It seems we have come full circle when it comes to communicating with our prospects and customers. I’ve recently noticed that I’ve been paying a lot less attention to online newsletters and those pretty HTML ads that show up in my inbox every day. There are some exceptions, of course. But for the most part I am interested in the CONTENT of what is delivered, not the design or graphics. When given the option, I no longer ask for the HTML version of anything, but instead choose the text-only version.

There was a time when it was unusual to receive anything other than plain text in your email box. We then moved on to designing branded newsletters and “postcard-like” invitations that would capture the attention of our readers. Now, thanks to ever-improving SPAM filters, many of those fancy invitations, announcements, and emails don’t even make it to our desktop. And for those who make it through the wall of fire, we’ve grown tired of looking at all those designs. We just want the information: short, sweet and simple.

Playing on this hunch, we recently experimented with a client who has been running a series of seminars. As usual, the invitations were sent using HTML and branding. But enrollment was down and we were looking for a way to increase attendance. So we sent another announcement about the event, except this one was just a simple text email. In the “of” section we had the name of the actual person. In the “subject” line we insert the name of the seminar. In the body of the email was a prayer inviting the recipient to attend the seminar. We had about 3 key “what you will get” bullet points and the basic description of the 2 hour session.

Within 24 hours of sending the text email, we received an additional 10 registrants for the event. Since the event was capped at 25 attendees, this was almost 50% of our audience! We thought we might be onto something, so we did it again for another client event. And again, the results were similar. Plain text email performed the HTML invitation by more than 50%. Because? I think our brains are a bit tired. You can compare this to walking the Las Vegas Strip at night. At first the lights are beautiful and everything catches your eye. But walk the strip every night for months on end and after a while those pretty flashing lights won’t get your attention anymore. You will simply concentrate on reaching your destination.

Because of this, I think we are coming full circle to an older form of communication. I don’t have time to read my online newsletters as often as I’d like. But I find that on Sunday afternoon I sit and read various print newspapers that I receive in the mail each month. “Cold calling” email blasts never get my attention, but last week I received a very clever piece of direct mail that gave me a break and actually made me call the service provider. And I recently signed up for a webinar on advanced search engine marketing techniques that I learned from a plain text email the owner of the interactive consultancy gave me.

Am I advocating that we completely remove HTML newsletters and ads? Of course not. Those have a place in our marketing mix, just like everything else. I suggest you consider alternating HTML with plain text and experiment with both. If you’re hosting an event, why not toggle each notice: the first in HTML, the second in plain text, etc. And the day before the event, send a plain text reminder. And let me know if your response rates start to go up with this “old fashioned” approach to email marketing.