Howdy all,

I'm wondering if people have any personal case studies they could share re: long v. short email copy?

It seems like the spam filters weed out tons these days, so I've noticed many email teasers get shorter and just end up pointing to a webpage...but I've seen people out there still seeming to have success with longer emails.

I know there's no one "right way" - but any personal experiences would be great to hear!

Thanks,
Chris

My personal experience is exactly as you said, Chris. My emails are getting shorter and shorter, but pointing to a long copy web page instead. Why? Because the longer the email, the more verbose it is, and therefore the greater the chances it will trip the spam filters.

So, the trend is shorter emails aiming to drive people to a longer copy web page instead. Spam filters aside, long copy works best IF the aim is to sell directly. In this case, emails should have long copy and link directly to a short, pithy order page.

But in these cases, the conversion ratio, even though it may be high, may be misleading... Since 70-75% of ISPs, relays and users (3 levels!) now use spam filtering software (like AOL and MSN, right down to software filters like SpamKiller, K9, IHateSpam, Eliminate Spam!, etc), with varying degrees of filtering.

These ratios are misleading to the degree that:

a) They could be lower because only a percentage of people got your email. (And only a percentage even opened them).

b) Or they could be higher, because the percentage of people who did not get your email may have bought more (per capita).

If the skeweness is very little to negligble (for example, doing a mailing to 100-500 people only, and not AOLer's, etc), stick to long copy. But if you're mailing to 1,000+, stick with short to medium copy, and drive to a longer web page.

This is how Joe Vitale does it. Mark Joyner did it. And this is what I recently did with Stephen Pierce with FibonacciSecrets.com. I wrote the web salesletter, but I also wrote 5 emails -- short, pithy emails, about 300-500 words maximum each, which have helped to boost the response of the salesletter from 4% to a double digit conversion rate.

Here's an article from Dr. Nunley about that subject (reprinted with permission):

How Long Should Your Email Copy Be?

by Kevin Nunley
http://www.DrNunley.com

Marketers are constantly haggling over how long email copy should
be. Do you keep the message super short, or draw the pitch out
for 300, 900, or 3000 words?

Unfortunately, looking to the long history of print sales letters
doesn't do us much good. Email is different. Email arrives in a
mass of messages that require your prospect to start clicking the
delete button immediately. Not only is it super simple to drag
an email into the trash, it takes very little effort. Any message
that seems confusing, looks boring, or will take too much time to
read gets zapped.

A recent study of how people read their email showed the shortest
messages got read 87% of the time. The messages that did best
were no more than a paragraph or two long.

Does that mean you should make all your emails brutally short and
to-the-point? Not necessarily. Your copy will do best if it is
as long as it has to be to:

- Give the prospect enough information to want to buy or at least
find out more from your landing page.
- Get the prospect's emotions involved in your product or
service.
- Show the prospect how your product or service can benefit their
situation.

Some products and services just demand longer copy. For example,
people don't need much motivation to buy a software program for
$9.95. But they want lots of facts, benefits, and motivation
before they'll pay $345 for a software package.

Could you sell a fine car with a two-paragraph email? I doubt it.
But don't get carried away and make the message one word longer
than it has to be. Copywriters have known for generations that
good, personal, compelling copy gets people to read and read and
read.

Pay particular attention to your subject line AND email address.
Those are the first things people see when your message arrives.
Your email address should engender confidence, familiarity,
curiosity, or excitement. I've written a lot of articles that
appear on web sites all over the Net. The best thing my email
address can give is my name: kevin@DrNunley.com.

Your email address might work best with YourName@; or service@;
or GreatDeals@.

Copywriters have also known for years that a great headline will
make people read longer copy. The longer your copy, the more
time you should spend making sure your subject line and main copy
headline are as compelling as they can be.

Keep your sentences short and action-filled. Start sentences
with action words like: Click to my site, Save time now, or Jump
into this new look.

Be sure your email copy lists the major features and benefits
of your product or service. Never leave the reader confused or in
the dark in an effort to keep your copy shorter.

Kevin Nunley has written email and web site copy for thousands of
businesses. See his copywriting tips and professional writing
service at http://DrNunley.com Reach him at kevin@drnunley.com
or 603-249-9519.