How does the image to text ratio in email affect deliverability?

Email marketer from EmailOnAcid suggests balancing the use of images with sufficient text. The marketer explains a higher image-to-text ratio can trigger spam filters because it makes the email harder to scan and interpret by email clients and users alike, and it can also negatively impact accessibility for visually impaired recipients.

Email marketer from Litmus recommends using images thoughtfully and balancing them with text. Litmus responds that primarily using images can make emails less accessible and harder for spam filters to understand the email's content, also adding that including descriptive alt text helps improve accessibility and helps email clients understand the image's purpose.

Email marketer from Sendinblue discusses that a balanced image-text ratio is important for avoiding spam filters and improving deliverability. They respond that emails with too many images and little text are often flagged as spam because they lack readable content for filtering algorithms, suggesting a healthy balance to ensure your email is properly understood.

Email marketer from Email Geeks shares that Spam Assassin adds spam points for image/text ratio, but compressing images and using alt tags are helpful. They also suggest improving the ratio overall.

Email marketer from Reddit shares that maintaining a good balance between images and text is crucial to avoid triggering spam filters. The user explains that ISPs analyze email content, and a lack of text compared to images can lead to the email being flagged as spam, recommending a ratio where text is dominant.

Email marketer from Mailjet explains that maintaining a good text-to-image ratio (ideally 60% text and 40% images) helps avoid spam filters. They share how a balanced ratio makes it easier for ISPs to understand the email content and ensures accessibility for recipients who may have images disabled or use screen readers.

Email marketer from StackExchange advises that having a reasonable amount of text along with images is important. The user shares that some spam filters look for emails that are primarily image-based because spammers often use this technique to hide malicious content, adding that having enough text helps the filters understand the email's purpose.

Email marketer from Campaign Monitor advises keeping a balanced image-to-text ratio. Campaign Monitor explains that emails consisting primarily of images can be flagged as spam, since spammers often use image-based emails to bypass text-based spam filters.

Email marketer from ActiveCampaign highlights that a good text-to-image ratio is important to deliverability. They explain that email clients need text to understand what the email is about, and too many images without enough text can make your email seem suspicious.

Email marketer from Hubspot states the importance of maintaining a healthy balance of text and images in email campaigns. It explains that emails that are image-heavy and lack sufficient text can be viewed as spam by internet service providers (ISPs) due to the inability to crawl and understand the email's content effectively.

Expert from Word to the Wise answers that overly relying on images, especially without adequate text, can negatively impact deliverability and accessibility. Spam filters might view emails with a high image-to-text ratio as suspicious, and recipients who have images turned off or use screen readers will have a poor experience.

Expert from Email Geeks explains that while predominantly using images in emails is bad practice for accessibility, it's generally not a direct deliverability issue unless recipients get frustrated and mark the emails as spam.

Expert from Word to the Wise explains that a high image-to-text ratio isn't ideal. It isn't just about deliverability, but about recipient experience. If the email is entirely images and those images don't load, the recipient can't read the email. Additionally, the expert explains how purely visual messages may not be accessible to recipients who use screen readers or have images disabled.

Documentation from Microsoft on Email Best Practices indicates that a high image-to-text ratio is a characteristic often found in spam emails. The documentation responds by stating that Microsoft's email filters are designed to identify such patterns, and emails with too many images and insufficient text may be more likely to be classified as junk.

Documentation from Spamhaus explains that while not a direct factor, using disproportionately large images or an excessive number of images compared to text can negatively impact your sender reputation. They share that this is because spammers often use images to hide text and avoid content-based spam filters, leading mailbox providers to view such emails with suspicion.

Documentation from Google Postmaster Tools explains that emails with very little text and mostly images can be seen as spam. It shares how Google's spam filters analyze the content of emails, and a lack of substantial text content makes it difficult for them to determine the email's purpose, leading to potential spam classification.

Documentation from RFC explains that the structure and format of email messages, including the use of different content types (text, images, etc.), are important for proper interpretation by email clients. It shares how an email with a disproportionate amount of image data compared to text may not adhere to expected formatting standards, potentially leading to issues with deliverability and rendering.