• by Anne Alden , Chris Kolbenschlag , December 2, 2008

What's in an ALT tag?

One increasing trend in e-mail creative is the image-only e-mail. Why is this bad? From a creative perspective, this option is much more effective. However, from a delivery standpoint, the image-only e-mail can be bad news. That's because a few years back spammers began sending their unsolicited e-mails as images that included masked spam words. Not surprisingly, these images were often pornographic.

To combat this tactic, ISPs began to set the default setting in their e-mail readers to turn images off. By doing this, legit marketers were now faced with their robust, sexy (not to be confused with explicit) ad pictures being turned off.

Image blocking affects the marketer in several ways. One of the first things that marketers noticed was a decline in open rates because the tracking image was not activated. Also, "call to action" and brand-name recognition banners were lost. Marketers now had to find a way to turn those images into text messages for the readers who had the images turned off.

Enter the ALT tag. Most recently, graphic designers have taken on a newfound freedom in the pursuit of an impactful visual e-mail. Being able to design with an unlimited number of fonts, background colors, border treatments and images has set the stage for the image-only e-mail.

The downside to not using an ALT tag? The ugly red X that is displayed when images are turned off - and the risk of losing a potential conversion.

The solution: Put the alt tag on the image part of the communication. It's the new "new" subject line - a subtle layer of communication serving as another nudge into a customer's address book and making their default setting "images on." (Angels sing here.)

ALT tags are the forgotten piece of copywriting in most e-mails. My sense is that most HTML developers are just looking at the graphic and describing the image. Simply using a plain descriptor, such as "yellow flower," is a lost creative opportunity. Suppose the ALT tag was instead "the most beautiful flower you'll ever see"? Wouldn't you be curious?

ALT tags can also be treated as a new layer of the communication: first the subject line, then the ALT tag, then the full message download.

FACT: About two-thirds of online customers routinely block images.

MYTH: Your message will be invisible if you use image-heavy e-mails.

FACT: 65 percent of users add preferred senders to their contact lists. This permits images to load by default.

So, how do you make sure your message is seen?

There are several ways to get your images "turned back on." First, get users to whitelist you by adding your "from" address to their contact list. This will change the settings for them to have your images turned on automatically when they receive your e-mails. Second, get whitelisted through third-party programs such as Sender Score Certified, Goodmail and Habeas. For example, being on Sender Score Certified gets your images turned on by default at Hotmail, though personal settings cannot be overridden.

Okay, fair enough. Marketers can ask the audience to take a couple of extra steps to ensure they get the full picture - no pun intended. Or, they can rely on the intelligence of the audience and the relevance of the message we are sending to them. That is, if marketers send information that recipients want to know about, they will click on the "download images" button. To make that happen, deliver the one-two punch of a great subject line and compelling ALT text on all the images.