HTML templates are fine for newsletters with a real layout. They are a liability when you are asking for a reply, a meeting, or a support resolution. Many of those messages win as multipart mail whose visible body is mostly plain text.
What plain text actually means
Send a text/plain part. You can still attach a simple HTML alternative. The point is that the readable message does not depend on tables, web fonts, or a 200-kilobyte hero image. Links should be real URLs a human can copy.
Why engagement often improves
- It resembles one-to-one mail, so it is less likely to be pre-judged as a campaign.
- It degrades gracefully in locked-down corporate clients.
- It avoids broken images and tracking pixels that some filters score negatively.
- It forces clearer writing because you cannot hide behind a button.
When HTML still wins
Product launches, visual lookbooks, and receipt designs with tables of line items still belong in HTML. Even then, keep a sensible plain-text alternative. Accessibility and some backup clients will use it.
A practical hybrid
Write the text version first. If the HTML cannot be generated from that copy without adding fluff, the design is doing too much. For transactional mail, prefer simple HTML plus a complete text part over a pixel-perfect template that fails when CSS is stripped.
