Is shorter always better in email marketing?

Advanced ADD, small smartphone screens and an internet's worth of attractive distractions. No wonder the average subscriber struggles to reach the end of a sentence before losing inter...um...where was I?

Hence the omnipresent advice to "keep it short". Less is apparently more in subject lines and email content. This approach to email copywriting makes an excellent guiding principle, but falls down as an inviolable rule. Short is commonly, but not always, the best.

Clearly shorter is better when the same factual and emotional message is communicated: it’s more reader- and device-friendly, particularly as email shifts to the mobile environment.

Decent short copy takes time
Keeping it short means devoting enough time to writing subject lines and other text. It takes no time at all for average copy, but it takes much longer for great copy. And it takes even longer to turn that great copy into fewer words with no loss of impact.

When you’re finished, review the word choice again for ways to cut out even more characters. For example:

• Consider shorter synonyms: "excellent advice" becomes "top advice"
• Remove implied words: "the campaign that we ran" becomes "the campaign we ran"
• Eliminate other unnecessary words: "People living in London loved the Olympic Games" becomes "Londoners loved the Olympics"
• Use the active voice: "the email was sent out by the team" becomes "the team sent out the email"
• Exploit symbols, numerals and abbreviations (where they are clear and also appropriate to the medium and audience): "with free shipping" becomes "+ free shipping" in a subject line.
• Be flexible about subject line and copy length

The problem with "shorter is better" arises when arbitrary limits are placed on text or subject line length without considering the effect on impact.

Word or character limits are important tools to prevent a natural tendency to ramble. Give a writer space for 300 words, they'll usually write 300 words. Give them space for 500, they'll write 500. Limits help ensure clarity of communication. However, don't be inflexible. Sometimes the perfect subject line involves more than 39 characters (or 47 or 65 or whatever the current recommended limit is).

My favourite on this topic comes from Tim Watson: "The subject line length is simply the result of the best set of words. The length is the output of the words selected, not the input to selecting the words."

Maximum word or character counts make nice goals, but should not be set-in-stone limits (unless there is a specific reason justifying them, like a design constraint).

A better rule is to keep copy and subject lines as short as possible. That’s not the same as “keep it short”, since it allows for more words if justified by the additional impact created by using those words.

In many cases, you have a range of features, benefits, topics, keywords and statements that you could mention. You need enough content to convince the reader to travel further down the conversion chain. Equally, you don't want to turn them off with too much content.

Balance is key
Short copy and subject lines often win, but not always. A longer subject line might, for example, let you highlight multiple topics in a content-rich newsletter.

An understanding of the right length comes through an awareness of how mentioning those additional features, benefits, topics, keywords and statements impacts opening, reading and response behaviour. This awareness comes with experience, but also through tests. Not sure on the right copy length? Then test.

Make it easy for readers to skim, scan and read
Another factor here is how text is presented. When we discuss length, what we're also discussing is the demand placed on the reader. The longer the copy, the more effort required of the reader.

This is why as common approach in email is to use teasers, summaries and short copy to capture initial interest, encourage a click and then present further detail (if needed) on a website.

If we think more in terms of making life simpler for the reader, then it's clear that style, layout and design play an important role in effectively "shortening" copy by making it more attractive and easier to read.

For example, headlines, highlighted text, bullet points, short paragraphs, and varying sentence length reduce the work required to skim, scan and read text. Lines, arrows and similar graphical elements help guide the reader through a text or email. White space and user-friendly fonts and font sizes lessen the burden of reading.

Of course, all the above is not a call for longer copy or enormous subject lines. It’s just a reminder that there is more to the impact of a subject line than the number of words you use.

Article written by Mark Brownlow