Deciding What E-Mail Format to Send

We're just starting an e-mail marketing campaign. What other options are there for sending to both plain text and HTML recipients, other than multipart MIME e-mails? Is there any program that reports back to us what type (plain text or HTML) the recipient can receive and read? Is there a list that specifically states what e-mail programs can receive and not receive HTML? For example, can AOL receive HTML e-mails?" -- Chrystie Chase, PDI Global

My recent surveys indicate that nearly 99% of US e-mail recipients use an e-mail program that enables them to read HTML e-mail. This makes multipart MIME nearly obsolete. About 20% of recipients, however, prefer plain text e-mails over HTML if given a choice. While recent AOL e-mail versions can read HTML e-mail, hyperlinks in plain text e-mails don't show up as clickable links unless specially treated, so I prefer to send HTML to AOL subscribers. However, the default setting for newest version of Microsoft Office Outlook doesn't show graphics in the preview window, making it harder for recipients to see your pretty HTML graphics. Fortunately, most modern e-mail listservers allow you to send e-mails according your customer's preferred format.

My recommendation: Send the first e-mail to your list in multipart MIME, asking text only recipients to switch to the text-only version. For the second and subsequent e-mailings, send HTML to everyone unless they specifically request to switch to text. You can find more complete information on this and the results of my surveys in The E-Mail Marketing Handbook (www.wilsonweb.com/ebooks/handbook.htm?c1=dre0820&source=ebooks&kw=handbook).