Definition
Text-only mode is how your email appears when the HTML version is not displayed. Some recipients deliberately set their email client to plain text. Others have HTML rendering disabled for security reasons. Screen readers may also default to text-only interpretation.
Best Practices
Always include a plain-text version of your email alongside the HTML version (multipart MIME format). Most ESPs generate this automatically from your HTML content, but you should review the auto-generated text for readability. Ensure:
- Links are visible as full URLs, not just anchor text
- Important information is not conveyed only through images
- The content flows logically without HTML table structure
Why It Matters
A poorly rendered text-only version can break the user experience for a small but significant portion of recipients. Ensuring a clean text fallback improves accessibility, deliverability (spam filters read the text version), and overall subscriber experience.
Related Glossary Terms
Accessible CTA (Email)
An accessible CTA is a button or link coded with sufficient colour contrast, visible focus states, descriptive screen-reader text, and a minimum touch target of 44×44 pixels.
AMP for Email
AMP for Email is a Google-developed framework that allows email messages to include interactive elements like forms, carousels, accordions, and live content. It turns static emails into dynamic, interactive experiences directly inside the inbox.
Dark Mode
Dark mode in email refers to how email clients render messages when the recipient has dark mode enabled. It affects colour display, image rendering, and readability. Designers use CSS media queries and hybrid coding techniques to control the dark mode appearance.
Drag-and-Drop Email Editor
A drag-and-drop email editor is a visual interface that allows marketers to build email layouts by dragging content blocks into place without writing HTML or CSS code.
Dynamic Content
Dynamic content in email refers to content blocks that change based on subscriber data, behavior, or preferences within a single email send.
Email Accessibility Guidelines
Email accessibility guidelines ensure emails are usable by people with disabilities, following WCAG standards for screen readers, colour contrast, keyboard navigation, and readable content.