Short, but not too short
From the Can’t-Win-For-Losing Department: Although subscribers’ No. 1 piece of advice to email newsletter creators is to keep e-zines short, those same subscribers tend to get frustrated when newsletters are too brief.
This according to the Nielsen Norman Group’s six rounds of email newsletter usability studies conducted over 16 years.
To make sure you’re delivering the goods in email newsletters:
- Pay off the subject line. Don’t overpromise and underdeliver. (But don’t underpromise and overdeliver, either.)
- Don’t omit details. Don’t make recipients search for the price, for instance.
- Don’t make them click. Don’t use email newsletters to drive clicks. Use them to deliver value. And put that value right there, in the newsletter.
- Don’t cut off midsentence. Subscribers recognize that that as a way to force clicks. They don’t like it.
- Make links clear. If recipients must click to read, be very clear about what they’ll get if they do click. Deliver enough details to draw subscribers to your website. So avoid Click here, Read more in email newsletters.
How can you reach email recipients on mobile?
Two thirds of email recipients open your email on their smartphones, not their laptops. Some 7% read your email newsletters in the bathroom. (And the other 93% are lying.) 
Problem is, reading your email newsletter on the small screen is like reading War and Peace through a keyhole. It’s not easy to get the word out on a 5.5” rectangle.
So how do you reach recipients via email newsletters and marketing promotions?
Find out at Think Inside the Inbox — our email-writing workshop, starting on Oct. 17.
You’ll leave with tricks, tips and techniques for writing emails that get opened, read, clicked and shared.
Save up to $100 with our group discounts.
