Way back in 1998/99 I had a dispute with the 'webmaster' at Marketing Magazine about the format in which they sent their regular email updates --- as an html attachment.
The argument he gave me was that this way they knew everyone could read it correctly versus the challenge of getting html to render in different email apps. Unh-huh.
I can partly buy this argument because they are dependent on advertisers and need to be sure ads can be read (although for a while still didn't work in gmail). But still, an attachment? That's been a no-no since day one, as attachments can get blocked, they add an extra step for the user, etc... They're just not user friendly, which most marketers hold as a key requirement, making it easy for the user to respond, read, etc.
September 25, 2006, they switched to providing a link in the email to a web page, with the simple message, "Click here to read today's Marketing Daily email." Still not sent from a friendly or understandable Sender name, but the generic, "Webmaster." And still forced users to click to get to the news (and their advertisers' messages).
And now I see they have finally moved into 21st century email marketing February 5th, 2007, by sending an html message, with a proper Sender name, and a topic Subject line tied to the day's content. But no link to view html online, no unsubscribe messaging, so they're 90% of the way there...
I do highly commend editor David Brown for including his email and phone number in the message. That's one feature other companies should look to emulate.
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