Always figured you just had to get it as hot as possible and beat on it like it owed you money. Your post made me rethink that whole approach, never woulda guessed the heat cycling was doing the shrinking. Dull red and patient sounds way smarter than what I been doing.

Plain text wins almost every time in my experience. People are bombarded with glossy marketing junk all day, so when something shows up looking like a normal email from a coworker or friend, it actually gets read. The fancy stuff with videos and buttons often trips spam filters too, or takes forever to load on a phone. Plus, plain text forces you to write like a human, no hiding behind design fluff. You get replies, not just clicks, because it feels like someone took the time to talk to you instead of blasting a campaign. Keep doubling down on that simple approach, especially for smaller test groups. It also makes tracking responses way easier since you're not digging through engagement metrics that don't tell the real story.