| Wow. I just had a wake up call, maybe even an | | | | sentence or paragraph; |
| epiphany. While this may not be a completely | | | | - If the first word does not catch their attention, |
| green topic, it does refer to email, so unless you | | | | they skip to the next paragraph; |
| are printing your emails (and why would you do | | | | - If the paragraph has more than a few lines, |
| that?), I guess we can consider this a sustainable | | | | they don't even bother scanning; |
| article. | | | | - The average EADD sufferer spends less than 51 |
| Maybe I am the loner, but when I receive an | | | | seconds scanning an email. |
| email, and decide to open it, I generally read the | | | | What does catch their attention? |
| whole message. These are from friends, family | | | | - Highlighted important words - in red |
| and known business associates. I do the same | | | | - Bulleted topics |
| when I receive an email newsletter. After all, | | | | - Short, easy to manage paragraphs |
| these are publications I subscribed to, so most of | | | | - Videos - it's easier than reading |
| the content would be of interest to me. After | | | | What are the consequences of EADD? |
| sending out an important email to my friends and | | | | - Sufferers generally miss the important points of |
| family, I found out that I am most definitely in | | | | the story |
| the minority. | | | | - If there is a task required in the email, ironically, |
| I sent out an email to about 60 people close to | | | | they spend more time trying to perform it |
| me, explaining an important topic, and asking their | | | | - Very little knowledge is gained |
| help in performing a 2 minute task. I had to | | | | - Increases confusion on topic |
| resend it 3 times so far, each time, re-explaining | | | | DO YOU HAVE EADD? If you are still reading, |
| in different ways, as dozens of otherwise | | | | then you're probably OK. |
| intelligent and computer savvy people were | | | | Pharmaceutical companies are ramping up |
| hopelessly lost. I finally had to build and send an | | | | research on this affliction and I'm sure we'll soon |
| instructional video. | | | | see TV commercials to "Ask Your Doctor" for |
| Most writers of emails and newsletters track by | | | | the latest and greatest new drugs...I don't suppose |
| Open rate. That's totally irrelevant, because | | | | they will have an email campaign. |
| statistics and research tell me that MOST PEOPLE | | | | OK, OK..my friend the Doctor just called. EADD is |
| WON'T EVEN READ THIS. That's right. And it's | | | | not an "official" syndrome....I just made that up. |
| because of a newly diagnosed syndrome, called | | | | But the statistics and "symptoms" are real. Keep |
| Email Attention Deficit Disorder (EADD). | | | | these in mind when writing your emails and |
| Due to information overload, it is estimated that | | | | newsletters and you will get more Opens and |
| there are over 2 billion people with this syndrome. | | | | even more importantly, more people |
| Symptoms are: | | | | understanding your content. |
| - Simply scanning the first word or two of each | | | | |