Why read time and readability matter
Email is skimmed, not studied. Most people give a marketing email a few seconds before they decide to read, scroll, or bin it. Two things decide whether your message survives that glance: how long it looks, and how easy it is to parse. A wall of long sentences reads as work; short lines and everyday words read as effortless — and effortless gets read.
Targets worth aiming for
- Length: most strong marketing emails are 50–200 words, or roughly 20–60 seconds to read.
- Sentences: keep the average under about 20 words. Short sentences scan far better on a phone.
- Readability: aim for a Flesch Reading Ease of 60+, which is around a grade 8–9 level — clear to almost everyone.
Reading time here is estimated at about 200 words per minute. Because email is skimmed, treat it as the ceiling on the attention you'll get, not the floor.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a marketing email be?
Usually 50–200 words — about 20 seconds to a minute. Newsletters can run longer if clearly sectioned.
What reading level should an email be?
Aim for Flesch Reading Ease 60+ (grade 8–9). Short sentences and plain words keep it scannable.
How is reading time calculated?
From word count at ~200 words per minute. Email is skimmed, so it's an upper bound.
Trimming for deliverability too? Generate a clean plain-text version, or run the full pre-send checker.