How to Determine the Perfect Length of Marketing Emails Your Customers Will Actually Read

Email marketing is booming: Last yr, 52% of marketers said their campaign return on investment (ROI) doubled, and 5.7% of marketers saw their ROI quadruple compared to 2022. Statista report shows.

How are you able to achieve similar results in your small business this yr?

The effectiveness of email marketing comes down to a few key aspects:

• Knowing your goal group, their needs and desires.
• Creating emails that meet these specific needs.
• Putting emails in their inbox where your subscribers can interact with them.

As the CEO of a B2B email marketing company, I often hear from clients about their biggest challenges. The biggest? Creating emails that basically engage and deliver results. Getting the content, length, and audience targeting right is hard.

Most of your prospects prefer shorter emails

If you’re struggling to make your emails more engaging, here’s something you is perhaps overlooking: just make them shorter. The latest data from ZeroBounce Report shows that 66% of consumers prefer short emails, while only 6% prefer longer ones.

There is one caveat to keep in mind, though: 28% of people don’t care about the length of an email so long as the content is well-tailored to their needs and interests.

It’s no wonder people prefer shorter marketing emails. When inboxes are clogged with messages, why would you select a long message over a short note? Concise and direct emails respect your prospects’ time and have a higher probability of capturing their attention. But while most individuals prefer brevity, the quality and relevance of your emails are what really grabs and keeps interest.

The message is clear to the 28% who don’t mind length: When an email resonates well with their needs or interests, they’re willing to spend more time, regardless of the word count. This audience segment is receptive to more detailed content that directly addresses their challenges.

How to Determine the Proper Length of an Email

So how do you discover the right balance between brevity and substance? Understanding your audience is key. Segment your email list based on behavior, preferences, and past interactions. This segmentation allows you to more precisely tailor your messages. Plus, you most likely send differing kinds of emails. This aspect alone should guide your approach:

• Newsletters will be longer and include more detailed information.
• Drip campaigns can consist of a series of emails that lightly nudge potential customers toward a purchase. These emails will be short—sometimes just a few lines of text followed by a call to motion (CTA).
• Targeted campaigns, comparable to those offering discounts or free offers, can consist of an engaging image paired with a few sentences and a catchy CTA button.

If you are still undecided whether your email is too long, here are some suggestions that may prevent time and make your task easier.

Start with a clear goal

Every email should have a clear purpose. Whether it’s to inform, increase engagement, or drive sales, your purpose will dictate the needed length. Don’t add unnecessary elements just to lengthen the email; make it so long as needed to fulfill its purpose.

Choose simplicity and clarity

Use easy language and clear calls to motion. Marketing emails rarely use any metaphors. Your email should easily guide readers from the first line to the desired motion without unnecessary detours.

Personalize down to the smallest detail

Use what you know about your customers to tailor your emails. When marketing emails feel personal, people care more about the content of the message and less about its length.

Test and adapt to your audience’s preferences

Research can point you in the right direction in terms of consumer preferences, but only you’ll be able to determine what your target market responds to most. Before sending your next email, consider running A/B tests of various lengths. Then analyze your metrics to see what performed best.

Improve your layout

Sometimes the way information is presented can impact how we perceive the length of an email. Breaking up text with relevant images or using bullet points can make longer emails more digestible and engaging.

Ask your subscribers

Asking for feedback shows that you simply care about serving your audience higher, so why not include a survey in your next newsletter? Let subscribers inform you how long they need your emails to be. Nothing beats direct customer feedback when it comes to helping you create more practical campaigns.

Additional Tips to Increase Email Engagement

Here are some additional suggestions to help your follow-up emails attract more clicks:

• Keep your subject lines between 30 and 50 characters. Not only will your subscribers process them faster, but short subject lines will ensure they display well on all devices.
• Check the status of your email list to avoid bounces and the likelihood of your messages ending up in your spam folder.
• Evaluate your spam criticism rate – it ought to be lower than 0.1% to be compliant with Yahoo and Google’s recent email sending policies.

Also, do not forget that your goal is to genuinely connect with your audience, irrespective of how many words it takes to achieve that. If your email finally ends up being longer than you planned but it touches on a topic that many of your subscribers are interested in, don’t worry. Engaging content can often justify a longer read.