One of email's great strengths is “immediacy” - you can create a message and send it to a subscriber and they can react to it right away. That is, of course, only if they have taken the time to read your message and understand what you want them to do. Different studies have slightly different numbers, but the average reader makes a decision on what to do with your email in only 2-5 seconds.

So the question I pose to you is this: Can you state who you are, what you have to offer, what’s in it for the reader, and what you want them to do in two seconds?

Successful email marketing means designing for multiple challenges. While most of our effort focuses on delivery and rendering challenges, one of the quickest and most impactful fixes goes right back to the basics of direct marketing - know where the fold line is.  And make sure your subject line, snippet text, and call to action are all clearly visible and work together to get your message across in two seconds.

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