A fellow Bronto recently IM’d me a fantastic article from Slate author, Michael Agger. How we read online is a sagacious, witty piece outlining how:
We.
Read.
Online.
(Once you read his article, the 3 “paragraphs” above will make more sense)
Mr. Agger talks about reading online (aka, the Internet, World Wide Web). Much of what Agger writes is relevant not just to “online” but also to email marketing. Specifically, he recommends:
- A short paragraph at the top of the page…surrounded by white space…in small type
- Bulleted lists
- Occasional use of bold to prevent skimming
- Short sentence fragments
- Explanatory subheads
Simple, yet brilliant.
Take a few minutes to review your most recent email marketing campaigns. Do they utilize any of his suggestions? Are they easy on the eye? Do they grab your attention? Have you sent around the creative/copy to those outside of your circle for review? If not, ask yourself why. Think about tweaking your messaging to include at least a few of the above items. Then test test test (and share your results with me). Instead of this long paragraph, you could use a bulleted list (see #2 above).
I realize that Agger does not talk about other critical design concepts - image/text ratio, call-to-action, above the fold, preheader (to name a few). However, challenge yourself to integrate one or two of these suggestions while still maintaining pristine email rendering.
Jakob Nielsen also wrote a somewhat dated (2006) but relevant article on email reading patterns. I’d encourage you to read Agger’s entire article and think about how you can apply his recommendations into your email marketing campaigns. Start today.
DJ Waldow
Account Manager at Bronto
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Sometimes I feel guilty about the way I skim when I read online. Then I remember, so do most internet readers. Great post I will definitely pass this one to the rest of our team.