Source: http://www.doctorebiz.com/07/030122a.htm
Here's their index on e-mail marketing tips. There are a number of very good articles here that might be helpful: http://www.wilsonweb.com/art/email/index.htm
Newsletters in plain text, PDF, or HTML?
Plain text is plain, but easy for you to assemble and send out. Some e-mail programs don't show regular URLs as hot, clickable links in plain text e-mails -- for example, EarthLink Web Access Mail 3.0 and all versions of AOL. (See "How to Make URLs Clickable by AOL Subscribers," Web Marketing Today, 1/7/03, http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt8/aol_links.htm )"I'm just a short time away from launching my website and offering a free newsletter to subscribers.
I'm confused as to what is the best way to distribute. I want it to be fast and convenient, yet display some creativity. I know plain text is well, just that -- plain. And I know that HTML newsletters have their own set of problems. What are the advantages (and disadvantages) to sending out plain text newsletters with either PDF attachments and/or HTML links?"
-- Greg Marshall, TeeBall-To-A-Tee.com
HTML is my preference as a publisher these days, since the hyperlinks nearly always work (with the exception of HotMail sometimes). Nearly all e-mail programs now read standard HTML (with the exception of some versions of Lotus Notes), though a few corporations disable HTML. The danger is that with color, fonts, and graphic images, you can create a truly hideous newsletter if you don't have any artistic sense. Do the best you can in-house, and then ask a graphic artist to take a look and add some color and style. Resist the temptation to construct your newsletter with a different table cell for each article, headlines, etc. This can look sharp, but makes your newsletter tedious to assemble for each issue.
PDF seems like an answer to people married to their print newsletter. But many recipients don't have Adobe Acrobat reader installed or may decide not to open any for fear of viruses. As a general rule, I'd stay away from e-mailed PDF newsletters unless the formatting is absolutely necessary to make the information intelligible.
Ultimately, the format decision ought to be your subscriber's. If your e-mail listserver can support it, I encourage you to allow people to select either plain text or HTML when they subscribe. I have HTML pre-checked, but allow subscribers to select text if they want. Listservers are increasingly capable of sending out the newsletter in the format selected by your subscriber, rather than just multi-part MIME.