readability and people can skim over the content to get to the point fast

Disadvantages: Each email client renders HTML coding differently, making it more challenging to design uniform looking campaigns, across all email software and applications Can be more complicated to design and write for to avoid anti-spam filters Increased chance someone won't open the HTML email, because they are scared of getting a virus

Text Email

Advantages: Concise and simple to produce Looks more personal and will render correctly across all email clients increasing readability Less problems with spam-filters and delivery

Disadvantages: No Creativity present creating a flat "brandless" email People more apt to delete or not read the whole message if in text format Unable to track the campaign and analyze the open rates

There is alot of parameters to examine when choosing what format to create your email messages in. Wayne State University's email client, Wayne Connect sends out an alternative text version of the HTML email as well, increasing the probability the client will get the message in their preferred format.

We intend on tracking some of these HTML email messages in the future to see how effective these campaigns have been. In the meantime, we will deliver what seems to be in high demand these days, which is  creating the emails in HTML format to appease our visual nature.