Why do so many organizations waste the opportunity to hook their email subscribers with the first line of the email message? I hadn't really noticed this sooner because of the way I consumed email: through a series of complicated email aliases and gmail filters. Honestly, in Gmail, I was basically ignoring most solicited bulk email (organization email lists). But since I've been taking a first look at my email through my iPhone and iPad using the iOS mail app, I've begun to notice this shocking fact.
Here are some facts about viewing email via the iOS mail app:
- Approximately 35 to 40 characters of a subject are displayed
- Approximately 100 characters from the top of the email message are displayed
Two lines at 50 characters, and a subject of 35 to 40 characters. That's basically a Tweet. And that (plus the "from" name) is all you have to get your reader's attention and convince them to open the email message and read on.
Why do so many emails waste this space with something like:
- "Click to view this email in a browser" (37 characters)
- "Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser." (64 characters)
- "If you're having trouble viewing this email, you may see it online." (68 characters)
- "Web version | Edit your subscription | Unsubscribe" (55 characters)