People spend very little time reading their emails. So what’s the key to drafting quick email campaigns? Short emails, with short sentences, written naturally. And if you’re sending a newsletter, we have a tool that will make sending newsletters super easy- Ludlow.io.
The average time a person spends on an email is only 15–20 seconds. People close their emails or click through to new content that quickly! Keep in mind that in 20 seconds, the average English speaker reads around 50 words. That’s the number of words you’ve read within this paragraph.
So, here’s how you can balance your readers’ short attention, and respect your time as well.
Short emails
Short emails are effective. Have you heard of the five sentence email movement? In some cases, people are even pushing for the three sentence email. It’s important to cut out the why’s and who’s, and get to the what. No one has time for the backstory. You only have 50 words to share your point. Get to it!
Background information may seem essential from your point of view, but the recipient isn’t as interested as you think.
Write the way you speak
Another trick to writing emails quickly, is writing the way you speak. Email has become much more informal and personal. The expectation for emails to be written in a formal tone is long gone.
Emails written in a more casual tone are easier to write, and easier for your recipient to read. The more casual email may also be taken more seriously. Emails that use very formal language can sound scripted and like a sales pitch. Regardless as to whether you’re doing a direct email, or a drip campaign, casual language is still appropriate.
Short sentences
Speaking of writing the way you speak… writing in short sentences is much more natural than long 20+ word sentences. People get tired of long sentences. In the 140 character world, keep it short and sweet. Try using no more than ten words to sum up each point.
Short doesn’t mean rude, it means respecting their time.
What about for a Newsletter?
How can you create a newsletter that will have a maximum ROI for that reader’s 20 seconds? How can you create a newsletter quickly, and not waste hours that could instead go towards improving your business?
Since a newsletter is just another type of email, the same rules apply.
First, you can look at why email newsletters are effective here. The most common reason is that businesses want to stay ‘top of mind’ with past or potential customers. When their reader ends up looking for relevant services, the company they have been in constant contact with is more likely to come to mind. Despite the sales end-goal, the newsletter should prioritize offering value to their readers.
Here are some key principles to add value, while not spending hours on your newsletter.
Focus is key. You may want to share content in your newsletter about this, that, and the other thing, but that approach is distracting and difficult for the reader to follow. Choose one theme that is directly relevant or interesting to your audience. While you may have several different articles in your email newsletter, there should still be a unifying theme.
Succinctness. Your readers’ short attention span still applies here. If sharing an article with your audience, provide value by summarizing the main points and providing context. No need to dive in deep, or risk losing your reader’s attention.
Ludlow.io allows newsletter-senders to create focused content-based newsletters quickly. After adding a topic or theme relevant to your audience, Ludlow pulls in relevant content. Even better, each article has a short, one-sentence description to give a reader valuable information that goes beyond the headline. And just like that, you’ve quickly created engaging content, that can be consumed quickly, and sent quickly!
You may want to provide a description of the relevant articles in your newsletter. Here, make you your description is short and worded naturally. Not only will it be faster to write, but it will guarantee it will be understood by all of your intended audience.
The good news is that once you’ve sent your first email marketing campaign, it only gets easier from there. But next time speed is of the essence, don’t forget these tips to get your email campaign off your to-do list and into your recipients’ inboxes.
