The first impression of your online marketing efforts often lies in the presentation of your sales message. In simpler terms, does your email reach the recipient in a format that is easy to read, comprehend, and conveys your seriousness about your business? The way you format your email can significantly impact its success.
The key rule to remember is to limit your emails to no more than 60 characters per line. Exceeding this limit may cause some recipients to struggle with reading your email due to the way their email software displays the message.
To illustrate this point, let's consider two sample emails:
Hello Jim,
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah.... Thanks, John Doe
(Line width in this example is greater than 60 characters)
Hello Jim,
Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah blahblah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah.
Thanks,
John Doe
(Line width in this example is set at 60 characters to guarantee a nice presentation in your customer's email programs.)
It's clear that the second example is a more visually appealing email message than the first. You've probably deleted emails that looked like the first example simply because of their appearance, right? Don't let your emails suffer the same fate due to poor formatting.
Limit character width to 60. Use a hard return (press the 'enter' key when you reach 60 characters, or before 60 if the next word is long). I recommend using TextPad, a powerful, general-purpose editor for plain text files that's easy to use and packed with features for power users.
Avoid using ALL CAPITAL letters. In the digital world, this is perceived as 'shouting'.
If you're writing your messages in HTML, use 'black' for the text of your messages and use colored fonts to 'accent' specific words.
Always use blank lines between paragraphs and between your signature file and the cordial exit (Thanks, Sincerely.. etc).
Remember, a good-looking email is a concise message with impact, not a lengthy novel!
