Note: I originally wrote this post for our company blog at Mailout Interactive Inc.

At our recent workshop, I was speaking to the idea that readers will always prefer one simple message as opposed to many.  I also mentioned that most readers spend only 51 seconds per email.  One of our workshop participants stood up and expressed what many of us feel: stress from too much email.

We need to remember that our readers are like us: they get to work, they fire up their computer, and they see a long list of emails waiting for them.  Some of these are leftovers from the day before.  Added to that heap are new emails: messages from coworkers, their boss, and family.  There’s also spam, marketing emails, and finally your newsletter.

All of that email in our readers’ inboxes is overwhelming. In a 2007 study by the universities of Glasgow and Paisley, 34 percent of respondents were “stressed” about the number of emails they received.  To care for our audience, we need to think about what, and how often, we send in our newsletters.

What you can do

• Make your content compelling: when you write, make it awesome.  Develop a reputation for sending really good content that is either helpful or entertaining.
• Send just 1-3 articles: less articles means a recipient can scan the email quickly, and improves the chances that they will “dive in deeper” to one of your articles.
• Don’t send too often: if you send an email too often, you contribute to the overload in your subscribers’ inboxes.  Send at proper intervals; I think a frequency of 2-4 weeks is right for most audiences.
• Ask for feedback: call or email your recipients and ask them how you could improve your newsletter.
• Provide a way for them to opt-out: if a subscriber is too overwhelmed to continue receiving your emails, they should be able to unsubscribe quickly and easily.

The customer above expressed relief at being able to read an email quickly, and then file it away.  Too many articles, or too much information, can overwhelm a reader.  This means you will need to prioritize: what is the most important thing(s) I need to say?  Cut down the number of articles, and the length of each article.

When you keep your newsletter simple, you will convey your message more effectively, and cut your subscribers’ stress at the same time!

Other resources on email stress

• “Email is ruining my life!“, BBC, 2008
• “Workers suffer from email stress“, London Evening Standard, 2007
• “Email reply to all: leave me alone“, Washington Post, 2007
• “Email Overload in the Workplace: A Multi-Dimensional Exploration“, Orange, 2006