Following up on the image-only email trend and my last article on the topic, let’s talk about what should be common sense by now: balancing text and images in email.
A Quick History
In the early 2000s, as HTML emails became more common, ISPs like AOL, Hotmail, and Yahoo began cracking down on spam by analyzing things like layout, content density, and text-to-image ratio. Spammers had been using image-heavy designs to sneak past filters, so ISPs responded by penalizing emails with too little text, proving that image-only emails are bad for deliverability. That’s when marketers began embracing a more thoughtful balance between live text and images; a practice that still matters today.
What Marketers Learned (or Should Have)
This is where the concept of Best Practices really started to solidify. Marketers were encouraged to aim for a 60/40 or even 70/30 text-to-image ratio. Not because it was pretty, but because it worked. It meant your message could be understood, scanned, rendered, and delivered, regardless of whether images were blocked.
This also kicked off the importance of:
- Using real text for headlines and calls to action
- Ensuring your message is readable even without images
- Adding alt text to all images
- Keeping images compressed and mobile-friendly
- Making emails ADA-compliant before ADA was a common part of the conversation
Why It Still Matters
Despite all the advances, better spam filters, more sophisticated email clients, and faster connections, those basic rules still apply. Email clients and spam filters still check for things like balance, accessibility, and intent. And yes, they still consider image-to-text ratios when evaluating deliverability, which is why image-only emails are particularly bad.
Sending an email that’s 90% image and 10% barely visible legal disclaimer? You’re playing with fire. Not because the design police will arrest you, but because Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Mail will quietly bury your message in spam or promotions tabs where it’ll die a quiet, unread death.
The Modern Best Practice
Today, balancing text and images is less about strict percentages and more about purposeful design. That means:
- Use images to enhance the message, not replace it.
- Make sure every image has a purpose: showing a product, illustrating a point, reinforcing branding, not just filling space.
- Always write compelling live text that carries the weight of your message. Your headline, body copy, and CTA should be visible whether images load or not.
- Remember mobile: stacked layouts with alternating text and image sections work far better than massive hero banners and floating image blocks.
Final Thought
The smartest marketers understand something that hasn’t changed in 25+ years: email isn’t a visual medium, it’s a communication medium. Images support your message, but the message is in your words. Keep that balance, and your emails will work harder, look better, and land more often where they belong: the inbox, especially since image only emails are often considered bad practice.
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