Image Blocking

I received this email earlier this week, an email that I wanted but this is how it arrived.
email example 1
The email contained a single image link, a text line of who the message was sent to, the senders name, address, and finally an unsubscribe link.
Good news, the email is CAN-SPAM compliant! Bad news, I have no idea what the content of the message is and it looks somewhat spammy.  The email was sent to my Junk Folder and all images were blocked. As a good netcitizen, we’re trained not to click links if we’re not sure what they are.
Here is another message I received around that same time and also had the images blocked.  I immediately recognize the domain name, bowling.com and there is text that mentions bowling shoes, balls, and bags. Being an avid bowler, I wanted this message and I will be adding them to my safe senders list in Outlook.
email example 2
The good news for marketers who rely on image based emails is Gmail and many mobile mail clients will auto-load images but there are still many clients that will only display images if the user sets the sender as a trusted sender.  If you are sending a Welcome Message, it’s best to include text along with your images so the recipient can recognize your email and will then add you as a trusted sender.  You can also segment your list by users who are opening the images. The recipients who have not loaded the images would get a different version of the message that includes more text.

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