Serasi

As a top level email and autoresponder copywriter, one of the biggest questions I receive is “How long should my follow up emails be?

It’s like this: As well-known online copywriter Michel Fortin once said to me, “”Your emails should be as long as they need to be and not one word longer.”

But what does this mean? Over the years as an autoresponder copywriter I’ve found a 600-700 word length works best for me and my clients. With 600-700 words, you can get a good story in there, have a nice seamless transition, pull in some powerful benefits, and properly position your product as the solution to the wants, needs, desires or problems of your prospect.

If you’re concerned that longer emails might get caught in spam traps, I’ve researched that topic in depth and can find no conclusive evidence that longer emails are more vulnerable to spam filters. I routinely receive emails from big-time marketers that are more than 1000 words and they end up in my inbox, not in my spam folder.

As you write emails consistently you’ll find a length that works for you best. Maybe it will be 300-400 words. Maybe it will be 800 or 1000. But your opt-out and click thru rates will also let you know if your emails are too long or not. If you’re consistent in sending out email regularly you’ll also want to mix it up from time to time, sending shorter or longer emails rather than using the same length all the time.

Another option to consider is to send email that has only a few lines of copy that entices them to click on a link to your blog, which contains the complete text. The advantage to this is that the email is much shorter and you get the SEO benefits from the blog post. The disadvantage is that you add an extra step to the process. The reader has to click on a link just to see what you have to say. Then, after they arrive on the blog, they might get distracted by the ads and/or information in the sidebar. So, in my opinion, full text emails work best.

Here’s a hot top for you: put an audio link at the top of your email that leads to audio where they can listen to your email instead of read it. This will appeal to those in your audience who are auditory types and prefer to consume their information by listening to it. Also, it gives you a chance to build more of a rapport with your readers, especially if you use a friendly tone of voice and don’t read the email word for word in the audio. You can stick loosely to the text but be sure that you talk to them naturally, like you were having a conversation with them.

Sounds like a silly question, but it’s actually very critical to your internet marketing efforts.

Because let’s face it–you get a ton of emails every day. And some are only a few words wide while others are so wide you have to scroll across to read them. Is there a width that works best for marketing purposes?

Yes! And here’s why…

If the line width is too short, the eye has to jump too often. This fatigues the eye, because it’s not used to reading in this manner. So the reader clicks away because it’s too tiring to read the email.

If the email width is too long, however, the eyes get tired as well because they have to read across the entire width of the email-which in some cases goes clear off the space and you have follow with the scroll bar, then bring it all the way to the beginning just like an old carriage style typewriter.

So either way you’re going to lose your readers-not to mention the sale.

I suggest a line width of 55-60 characters. In all my years of writing autoresponder and email copy, this has proven to be the most effective width and the easiest to read.

Most text editors let you preset the width. If your text editor doesn’t do this, here’s a sneaky (and easy) way to do it:

–Bring up your window in your text editor.
–Go to the very top left hand corner and type in “0123456789.” That’s 10 characters.
–Copy that line and paste it back to back with the line you just typed. Now you have 20 characters. Then do it again, and you have 30 characters. Do it again, and you have 40 characters. Do it one more time, and you have 50 characters.
–Now go ahead and type your email. When you reach the end of the 50 character line, you’ll know it’s time to return.

Here’s one more hot top on writing your emails: don’t use fancy fonts. Too often I receive emails with colorful images and backgrounds with lots of emoticons and other distractions.

As a marketer you need to send email that’s fast and easy to consume. Stick with sans serif fonts, which has been proven to be easier to read online, or with the tried and true Times New Roman.

Avoid cartoon-like fonts like Comic Sans. Save the fluff for your personal emails to friends. Bells and whistles only distract from the message. Don’t go there. Stay with black text on a white background.

It’s easy to consume, and that’s what we want.