I might ruffle some feathers with this post but…
Last week, I got a question from a coaching client.
He asked me whether he should add “Reading time: X minutes” at the top of his emails:
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“Hey Dylan – hope you’re well! So I’ve noticed people putting (3 min read) or however long at the top of their emails. I’m trying to self assess whether I was more or less likely to read based on that but I’m not sure. What are your thoughts on this?”
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My short answer:
It comes down to personal preference.
But here’s my take…
Why I don’t add reading time to my emails:
The first paragraph of your email is precious real estate. It either hooks your reader in or pushes them away.
So if your email is a “standard” length (say, 200-400 words)…
Then I wouldn’t waste this precious real estate calling out the reading time. Instead, I’d dive right into the content and let people decide if they wanna read your email or not.
Also:
I feel like the reading time stamp makes an email feel “broadcasted” and 1-to-many. Versus personalized and 1-to-1 (like I try to make all my emails feel like).
Now, here’s the exception:
If you write longer-form emails (say, 1,000+ words – closer to a blog post in length)…
Then you might wanna forewarn readers of the length, by adding the reading time at the top.
Here’s why:
Some people will start scrolling and see it’s a long email, and bounce right away. But others might see “reading time: 5 minutes” and say, “ah, what the heck, I got 5 mins to spare”.
So my final answer on whether you should put “reading time” at the top of your emails is:
It’s 100% up to you. 😇
But my personal approach (for now, at least) is NOT to include it. Hope that helps!
Cheers,
Dylan
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P.S. If you’re interested in learning how I make dough with email…
Including:
- How to set up a form / landing page to collect leads.
- How to set up an email sequence to turn subscribers into buyers without lifting a finger.
- How to create a visual automation to glue together your opt-in form, tags, and welcome sequence. (Don’t worry, I make it simple.)
- An overview of tags and segments – plus a common use case. (If you overlook this step, you might annoy a LOT of new subscribers… I’ll help you make a great first impression.)
- How to use link triggers to personalize / segment your list, and squeeze more sales out of your warm leads. (Again, this is simpler than it sounds… And critical.)
- How to send broadcast emails to keep your fans engaged and make easy moo-lah week in, week out.
Then you might be interested in my email marketing coaching program.