There are simple things you can do to make your emails more engaging and more impactful. Knowing a little about your reader’s working memory and the way the human mind works when reading digital texts can help a lot.
When we read or do pretty much anything else, we use our working memory. Our working memory is the part of our brain that processes and manipulates information in real-time. It helps us to understand what we're reading, dial a phone number we’ve just been told, or add up our shopping bill as we shop.
Unfortunately, our working memory is quite limited in capacity.
It’s about the size of a pea.
It can hold about four discrete pieces of information at any one time before it starts to forget.
It can hold this information for roughly 10–20 seconds before it starts to forget.
If the part of our brain that helps us to comprehend what we read is so limited, it’s no wonder we all approach our email inbox with a heavy heart. So, in the digital deluge that is email, what can you do to see your email make it to the top of your reader's pile and get opened, read and actioned?
Put the thing you want your reader to do or know in your subject line
Before your reader opens your email, they’re already trying to process it. Our working memory constantly processes and updates our lived experience in real-time and in the moment. As they read your bolded subject line in their inbox, readers are already asking, ‘What’s this email going to be about?’ or 'What does this person want me to do?' Support your reader's need to know what's happening ahead of time by giving them a detailed, specific subject line.
Use all of your email subject line
Treat your email subject line as you would the most expansive real estate on the Monopoly board. Making the most of this expensive real estate will be where your email will fly or flop. If you can, get a verb into your subject line or a question. One of the first questions your reader will ask as they hover their mouse over your email’s subject line is, ‘What do they want from me?' So tell them in your subject line.
Engage your reader’s prior knowledge
We bring the sum total of our lived experiences to our reading. To comprehend and make new meaning in the moment, our brain will reach back into our stored past experiences. Ask yourself, does my reader know enough about my email’s content to understand me?
Before you write your email, ask yourself:
How time-poor is my reader?
How much does my reader know about my topic?
Does my reader hold a strong opinion about my topic?
Would a reminder about a previous interaction help to focus my reader?
Structure your email so readers can scan it in one glance
Because your reader’s working memory is limited, asking them to read a wall of unbroken text that runs across several screen lengths is akin to asking them to climb Mount Everest. They’ll simply click away from your email to an easier one to read. Readers are very protective of their working memory; they intuitively know it has a limited capacity. That's why we all scan our emails first. We're trying to work out how much is being asked of us cognitively before we start the demanding task of reading.
Support your reader:
Break your text into small paragraphs – 3–4 lines per paragraph is a good benchmark for reading online.
Use bold for keywords and phrases, times, and dates.
Signpost your content with headings and sub-headings.
Use numbered lists or bullet points to highlight content.
Finally, if your email is going to be longer than a desktop screen length, re-write it or attach a Word doc or pick up the phone. For more formatting and design tips, check out my blog post on reader-centric design.
Repeat keywords and phrases
A busy, probably stressed adult human with a limited working memory capacity needs repetition. As an email writer, your task is to keep this distracted human on track and cognitively with you as you deliver yet more information. Repeating keywords and phrases will help your reader to stay focused, comprehend your message, and do the thing your email is asking them to do.
Give your reader visual verbs and concrete nouns
Humans are built for imagery; black squiggles on a white screen, not so much. Give your reader active sentences full of concrete nouns and explicit, visual verbs. Your reader needs to see flesh and blood characters performing easily imagined actions in their mind’s eye.
Which sentence do you prefer?
Errors in relation to the aforementioned overcharge of the account have been rectified and will be rendered on the next statement.
OR
We apologise for the overcharge on your account. We made a data entry error. Your next statement will show the correction.
Like all humans, you prefer the second sentence. Why? Because there’s a human talking to you, 'we'. This human describes concrete actions, 'apologise', 'made'. And this human is directly engaging you, 'your account', 'your next statement'.
Which sentence do you prefer?
To issue a Code Compliance Certificate for this project, an application for a Code Compliance Certificate will need to be applied for.
OR
You need to apply for a Code Compliance Certificate for your project.
Again, you prefer the second sentence because it has a human in it. More importantly, that human is 'you'. And the 'you' is placed right next to the concrete action words 'need to apply'. There’s a flesh and blood character here and a concrete action.
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