The ideal cold e-mail length

NOTE: This post is also available on Medium if you prefer

Much has been written about the ideal cold email length. Most people agree that shorter is better when it comes to cold email. A HubSpot report suggests that cold email should be shorter than 200 words. The same report finds that emails between 50 and 125 words generate the best click-thru rate. In fact, you would be hard-pressed to find any resources in recent years that offer a counter opinion to ideal cold email length. In so much as there is an accepted standard for cold email, the length of the message appears to be one thing people agree on: less than 200 words, ideally closer to 125.

With that in mind, what’s the point of yet another post about the ideal length of a cold email? Because reducing the idea length of a cold email to a character or word count drastically misses the point of sending a cold email.

The 125 to 200-word standard is not only wrong, it is measuring the wrong variable for cold email length.

How length factors into cold email success

It is important to examine why the accepted cold email length of 125 to 200 words exists in the first place. The reason for success with emails of these lengths is not by accident: it’s the number of words that fit on the screen of an iPhone or Android device without having to scroll down. The default font size for these devices will allow for approximately 140 words of content. Reducing the text size by one setting will allow closer to 180.
With more than half of all emails being opened on mobile devices, it stands to reason that cold emails that can be read completely on one screen will perform better than those requiring a scroll. Scrolling takes effort. Let the recipient read the whole message without any effort and your chance of success improves.

This fact combined with the reasonable idea that no one wants to read a long cold email has solidified this 125 to 200-word standard as accepted among cold email practitioners. While both things are true, they do not matter in the slightest when it comes to cold email length.

Content not length

Rather than measuring how long your email is (word count), consider what you want people to do after they read it. That’s what really matters. The ideal length for an email depends on who you are sending it to and what exactly you want them to do when they read it.

Think of it this way: a compelling email that grabs the reader’s attention will be scrolled even if it is longer than 150 or 200 words. A shorter email that does not draw the reader in quickly will not be read to completion before it is discarded, regardless of length.

With this in mind, the artificial construct of word limits is a distraction to crafting a great cold email. A great cold email is not of a certain length. Rather, a great cold email is one that gets the desired response

So how long should a cold email be?

A cold email should deliver exactly enough information to generate the desired response, and not a single word or pixel longer. In many cases, this message can be conveyed in 100 to 200 words. In other cases, such as when explaining a new technology or complicated medical solution, more length is completely acceptable.

Again, the goal is not to fit your message into a certain structure of length but to share the necessary information to get the desired outcome. Writing to a specific length requirement is like working with one hand tied behind your back. Worry about length only after you’ve crafted a message that conveys the necessary information to get your point across.
If we accept that the entire value proposition and call to action MUST be communicated before a reader is forced to scroll down on a message in their phone, then what does that actually say about our value proposition in the first place? True, we want to make a good first impression and pique the reader’s interest but your prospects will be more qualified and more curious if they are given more information and context.

Another way to strengthen your cold email

One way to hit the sweet spot of an email that includes plenty of information but is not too long is to use an additional asset in the email. Historically, links to related blog posts or attached case studies can provide more information to the reader without inflating the number of words in the email.

These tactics are still useful in the right context. They give a prospect the opportunity to learn more about your business or the work you have done in the past. In this regard, additional assets can strengthen your relationship and get you closer to the response you desire. Using assets to nurture a prospect is always a good idea. On the other hand, if a prospect clicks away to read a blog post or case study linked in your introduction email then they may no longer be in the headspace to reply the way you are hoping. An asset like a link to a blog post in an initial cold email might actually hinder your path to a conversation or meeting.

Leverage Windsor custom video to add more information without increasing message length. Windsor video also won’t distract the prospect as another asset would. An email where the text induces the recipient to watch your Windsor video is a great format. This keeps the email short but gives you a way to provide more information about your offer and your company.

Some products and services are complicated. Some problems and challenges being faced by a business are complicated. The key is to focus on the information being shared, not on the number of words with which it is expressed.

Instead of thinking that a cold email should be short enough to not require a user to scroll on a mobile device, your perspective should be that the first 120 words should interest the prospect enough to scroll down and take action, including watching a Windsor.io video.

It’s the message that matters

Every cold email is different. Every prospect is different. Every offer is different. Every call to action is different. While it is prudent to look for best practices and guidelines in a search for cold email success, following an accepted standard has the potential to do more harm than good. Your cold emails should include the information necessary to pique the recipient’s interest and result in your desired response. If that fits into an email of fewer than 200 words, great. If you are getting great results with longer or significantly shorter emails then keep up the good work. The key is to remember that providing the information and context required for your prospect to properly evaluate your message and value proposition is more important than an arbitrary word count.

The use of Windsor.io videos is a great way to provide more information without the constriction of a written word count. A few dozen words that lead to a watched video is a recipe for cold email success. Video allows you to not only better qualify prospects for your company, but also allows prospects to better qualify their needs to what you offer. To learn more about how Windsor.io videos can play a role in quadrupling your response rate, contact us here