6 tips to engage your recipients

Email Best Practices

A new study shows that the average concentration span is around 8 seconds. Thats a 4 second drop from the year 2000 and shows that it’s necessary to have clear content in your emails, with read-only messages.

The amount of content grows exponentially over these years, and therefore, as content consumers, we become better and better to prioritize what content we consume. We have collected six tips that increase the likelihood that your messages will penetrate your recipients.

The subject header should fit the content

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. Make sure you have precise subject lines and a summary text that suits the content. Globally, we receive and send 88 e-mails a day. If the subject line and summary text do not match, the recipient will be more likely to skip to the next email in the inbox. You can use the Send Test feature in VOCAST to see how your summary text looks like in the recipient’s inbox.

Keep it short and manageable

Given the many emails we receive every day, it is a great advantage to make your email understandable. Use headings and bulletins to share your email. Keep the sentences short and accurate. Long text passages and sections make the email feel longer than it needs to be. Play with the language and try to use fewer words to get the message through.

Use the space “above the fold” with care

The fold refers to the point in the e-mail where the content can not be seen, i.e. where to scroll to see the rest. Make sure to build the content up to have “call-to-action” under the fold. You can check where the fold typically goes by checking your email with the “Preview” feature in VOCAST. If you can’t figure out what you learn from reading “over the fold” then the content must be corrected.

CodePen would like to draw attention to their new feature and explain briefly what it’s all about and what I get out of it over the fold. Under the fold, I can just see the top of a blue, button-like rectangle, which is their “call-to-action”. They awaken my interest over the fold, causing me to scroll down to sign up, thus revealing additional content.

Clean up the mess

Focus more on one “call-to-action” or angle in your email. Get your recipients to spend most of their time on one topic instead of spreading their concentration beyond several offers or stories. Think about what behaviour you want from your recipients. Is it a purchase, a click or an impression? What would you like to tell? Make it clear what you want to achieve and work from there.

The subject line says exactly what I expect to see in the mail, even with a small call to hurry, otherwise I’m missing out on saving money! The original mail is a bit longer, but there is only one call-to-action button in the mail so it’s easy to find out what to click.

Use captive images

Images can say more than you can with words, so be sure to use graphics, animated GIFs and images to support the message in the text. Just like in the mail above.

Keep your links alive

Be sure to check the links before sending your email. A dead link to your important story or product kills the interaction and you lose the recipient. Therefore, use the “Send Test” feature in VOCAST and correct the content so that your recipients get the best experience. Also make sure that the landing page is relevant so that the recipient does not get confused.

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