Blocking images is basic security in most email software, as well as gmail, hotmail, yahoo etc. I don’t think many people would disable this…
The reason images are blocked for security reasons is that tracking in emails (that gives you your open rate in software like phpList) is done with a tiny invisible image. Opening the email with the image unblocked has security implications, because the person who sent it can see that you have opened it and learn your ip address and other things. Therefore images are blocked by default and you have to click “show images” to unblock. However, people don’t always do this, especially if they see no reason to do so, or if they are just skim reading. Marketeers spend time tempting people to unblock images by using intriguing alt-texts: this means they get more data about their subscribers.
In your campaign, I would no unblock the image because the campaign makes sense without it, indeed it started with Hello… so why would I bother to click “show images”? I would not imagine I would be missing much. There is no alt text to tell me what it is, all I would see is this:
Thanks Anna, maybe things are different here in Australia and New Zealand, but I have never seen an email with images blocked!
Also, my subscribers are all clients and the genuinely interested, so they do not need to be convinced to engage with my newsletter after they have signed up.
I am not trying to antagonise you here, but I just don’t understand why you are so reluctant to engage with “doing it well”
Your newsletter showed several common issues which are simple to resolve, these resolutions would certainly improve the outcome, for you and for your subscribers. Your newsletter will look more professional and achieve better results. These are not changes which will be hugely technical, or which will take you a long time to learn how to implement, some will be as simple as copy and paste.
It’s not that I am reluctant to change, it’s just that I am a photographer posting about photography, so it seems counter intuitive to not have images or for my subscribers to be blocking them.
But if you want to suggest some simple strategies to improve my experience I am all ears?
I am not saying “don’t have images” - in fact I think you SHOULD have images, just give them good alternative text. What you should not do is include text as an image, like in the example http://davidharradine.com.au/pics/Canberra2015.jpg (click it to see). The text should be text.
The images, which should be actual photographs, albeit at a low resolution, can be used to pull traffic to your site. You can encourage people to click them and then the link goes to a higher resolution version on your website.
You say you have a very interested list of subscribers, which is great, but you can still maximise the engagement - people have busy lives and they may be subscribed to many newsletters. What’s your Open Rate at the moment if you don’t mind me asking?
That was a rare situation that I just stuck that event flyer at the top, it was not a good example of my normal newsletter, it was just a quick promo for an event I am presenting in partnership with someone else. Normally there is an image at the top but no text embedded in it!
My open rate is generally in the high 20’s. 28% today across the board with a 32% in my home town.
So is adding alt text for my images the main improvement you are suggesting?
And can I send you a better example of what my newsletter usually looks like?
You can just send it as an html file link by DM again if you like If you click your profile picture at the top right, then click profile, at the bottom right you can see buttons for your private messages. Best to reply there
Sounds more productive 
If you click your profile picture at the top right, then click profile, at the bottom right you can see buttons for your private messages. Best to reply there 
