Plain Text vs HTML Email Templates: Which Should You Use?

Every email is technically either plain text, HTML, or a multipart message containing both. The format you choose affects how your email looks, how it renders across clients, and how personal it feels. Australian businesses often default to HTML without considering whether plain text might perform better for specific sends.

When HTML templates win

• Ecommerce product showcases with images and styled CTAs
• Brand-heavy newsletters with logos, colours, and layout
• Campaigns where visual design drives click-through
• Reusable template systems that speed up production

When plain text performs better

Plain text emails feel like they came from a person, not a marketing machine. They work well for founder updates, personal outreach, appointment reminders, and B2B sales follow-ups. Many Australian service businesses see higher reply rates with plain text than with designed HTML.

Send multipart emails for the best of both

Most professional email platforms send multipart MIME messages that include both HTML and plain text versions. Email clients display whichever format they prefer. Always include a plain text fallback — it improves accessibility, helps deliverability, and ensures your message renders even when images are blocked.

Deliverability considerations

Neither format inherently lands in spam, but HTML-heavy emails with poor text-to-image ratios, broken code, or excessive links trigger filters more often. Well-coded HTML with alt text, a plain text alternative, and clean structure performs just as reliably as plain text alone.

Match format to campaign type

Use HTML for your regular newsletter and promotional campaigns. Use plain text or minimal HTML for transactional messages, one-to-one follow-ups, and re-engagement emails that benefit from a personal tone. A hybrid approach — simple HTML that looks almost like plain text — works well for many Australian SMEs.

Test both formats with your audience

Split-test the same message in HTML and plain text with a segment of your list. Results vary by industry and audience. Track opens, clicks, and replies — not just which format looks better in your preview pane. Let your subscribers tell you what they prefer.