You may have heard the term multipart message, but do you know what it is?

When sending an email to your subscribers you don’t know whether they can actually receive HTML or just plain text emails. Many email clients are set up just to read plain text, if you only send in html your message is lost.

Sending in multipart format basically means your email server bundles your html and a plain text version of your message and sends them at the same time, if your subscriber can read html they get that version, if not the plain text version is delivered.

Top Tip: Send welcome emails in plain text only, that way your first contact with a new subscriber is not lost.

If you’ve never sent HTML emails there are a couple of things to remember.

1. You can’t just attach an html version as you would if you were sending your email to single person. Email clients will break paths to things like images and your email won’t render.
2. Use tables for layout – most email clients really don’t support much CSS; you certainly can’t use an external style sheet. Keep CSS light and make sure it’s inline.
3. Images – many email clients now default to images off so be careful when planning your message. Is your important sales message in a nifty image or banner? Chances are your subscriber won’t see it.

I’ll be covering the basics of HTML email design in another post.