What writers and others say
“How to write a good email: 1. Write your email; 2. Delete most of it; 3. Send.”
— Dan Munz, senior advisor, U.S. Department of State
“The rule for web content is to keep it short. The rule for email content is to keep it ultra-short.”
— Jakob Nielsen, ‘king of usability’
Get Read
Make it valuable, interesting, easy
Assuming your audience members do open your message, people spend an average of just 11.1 seconds on each email they review. That’s enough time to read about 37 words.
No wonder the No. 1 piece of advice email readers give email writers is to keep it short.
Because people read, on average, just 37 words of their emails.
At Inside the Inbox — our two-day hands-on email-writing master class on Nov. 7-8 in Washington, D.C. — you’ll learn to beat those odds to get your message read. Specifically, you’ll learn to:- Solve the Goldilocks Conundrum. Recipients are turned off by e-zines with too much information — and by those that don't offer enough. So how much is just right?
- Choose between three "most valuable" e-zine formats. If you're struggling with opens, click-throughs and unsubscribes, bring one of these formats to the rescue.
- Tap the No. 1 reason people find newsletters valuable. And avoid the No. 1 reason they quit, which is responsible for 67% of unsubscribes.
- Decide when to personalize. Yes, slapping a name in the subject line may boost opens. But it can also creep readers out and make them worry about their privacy — unless you also do these two other things.
- Make it clever … but not too clever. Readers complain when your email isn't clever, edgy, insightful or witty enough. They also complain if it's too cutesy. Find the fine line between interesting and silly.
Learn more about our Washington, D.C. master class.