Why you need text in your emails

This post is part of our series Emails for Everyone. Find the entire ongoing exploration here.

Reasons to use text in your email

Your email needs text so that everyone can enjoy it and receive the information you’re sending out.

Here’s my list of reasons to use text somewhere in the body of your email, and not just send a single image (with text embedded in the image file).

To make your email available to people who use a screen reader or other assistive technology.
- This can help people with:
  - Visual impairments
  - Mobility challenges
  - Developmental difficulties
  - Reading difficulties
It can make your email easier to read for people who’d like to use a larger font size, on desktop and mobile
To get your email past spam filters
- Emails without text are much more likely to end up in spam filters.
- Emails with a nicely formatted plain text version included are much less likely to be sent to spam filters, because it looks like someone cared about the message.
  - https://litmus.com/blog/best-practices-for-plain-text-emails-a-look-at-why-theyre-important
  - https://www.emailonacid.com/blog/article/email-marketing/how-email-spam-tests-work-and-what-you-can-do-to-pass-them/
  - https://support.e2ma.net/s/article/Why-some-recipients-receive-plain-text-emails
  - https://www.dyspatch.io/blog/the-myth-of-deliverability-plain-text-vs-html/
  - https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/image-blocking-in-email/
Searchability
- If your text is embedded in your images, your subscribers won’t be able to search their email for that great new product you launched or announcement you made. (I personally have not made purchases because I wasn’t able to find the emails with the products I wanted to buy.)
A lot of people just turn their images off because that’s how opens and clicks, etc, are tracked.
- https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/image-blocking-in-email/
- https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/3/20680903/email-pixel-trackers-how-to-stop-images-automatic-download
For people with security concerns
- https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-disable-email-image-loading
- Some companies don’t allow remote images to be downloaded into email
For slower connections and some browsers
- Your image may not send, but your text will. Some people with slower connections keep their images off by default.
For general technical difficulties
- Email is a tricky thing. Occasionally everything may be set up perfectly on your end, but someone’s server or email app may be having difficulties downloading images. Without text, your email will just be blank.
Some people like a simpler and quicker email scan
For the Apple Watch and other specialty email viewers
- This may not be a big concern for your subscribers, but the Apple Watch doesn’t load images as a default: https://support.apple.com/guide/watch/manage-mail-apd29461a7b7/watchos