Bertie's received comments

  • Bertie, you are in good company, I think it was Albert Einstein who said “everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler”.

    I agree with Mr Einstein, I don’t think the effectiveness of the mail above is diminished by the simplicity. It’s simple, clean and I bet it has a very low bounce rate!

    Posted on 3rd March 2010 in response to Oh my god, you’re beautiful!

  • Ah finally! Couldn’t agree more. I got a fabulous email from the Tate membership team this week. No images, no fancy banner just a great email that almost felt like it was only sent to me…and it made me want to scroll down and read the email I had previously ignored!

    My colleague Elli emailed you a few weeks ago and I wanted to check you’d seen her message – see below.

    I hope you take the opportunity to rejoin – it’d be great to have you back at Tate very soon.

    Very best

    Jess
    Tate Members

    Posted on 5th March 2010 in response to Oh my god, you’re beautiful!

  • It’d be interesting to know how many people, when given the choice between plain text and HTML emails at signup stage, choose the plain text. I know I always choose HTML because, I admit, I quite enjoy perusing the lastminute.com email newsletter… but then I just get frustrated when something more functional comes in and I have to wait for the graphics to load on my iPhone. Furthermore, I found myself agreeing entirely with you here.

    I guess it’s a case of suitability for purpose. A rich HTML email can give the impression “This is a visual publication for you to read at your leisure” – and if the content doesn’t live up to that promise, it’s a frustrating experience.

    Posted on 5th March 2010 in response to Oh my god, you’re beautiful!

  • Ewan, that’s is an interesting point – should we be using HTML and plain text in different ways?

    Perhaps a broadcast email such as general marketing or “visual publication for you to read at your leisure” should use HTML, but if we are looking for a response from the user to do one thing, maybe plain text is the way to go?

    Posted on 11th March 2010 in response to Oh my god, you’re beautiful!

  • Definately agree that different types of emails should be built differently. For an email which is about providing engaging content images and layout are necessary. If you’re wanting to talk to the person about a transaction or relationship building then why clutter up the email?

    Although I’d say it’s more layout issue than purely HTML v txt. HTML allows more control over layout(and branding), even if you don’t use images, to present the information in the clearest way for the recipient.

    Posted on 23rd March 2010 in response to Oh my god, you’re beautiful!