As someone who sends a lot of emails, trust me when I say that even if you do pass the inbox screening and get your email opened, very few people are taking the time to read them thoroughly.
Here are a few tips to make it easier for them to find the important stuff:
Keep your emails as short as possible.
The fewer the words, the fewer distractions. Don’t bury the lead and get straight to the point.
Highlight the important stuff by using bigger fonts or different colors for headings.
Your eye is automatically drawn to something bigger or different when you are reading. But be careful you don’t go too crazy! Stick to your brand colors and don’t make an overwhelming mess. If you highlight everything, you highlight nothing.
Use buttons for calls to action.
If you need your readers to donate or volunteer or just click on a link, use a button whenever possible. We are trained to click buttons and they are easier to click on mobile phones as opposed to a text link.
Include a P.S. with the SMIT (Single Most Important Thing you want your readers to know).
Studies show that people read a P.S. and they can also improve your click-through rates so don’t forget this little bit at the end of your email.
Finally, just know that no matter how skimmable you make your emails, people will still miss things. They will still ask you questions that are answered in the email they are replying to. They will still ask why they weren’t told about an event when they did actually receive and open the email invitation you sent. You probably do it too. Just take a deep breath and be nice.
