Text, HTML or PDF:
Which Newsletter Format Should I Use?
Having an electronic newsletter (or e-newsletter) is an excellent
way to stay in touch with clients and prospects. An e-newsletter
can be produced significantly cheaper than a print newsletter
and can be distributed at the click of a button without the
cost of postage. Many small businesses don’t make use
of this important marketing tool because they quickly get overwhelmed
by all the options of ways to produce them and distribute the.
This article will give you a basic understanding of the three
basic formats for e-newsletters each with unique advantages
and disadvantages.
HTML
HTML is the preferred format for most newsletter recipients.
They are more visually appealing, easier to read and have
a higher click through rate than text. You can include features
such as active links to other web pages, shopping carts and
newsletter sign up buttons. With a little extra code you can
track metrics such as open and click through rates. This gives
you valuable information about what people are reading and
can help you fine tune your content.
An HTML newsletter can be opened and viewed in an email program
provided the recipients email program is set up to display
HTML. In older email programs, it was problematic to properly
display HTML but increasing, email programs are designed and
set up to automatically display HTML. You also have the option
of sending an email with a brief description of your newsletter
with a link to the full HTML version which is uploaded to
your web site and looks like any other web page. While this
is a good option if you have a large newsletter, it does decrease
the open rate of your newsletter. Additionally, since an HTML
newsletter is essentially the same as web page, it’s
very easy to upload the newsletter to your web site for inclusion
in a newsletter archive.
You can save a lot of time and money by creating an HTML
template for your newsletter. A template consists of the elements
that stay the same from issue to issue such as the layout,
color scheme, header and footer. Then for each issue you can
insert the text and graphics specific to that issue. For those
who are trying to create a recognizable brand, you can create
a newsletter template based on the look and feel of your web
site. If your web site is well coded, you can save even more
time by creating a template directly from one of your web
pages.
Many newsletter distribution services offer user interfaces
that will help you create an HTML newsletter. However if you
hand code it yourself or pay someone to do it, you have much
more control over the visual display of the newsletter and
can do more things with it. HTML takes a while to learn and
creating a newsletter in HTML can be very time consuming if
you don’t know what you’re doing. Unless you are
an expert at HTML and can visualize what code is going to
look like when it is displayed, an HTML editing program is
the way to go. There are several HTML editing programs ranging
in price from free to several hundred dollars. You also need
to take into consideration fact that different version of
browsers display HTML differently. Unless you’re willing
to dedicate the time and energy to learning HTML, it’s
recommended that you hire someone to do this for you.
Text
A small but vocal minority prefer to receive text versions
of newsletters. Text is the most basic way to send newsletter
content so can be viewed by all your recipients whether they
are using an email program such as Outlook and Lotus Notes
or a web based email program like Yahoo or Hotmail. As the
name implies, text-is-text which means you can’t include
any formatting other than basic punctuation. This means no
graphics, active links, bullet points, bold text or italics.
Your newsletter will look as if it’s been done a typewriter.
Since text is not as visually appealing, it is best to use
this format when you know your recipients really want the
information and are willing to put a little extra effort into
reading it.
Text takes less time to format thus making it a good way
to send extremely time sensitive information. Text newsletters
typically put a lot of information in a relatively small amount
of space so require less ink and print on fewer pages than
HTML or PDF. Recipients who like to print the information
for future reading prefer text for this reason.
PDF
PDF (Portable Document Format) is a file type created by
Adobe. In order to view a PDF file, the computer it’s
being viewed on needs to have Adobe Acrobat Reader. Most computers
have Acrobat and it’s available for free on the Adobe
web site If sending or using a PDF file, it’s a good
idea to include a link to the Adobe web site so that recipients
can download the software in the rare case that they don’t
have it.
A PDF file is like an electronic photocopy of a document.
It looks the same no matter who is viewing it. Unlike text
or HTML, it can be viewed but it cannot be changed or easily
copied into another document. This is a good way to send or
post information if you want to make it more difficult for
someone to take your content and use it as their own.
This file format is ideal if you’d like to have both
an electronic version and a print version of the same newsletter.
You can post a PDF file to your web site and send the same
file to your printer to print hard copies for mailing or distribution
at meetings and conferences. Print newsletters can get very
expensive and in order to keep the cost down, it helps to
have as few colors as possible. If you use PDF for your electronic
newsletter, it is advised to post the newsletter to your web
site then send an email to your recipients with a link to
that file. This is due the larger file size of PDF which will
be discussed in more detail below.
HTML versus PDF
An HTML newsletter can be formatted with the same look and
feel as a PDF newsletter but will be a much smaller file size
than a similar looking PDF newsletter. Images such as pictures
and logos can be quite large and are typically the bulk of
the overall file size in a PDF file. The larger the file,
the longer it will take to download to the recipient’s
computer. For someone using a dial up connection this can
take minutes which is not only annoying but most people won’t
wait that long and thus won’t read your newsletter.
Additionally, most ISP’s block attachments over 1MB
so your newsletter might not even get to your recipients in
the first place.
The difference in file size between HTML and PDF is primarily
due to the way the graphics are stored and displayed. PDF
newsletters include the graphics in the file sent to the recipient.
In an HTML newsletter, the images are not actually sent with
the rest of the content. The image file is located on a server
and is referenced in the code of the newsletter. Essentially
what happens is the code in an HTML newsletter tells the recipients
computer “Go to this server where the image is stored
and display it here.” If the image file is large, it
can take while to display but it does not radically increase
the overall file size like it would in a PDF.
Both an HTML and PDF newsletter can be posted to your web
site for future reading. Typically an HTML newsletter displays
the same way and loads just as quickly (or slowly depending
on the graphics) as any other page on your site. Although
a PDF newsletter can be put into a web page, it is advised
to put a link to the PDF newsletter on a web page and then
have the actual file open in a new window. This is yet again
an issue of file size. Inserting a PDF in a web page will
make the page take a long time to download and display.
Which format is best for you?
The best file format for you specific needs will depend on
a number of factors. Things to take into consideration before
choosing the appropriate file format include:
- Is this time sensitive information that needs to
get out quickly?
- Do you have pictures, charts or diagrams that you’d
like to include?
- Do you want to tracks various metrics?
- Do you want both an e-newsletter and a print newsletter?
- Do you want to post the newsletter to your web site?
- How much time and money do you have to dedicate to
this?
With some planning beforehand, your small business can create
and send an e-newsletter in a way that will increase the number
of recipients who will read it and think of your business
when they have a need for your product or service.
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