Last week, I posted about my observation that, Gmail snippets include ALT text for images in HTML emails.
This information won’t matter to most people. But, I was thinking that anyone sending email promotions/customer service alerts/etc. might benefit slightly from this knowledge. I wouldn’t suggest putting a LOT of effort into it, since I’m sure the number of people who read their email in the gmail web interface, with the “show snippets” option turned on (I think it’s off, by default), is not large enough to warrant it, but it wouldn’t hurt to consider this tip: get right to the point!
What I’m suggesting is to put the main idea of the email in the first line of the message body (or better yet, in the subject line!). Or, at least put a reasonable hint, so the recipient can tell–at first glance–whether the message is relevant/useful to them.
You don’t get very much space to work with, here, so make it count! With my gmail window maximized, in 1280×800 screen resolution, with normal font sizes, I can see exactly 123 characters of [Subject]+[Snippet]. Usually, my window is not maximized, so we’re probably talking more like 80 characters.
I’m not in the email marketing business. I am just an ordinary consumer/geek. But I do recognize that, when reading my email, I follow some predictable behavioral patterns.
If I see a subject from Barnes & Noble like, “Two 25% Off Coupons Inside”, and have been thinking about buying a book/movie/etc., I will probably click it. However, if I see “This Week — Coupons, Anne Lamott, Tracy Chevalier, More”, I almost definitely would not. Kodakgallery.com rarely compells me to click, because they use titles like, “March Gallery Exposure: Winds of change!” Officemax.com and Dell usually mention specific coupon types/values in the subject line, which I like.
Nobody seems to be taking advantage of the first line of their emails, though. Looking through my gmail right now, the only snippets that are useful *at all* are from personal emails, and a newegg.com RMA confirmation (which shows my invoice # in the title AND the snippet, and my RMA number in the snippet). Most of the marketing emails seem to start with things like “Having problems viewing this email? Click here.”, which makes their gmail snippets worthless.
Another reason to get right to the point, with a compelling title and first line, is for mobile users. When reading email on my mobile phone, I would rather not have to scroll through several pages of menu bars, company logos, icons, greetings/small talk, etc. I’d like to see the important information first. If I don’t see it right away, and don’t have a very specific need for the information, I will most likely skip reading that message, and may or may not try to read it on my laptop later.
Brevity becomes extremely important when it comes to sending information (such as bank alerts) via SMS. Bank of America does not know this. Every time I get an SMS alert from them, it’s at least 80% fluff, and usually gets broken up into 3-4 smaller messages by my wireless provider (which, if I was not on a text messaging plan, would cost me $0.15 per message, to receive). I’ll probably post more about that another day.
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