Email Newsletter Usability

Universally, marketers who discuss email with me form their judgments almost solely from personal experience. That's a good starting point, but it doesn't tell the whole story.

A recent article from Jakob Nielsen takes a more analytical approach to email and provides useful insights into how people read and manage email. Some key findings:

• The usability of the subscription process directly affects subscriber numbers. Great efficiency equals greater numbers.
• Email recipients don't read. They scan. 35% of the time they only scan a small part of the newsletter.
• Interest is transient. Good newsletters are replaced by better newsletters.
• Multiple, prioritized email accounts help people manage their email. The more relevant the newsletter, the more likely it will go to a high priority account.

Nielsen also addresses RSS: "The first, and strongest, guideline about news feeds is to stop calling them RSS."

More.

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