Why write email that’s easy to skim?

Because only 19% of e-zines get read thoroughly

Email newsletter subscribers skim 69% of the e-zines they receive, according to the Nielsen Norman Group’s latest eyetracking study.

Why write email that's easy to skim? — **They skim the surface** Mobile readers skim email newsletters 74% of the time; they fully read just 24% of the time. *Image by B-Media*

Subscribers in the NNG study:

Thoroughly read just 19% of e-zines
Read the majority of the content of 6%
Glanced at but did not read at all 6%

“They don’t spend much time, and they don’t read full content,” write the researchers. “The dominant approach to newsletter content was to skim.”

“Scannability is important for websites as well, but it’s about 50% more important for newsletters.”

— Jakob Nielsen, principal, the Nielsen Norman Group

Indeed, writes NNG principal Jakob Nielsen, “Scannability is important for websites as well, but it’s about 50% more important for newsletters.”

Why write scannable e-zines? Because:

1. Subscribers skim even more on mobile.

In NNG’s most recent study, mobile newsletter readers reported that they:

Skimmed newsletters 74% of the time
Fully read newsletters 24% of the time
Glance at but don’t read 2% of the time

2. People read only 37 to 200 words of your email.

People spend just 51 seconds, on average, with an email newsletter after opening it, according to another NNG study. That’s enough to read fewer than 200 words.

(Remember: What we measure moves. People perform differently when they’re being observed in a lab than when they’re reading their own emails. They may never spend a whole minute reading your email newsletter in the wild.)

For sales emails, the numbers are even more brutal: People spend just 11 seconds on e-blasts, according to a 2017 report by Litmus. That’s enough time to read about 37 words.

So which words do they read?

3. They read the microcontent.

Email newsletter subscribers in NNG eyetracking studies read the headlines and the first line or two of the story. They often skipped the paragraphs, sometimes because they were scrolling too quickly.

**See how they skim** These heatmaps show how subscribers skim email newsletter content. Red spots got the most attention; blue, the least. *Images by the Nielsen Norman Group*

Instead of reading the paragraphs, their eyes were drawn to:

Headlines. If they could get the gist of the e-zine from the headlines and without reading the text, they were happy with the newsletter.
First 1-2 lines of text. Get to the point faster in email.
Bulleted lists. Subscribers read the first item more than subsequent items and the first words in each bullet more than subsequent words.
Links. They’re blue and underlined, so they’re the easiest elements to skim on the screen.

So put your message where their eyes are: In the microcontent, or online display copy.

Does your email newsletter pass the squint test?

Learn more about skimming, scanning & reading.

How can you reach nonreaders with email?
Just 24% of email recipients fully read email newsletters on mobile devices. The rest skim — or just glance at — their messages.
So how do you get the word out to flippers and skimmers via email?
Find out at Think Inside the Inbox — our email-writing workshop that begins on Jan. 12.
You’ll learn how to get the word out to email recipients with our simple test, boost readership by choosing the right template for your email newsletter, and avoid getting your headline cut off on mobile email apps.
Plus: Find out how to write links that boost your click-through rate on mobile, where email recipients click on 40% fewer links.
Save up to $100 with our group discounts.