The Art of Clear Communication

Why your words matter more than your design.

Why Plain Text Wins

Email deliverability is not optional for modern publishers. The shift toward "un-designed" emails — single-column, text-forward, no heavy graphics — isn't just a trend. It's a response to how email clients actually work1.

Pro tip: Text-forward emails consistently outperform designed templates in inbox placement. Gmail's algorithm rewards emails that look like personal correspondence.

The Key Principles

  1. Lead with value. Your first sentence determines whether someone reads the rest.
  2. One idea per issue. Newsletters that try to cover everything cover nothing.
  3. Write like you talk. The best newsletters sound like a smart friend explaining something over coffee.

Here's what not to do:

"The medium is the message." — Marshall McLuhan

If you're sending from a shared IP without DMARC, your inbox placement likely dropped 15-25% after Gmail's February 2026 update.

Code Example

If you're a developer, you can publish with a single API call:

curl -X POST https://api.imprimo.pub/v1/posts \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KEY" \
  -d '{"title": "Weekly Update", "markdown": "# Hello\n\nContent here..."}'

The response includes the post ID and status:

{
  "id": "post_7xk2m",
  "status": "draft",
  "created_at": "2026-03-22T10:30:00Z"
}

Use inline code for technical terms like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC.

A Comparison

Feature Traditional Markdown-Native
Formatting time 20-60 min 0 min
Email client bugs Common Rare
Dark mode support Manual Automatic
API integration Complex Simple
Footnotes in email Broken Endnotes ✓

The Bottom Line

This is a note callout. Use these to highlight important information that isn't a warning or a tip — supplementary context that enriches the main content.

The best newsletters are written, not designed. Focus on the words. Let Imprimo handle the rendering2.

That's it for this week. Hit reply if you have questions — I read every response.

Footnotes

  1. Based on 2026 cross-industry data. Gmail's Promotions tab algorithm penalizes image-heavy HTML emails, while text-forward emails land in Primary. ↩

  2. Imprimo's dual-render engine produces both web HTML and email-safe HTML from a single Markdown source. Footnotes render as interactive popovers on web and numbered endnotes in email. ↩