AWeber Email Marketing Tips
Do You Take Full Advantage of HTML Images?
Like many publishers, you may be using images to enhance the effectiveness of your HTML emails.
As we’ve discussed before, one of the drawbacks to using HTML images is that many email clients block images. Of course, there are things that you can do to address image blocking issues.
Today, I want to bring your attention to a little trick with HTML images that can help you to get your message across even when images are blocked.
A Typical Blocked Image
When an email client blocks images, they typically show an outlined blank area where the image was supposed to be, along with a “broken image” icon:
This looks pretty ugly…is that little thing in the corner supposed to be your picture? Let’s hope your subscriber doesn’t think so.
Wouldn’t it be better if you could put something in place of that blank image?
- Your subscriber would be less confused
- You’d look more professional
- You could drive your subscriber to take some action
You Can – Turn Blocked Images Into a Positive With Alternate Text
You can put text in that blank area where your image appeared by using a frequently overlooked area of HTML known as alternate image text.
That way, instead of the blocked image icon above, your subscribers would see:
Now, not only did you give subscribers an idea of what would normally display there, you told them to go shop your site.
I consider this to be an advanced tactic… not because it’s hard to do (it’s a piece of cake, as I’ll show you in a moment!), but because I see so few people using it effectively.
Let’s take a quick look at a couple of email samples to see what I mean.
What NOT To Do
Here’s an email I got a while back from Borders — not exactly a company with a small marketing budget. Click to see it full-size:
As you can see, Borders made virtually no use of alternate text. This is especially bad since nearly the whole email is images. (There was some text at the end of the email, but I had to press “Page Down” twice to get to it.)
The result? I have zero idea what is supposed to be in the body of the email. The subject says “coupons” but I can’t see them, and I have no idea how to get to them!
Much Better Image Use
Contrast that with an email I recently got from Sierra Trading Post, a discount clothing and housewares retailer:
Nearly every image uses alternate text, and they even sneak some promotional copy into the big one near the top of the message.
They also keep the image sizes smaller, and use a combination of text and images. Between that and their alternate text, this email is infinitely more readable than our other example.
So How Can I Use Alternate Text With My Images?
When you are working on an HTML message in your AWeber account, and you want to add an image, you click the “Insert/Edit an Image” icon 
in the HTML editor.
You’ll now be given the following dialog box to enter your image URL and format your image:
Whatever text you enter in the “Title” field (circled in the image) will be used as your alternate text (it will also appear when someone hovers their mouse over the image in your message).
You can’t control whether your subscribers choose to display your images or not. That doesn’t mean you can’t communicate your message to them effectively.
See Also
Effective Image Usage in HTML Messages
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Subscribe to This Blog by Email16 Comments
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Peter Koning
Good tip.
To build on this, people do love pictures and will also click on them, so where it makes sense you should also link the pictures to whatever url makes sense.
I think you need to view the html and add an <a href…></a> around the img tag, but I’m no expert. Maybe Justin or someone else can comment.
Cheers,
1/23/2007 11:47 am
Peter -
Peter,
You don’t need to know HTML to link your images.
When editing your message, left-click on your image in the HTML editor to select it. Then, click the "Insert/Edit a Hyperlink" icon (it looks like a globe with a chain link).
In the popup that appears, enter the URL that you want the image to be linked to and click OK.
1/23/2007 11:53 am | Follow me on Twitter -
Just to clarify, when using Aweber’s "Image Properties" screen and entering text in the TITLE field, does that then become both the ALT and TITLE for the img? That would be rather redundant for people using screen readers.
1/24/2007 4:43 am -
Glenda,
Yes, the text entered in that field would serve as both the ALT and TITLE attributes for the image.
As many people are not familiar with those attributes and what the difference is between them, using one location to enter text to apply to both attributes makes that feature easier to use.
If you are concerned about the use of that text in both the TITLE and ALT attributes, you may prefer to add alternate text manually, which can be done directly in your message HTML. Just click the ‘html code’ tab that appears in the lower left-hand corner of the HTML editor!
1/24/2007 9:49 am | Follow me on Twitter -
Nice feature!
Makes sense that with so many spam filters and such, this will help get the message through!
1/25/2007 1:30 am -
The Company is to be applauded for having an education manager I didnt grow up computer literate and are devouring your info with gusto,I will commit sooner than later, bear with me as I learn more off my slow connection .Warm Regards @ many thanks,Charlie Dare.
1/25/2007 7:22 pm -
A point to note on the above responses,
since Netscape and IE react differently to
title and alt tags, it is best to use both.
Personally, I have no clue how different email
clients work with either tag, I only know that
for SEO you should have both. This is also for
site users to see the title/alt included.Sorry if this doesn’t make sense. I would love
hear anyones thoughts on this.GB
1/25/2007 10:05 pm
Walt -
You should also remember to put a period ( . ) at the end of your alt text. Users who are browsing with softare for the visualy impaired will appreciate this
2/9/2007 8:26 pm
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I second the motion by Charles. Of all the companies I deal (or have dealt) with online, Awber is the only one who is proactively educating their clients. This benefits both the client and Aweber. Probably the reason Aweber is the #1 autoresponder online.
Justin and Aweber, thank you for this valuable service.
6/19/2008 7:34 pm -
Great tip. I never thought of the importance of the ALT tag in HTML emails!
6/9/2010 1:19 pm -
I agree – there is definitely benefit for both users and search engines by using these tags.
5/11/2011 9:47 am -
There are some helpful tips here. I think everyone should be using Alt Text now with any images, for both readability and SEO purposes.
8/25/2011 8:52 am -
I like this article. Question though – How do I maintain the image tags when sending a blog broadcast with aweber?
For example, a post (with the image) is published in wordpress. Feedburner picks it up (image tags intact), and then it’s sent to aweber’s blogbroad cast to automatically email everyone.
The whole system is beautiful until the I get the email. The image is there, but not aligned or with title/alt tags.
To clarify, this is automated, not an individual newsletter as described in this article.
Any thoughts?
12/1/2011 9:07 am -
Hi Marguerite,
I’m not sure why that would happen for your blog broadcasts, but if you contact our Customer Solutions Team with details, we can look into it for you. Thanks!
12/1/2011 1:57 pm | Follow me on Twitter
Charles Dare
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