Plain-text alternative generated for all HTML emails

An HTML-only email displays raw markup in Gmail's push notification preview, in plain-text email clients used in corporate environments, and in assistive technologies that cannot parse HTML. Spam filters from Barracuda, SpamAssassin, and Proofpoint penalize the absence of a multipart/alternative structure because it is a known characteristic of automated spam. RFC-2046 defines the multipart/alternative MIME structure specifically to ensure that all receivers can display a meaningful representation of the message.

Auto-generate the plain-text part from the rendered HTML using html-to-text in the send path:

import { convert } from 'html-to-text'

export function prepareEmailParts(html: string, explicitText?: string) {
  const text = explicitText ?? convert(html, {
    wordwrap: 80,
    selectors: [
      { selector: 'a', format: 'inline', options: { hideLinkHrefIfSameAsText: true } },
      { selector: 'img', format: 'skip' }
    ]
  })
  return { html, text }
}

Pass both html and text to every ESP send call. The text field must not be an empty string — that is treated identically to an omitted field by spam filters.

• ID: plain-text-alternative

• Severity: info

• What to look for: Check whether outgoing HTML emails include a plain-text alternative part (multipart/alternative MIME structure). Look at how the email is assembled before it is passed to the ESP SDK. A missing plain-text part causes Gmail and other clients to display raw HTML in notifications and previews, and some spam filters penalize missing plain-text alternatives.

• Pass criteria: All HTML emails include a plain-text alternative. Count all ESP send call sites — 100% must set both html and text fields. The plain-text body is either automatically generated from the HTML (using html-to-text or equivalent) or maintained as a separate template. Is NOT a pass when the text field is set to an empty string.

• Fail criteria: HTML emails are sent without a plain-text alternative. The ESP call includes html but the text field is omitted or empty.

• Skip (N/A) when: The application exclusively sends plain-text emails (no HTML body) — confirmed by the absence of HTML templates.

• Detail on fail: "ESP send call sets html body but omits text field — no plain-text alternative in MIME structure" or "text field set to empty string for all sends"

• Remediation: Auto-generate plain-text from the rendered HTML:

  import { convert } from 'html-to-text'
  
  async function prepareEmailParts(html: string, explicitText?: string) {
    const text = explicitText ?? convert(html, {
      wordwrap: 80,
      selectors: [
        { selector: 'a', format: 'inline', options: { hideLinkHrefIfSameAsText: true } },
        { selector: 'img', format: 'skip' }
      ]
    })
  
    return { html, text }
  }
  
  // In the send path:
  const { html, text } = await prepareEmailParts(renderedHtml)
  await esp.send({ to, subject, html, text })