Is including "Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser." in HTML emails actually still helpful in any way?
For many years now I've included a link for users to view html emails in the browser just because it's an "industry standard". But it doesn't look great, and if it's the first thing the user sees it immediately gives them that "bulk email feeling" that makes them want to skip to the next message as fast as possible. It's also frequently shows up as preview text on gmail, apple mail, iOS mail, etc.
What modern email clients would display a standard HTML email so screwed up that it's not readable (assuming you're not using images for essential text, etc)?
Does anyone have stats of these "view in HTML" links being used at all in 2013?
Answer
It is best practice to include a "view on web" option in html email. Email is a game of percentages - it is hard to design for every client. If you go with the most consistent design - a static fix-width template, you still have the issue of many mobile users not being able to view the email properly. Anything more advanced like media queries are highly segmented also.
Some people just prefer to read on the web, while some older email clients don't display html at all, so it is a good fallback for them.
You could put the 'view on web' link at the bottom of the email if you prefer, but a better option is to include a preheader. A preheader is basically a secondary subject/title designed specifically to show up in clients that give a preview of the email content.
Being easily recognizable as a html/bulk email, I don't think is a problem - people expect that in today's world. The most important thing you'll need to counteract low engagement is supplying valued content to your subscribers and not sending too frequently.