Recipients of business-to-business emails rarely open their messages - they use a preview pane - and don't download images in emails, according to a new survey by email technology firm EmailLabs, which reports that 69 percent of B2B email newsletter subscribers frequently or always use a small preview pane, 49 percent look only at the first few lines of the preview pane to decide whether to continue reading the message; and 19 percent delete the email if insufficient information is displayed in the pane, reports DM News.

The study also found that nearly 53 percent of B2B customers' ISPs or email service providers automatically block images, and 45 percent don't download images that appear within the pane. Also, 50 percent of email subscribers said they rarely if ever assign a sender's email address on a safe-sender list.

EmailLabs suggests that emails include a 2-3-inch preview pane header area containing no images but including key offers, article teasers and "In This Issue" information. Moreover, it says publishers may want to test HTML/text ads in that header area and consider charging a premium to advertisers.