Email newsletters are a key tool in today’s digital-savvy world. Your inbox probably gets more attention than your physical mailbox, which is why businesses and organizations spend a significant amount of time crafting compelling email newsletters over traditional paper ones.
Email newsletters are valuable because they can be sent directly to customers with pertinent information and call-to-action links that direct your readers where you want them to go.
So if you’re someone who writes and designs newsletters, you’re probably anxiously waiting for an answer to the long-asked question: how long should my email newsletter be? The answer, however, isn’t so simple. But there is one major factor that will determine your newsletter length, regardless of what industry you are in. That factor is your audience.
Know Your Audience
In reality, it’s not you who determines the length of your newsletter, but your audience. Just like most of your marketing efforts, it’s vital that you appeal to your audience and customer base, as any marketing efforts that miss the mark are missed opportunities and wasted money.
So in terms of newsletter length, you have to think like your audience. If you were your own customers, what would you want to read and what would you be willing to read?
Odds are, you’ll want to keep your newsletters brief, with enough information to inform and entertain readers, without overwhelming them. Each newsletter should feature a headline, body copy, and a call-to-action.
The headline will give your reader a sense of what the newsletter is about. The body content will serve as an informational, engaging portion that serves the interests of your audience. The call-to-action will give them an opportunity to do whatever it is you want them to do.
Keep It Brief… Most Of The Time
Typically, brevity is always key. Though there are some cases where audiences might prefer more detailed, extensive language. It’s up to you to determine whether your audience is one that would like a little more info or not.
There’s a famous writing book by a famous Cornell University English Professor William Strunk Jr. and a former student of his, E.B. White, that outlines the importance of brevity in writing.
“Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts,” Rule 16 of the book reads.
This is a rule that should be applied to writing of all kinds, but it truly should be a golden rule for email newsletter writing.
So the next time you’re crafting a newsletter: stay brief, but remember to take your audience into account.