Question: Do images in emails reduce deliverability?

[djbaxter]

I found this comment on another forum:

FYI - I strongly recommend against adding a logo to your emails - any links to images included in emails can have a negative impact on deliverability, so caution is recommended.

Question: Does anyone have any data or information on the accuracy of that statement?I'm thinking, for example of our weekly newsletter which contains the forum log plus an ad banner.

 

[djbaxter]

The individual who posted that comment has since clarified that he meant images contained in the email that were displayed via a link rather than embedded in the email itself. Therefore, according to him,

• embedded images okay
• images loaded into the email via an external link not okay

That makes a certain amount of sense to me given that phishing emails will often use logos and other images from a real website (e.g., the Royal Bank of Canada, PayPal, Apple, etc.) but then substitute the links so you are taken to an entirely different and bogus website.

But I still don't know for certain that this will affect deliverability.

 

[davidmihm]

Hi DJ,
In my experience, images per se do not reduce deliverability. We have hundreds of customers whose newsletters contain multiple images and our open rates actually exceed the industry standards reported by Mailchimp by almost 70%. That being the case, I can't imagine their deliverability is being affected too badly.

Most advice I've seen from longtime experts is that images, used judiciously, can actually help improve clickthrough rate, as they can be more compelling to subscribers than plain text.

Here's a great example: 11 Elements of an Epic Email Newsletter | Campaign Monitor | Campaign Monitor

 

[djbaxter]

Thank you, @davidmihm

That has always been my sense, too. That's precisely why I was rather alarmed by the statement.

I imagine that like anything else there are many myths based on spurious non-causal correlations when it comes to email marketing.

 

[JoshuaMackens]

I don't do any email marketing but they absolutely could be.

Interested to hear from others as well.

 

[Brian Bender]

There are a lot of factors that can alter your email deliverability (such as IP reputation, client-side SPAM filters and settings, etc.), so any advice in one direction or another should be taken with a grain of salt.

However, based on what you mentioned, I think adding a simple logo or modest email header should be fine. I would advise against putting an ad inside of the email, though. Save that for a landing page.

When in doubt, just stick to an 80/20 text-to-image ratio and follow ethical email marketing practices. Keep an eye on your email data, always A/B test, and even sign up for Google Postmaster Tools if you're particularly concerned about deliverability.

 

[JoyHawkins]

I use Tidings (David Mihm's company) for my company's newsletter and currently have an open rate on my emails that ranges between 40-50%.

The emails definitely use images (quite a few).'

MailChimp reports that the average open rate in the marketing industry is 17.85% so considering mine is way above the average, I'd say it's not experiencing delivery issues.

So you can see a visual, this is what my last newsletter looked like.

 

[Eric Rohrback]

I didn't know Google Postmaster Tools existed... signing up for that now...

 

[djbaxter]

There are a lot of factors that can alter your email deliverability (such as IP reputation, client-side SPAM filters and settings, etc.), so any advice in one direction or another should be taken with a grain of salt.

However, based on what you mentioned, I think adding a simple logo or modest email header should be fine. I would advise against putting an ad inside of the email, though. Save that for a landing page.

When in doubt, just stick to an 80/20 text-to-image ratio and follow ethical email marketing practices. Keep an eye on your email data, always A/B test, and even sign up for Google Postmaster Tools if you're particularly concerned about deliverability.

@Brian Bender: How do you add the required txt record using WHM/cPanel?

 

[djbaxter]

@Brian Bender: How do you add the required txt record using WHM/cPanel?

Answering my own question:

Zone Editor - Version 74 Documentation - cPanel Documentation