Why are my email open rates low when using images in my email template?

Email marketer from Email on Acid shares that many email clients block images by default, impacting the effectiveness of image-heavy emails. Using alt text and optimizing the text-to-image ratio can mitigate this issue, ensuring that the message is still conveyed even when images are blocked. This maintains user interest and helps improve open rates.

Email marketer from Mailjet Blog explains that large image sizes can slow down email loading times, leading to a poor user experience and potentially impacting open rates, especially on mobile devices. Optimizing images for web use can improve loading speed and engagement.

Marketer from Email Geeks explains that images alone are unlikely to cause deliverability issues, as filters are mainly behavioral. Low open rates can be caused by various factors unrelated to filtering, such as user apathy or full inboxes. He advises to look at bounces, complaints, and unsubscribes to see if they are up. Also use Google Postmaster Tools and to check open rates across different providers to identify potential filtering issues.

Email marketer from Campaign Monitor explains that using descriptive alt text for images ensures that recipients understand the message even if the images don't load. This maintains context and encourages engagement, preventing a drop in open rates due to broken or missing images.

Email marketer from Gmass explains that personalized images can increase engagement. Use merge tags to insert the recipient's name or other custom information into images. This can catch attention and lead to higher open rates.

Email marketer from HubSpot Blog explains that image-heavy emails can sometimes trigger spam filters, especially if the text-to-image ratio is low. To avoid this, they recommend balancing images with sufficient text content and ensuring proper HTML coding to improve deliverability and open rates.

Email marketer from Pardot shares that ensuring your imagery is branded to your website or product can create familiarity with the recipient, and encourage them to open the email.

Email marketer from Reddit explains that a low text-to-image ratio can cause emails to be marked as spam. They recommend ensuring a good balance between text and images to improve deliverability and open rates. A good tip is to explain the image in alt text.

Marketer from Email Geeks suggests checking if any mailbox provider shows disproportionately lower opens than others, as this may indicate filtering.

Email marketer from Email Marketing Forum shares that if images take too long to load, people will often abandon the email, hurting open rates. Ensure images are properly compressed, and hosted on a server that is fast.

Marketer from Email Geeks suggests ensuring the open tracking pixel loaded correctly and is using HTTPS, as an HTTP pixel might not load in some email clients.

Email marketer from ActiveCampaign explains that many people open emails on mobile devices, therefore, unoptimized images can cause issues. They recommend optimizing images for mobile to ensure quick loading and a good experience, which can increase engagement and open rates.

Expert from Email Geeks advises checking if the new email template is too long, as Gmail clipping the email (and the open-tracking pixel at the bottom) can reduce open rates.

Expert from Word to the Wise, Laura Atkins, explains that using purely decorative images, or images that don't add value can hurt engagement. Ensure images are relevant and serve a purpose within the email content.

Expert from Word to the Wise, Laura Atkins, explains it's best practice to send emails in HTML, and to make sure the images included in the HTML work. Broken images can negatively impact reputation, especially if it occurs frequently.

Documentation from Sendgrid explains the importance of hosting images on reliable servers. If image servers are down or slow, images won't load, leading to a poor user experience. This can negatively impact open rates. Hosting images on robust servers ensures images are always available.

Documentation from W3Schools advises selecting the appropriate image format for email. JPEG is good for photos. PNG or GIFs are usually best for logos, icons, and images with text. Also ensure you optimize for file size.

Documentation from Mozilla Developer Network explains that optimizing images for web use involves compressing images to reduce file size without significantly compromising quality. Smaller file sizes lead to faster loading times, improving user experience and potentially increasing open rates, especially for mobile users.

Documentation from Litmus explains that inconsistent support for background images across different email clients can lead to rendering issues. Relying heavily on background images can result in a poor experience for some users, affecting engagement and potentially open rates. They advise using alternative design techniques to ensure consistent rendering.