Just read this blog post after a buddy of mine Addison Hollands shared with me about writing email copy in shortform vs longform and the benefits of doing so. Quite insightful. Check it out below:

This article explores why
The width of  your
Email messages is so important
And will explain why
Changes in technology are
Forcing marketers to  change
The way they communicate,

The Gurus Style
Have you ever noticed that the
Top  Internet Marketing
Gurus  format their emails
In a  similar way?

Do you understand
Their  Reasons for  doing this
Or do you just think they
Like writing in short sentences?

Have you ever wondered?

Why they are making their messages
Briefer and more direct?

Why Skinny is Better Than Wide?

As you start to  change
the way you communicate
your  messages will

Have More IMPACT,
Get opened more often
And your readers will listen
To what you have to say

Some experts like Alex Mandosian
Claim that 25-40 characters is the ideal
Width and that you need to end each
Line with a hard carriage return. If
Someone sends him a message that isn’t
Formatted in the style that he expects
It just goes straight in the trash

Others like Ed Dale don’t bother so much and  go for up to 70 Characters. Anyone who has ever watched any of Ed’s videos will know that he likes to ramble on a bit, So I guess the people who follow him have got used to his style of presentation and enjoy his  emails.

Just How wide is 25 Characters?

Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Ttttttttttttttttttttttttt
Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb

And How Wide is 40 Characters?

Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Tttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb

As you can see it varies so choose
A width that is equivalent to
25-40 repetitions of the letter “a”

What Happens If  You Are Too Wide?
If you choose to write long sentences with really  wide paragraphs and not include any formatting  and just continue  without any regard for the fact that people will find it more difficult to read what you’ve written and if you are one of the few people who actually read a paragraph that is so long and doesn’t even pause for any breath  by the time you get to end you have forgotten what the author was talking about because you are concentrating so hard to read all the words that they’ve written that you can’t actually understand anything and by the time you get to this far  in the paragraph you are already so bored because the author hasn’t been able to get to the point and express what they meant to say  and ended up  repeating themselves . If they don’t  get to the point and express what they meant to say  and end up  repeating themselves you might even decide to press the back button on your browser and go and give your attention to something that is a little easier and doesn’t make you work so hard and if you have managed to stay this long then you must either be a die hard fan or just one of those people who doesn’t like to miss any details,  I would guess that maybe only 20% of my readers  actually made it this far down the paragraph and the rest skipped to the next bit

Did You Skip That Last Paragraph?
If you did then you are like most normal people,
When you see a big mass of text you tend to ignore it
And skip on to the next bit, you probably read the
first two sentences and maybe the last

Write In A Way That Is Easy To Digest
Its easy to lose interest  and
decide that its time to leave
If you want to engage people you have to
Write in away that makes it easy  to digest
Write in  small chunks and
Make sure  that it’s well formatted
and includes bolded subheadings

Change Your Habits Now
Where will the Internet be in 5 years time?
Things are changing so rapidly that you
Need to start adopting the right habits
Now and not sometime in the future

Technology Is Leading The Way

There is a whole new generation who will consume
The internet via  handheld devices like the iphone,
Ipod, nokia N95, Amazon Kindle etc.

You only have to notice the increased use
Of micro blogging platforms and video sites
to understand the way thing are moving

Will  your message and content translate to this
New medium or will you just become part of
The background noise?

Size Limitations
These devices tend to have small, narrow screens
so you don’t want to force people to scroll
across to be able to read your message.

The Essence Of Your Message
If you have a call to action and include a link,
place it where it can be easily seen  straight after
The opening sentences. You can grab more
people this way. Those who want to read more
can scroll down.  Those who don’t can still get the
Essence of your message in a quick glance.

This post was inspired by a Marketing Online Live Podcast  from Paul Colligan and Alex Mandossian

Technorati Tags: email, email marketing, Longform, marketing, Online Marketing, ShortForm