What Zack Snyder knows about the perfect email length (and how you can profit like gangbusters from it…)

There’s this stat roaming around how humans have a goldfish-level attention span – something like 7-8 seconds before they get distracted…

And while that may be true…

Most people completely misinterpret that fact.

(Marketers ESPECIALLY!)

It IS true that a person will only give you 7-8 seconds of attention – of free „real estate“ – before they move onto something else…

But that DOES NOT mean you should make all your content/emails/Ads that short.

In fact:

It’s a TERRIBLE mistake!

Let me tell you about a movie I watched a few years ago:

Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021).

Now that movie?

That movie is a whopping…

FOUR hours long!

(Four hours and two minutes to be precise…)

Some people might look at that and say: „That’s too long – who is going to sit for four hours to watch a movie?“

And indeed, some people won’t sit around for four hours watching that movie…

But the RIGHT people will.

Like me, for instance:

I love the superhero genre – I grew up watching both Marvel and DC cartoons…

(And even read some of the comic books…)

So for me?

Not only did I watch the entire movie…

But I was left wanting MORE!!!

(And if we go by the fact it has a 91% score on RottenTomatoes… I wager a lot more people share my feelings…)

Now say I had to watch a rom-com – like „Bridget Jones’ Diary“?

Ain’t no way Jose I’m sitting through that movie…

(And that movie is only 90 minutes long!)

I’m telling you this to illustrate an important point:

People who are NOT genuine prospects – for what you’ve got on offer – will NOT read even the first two lines of your content/emails/ads whatever…

But people who ARE genuine prospects – for what you’ve got on offer – will want to know, and will read, every single damn line of your content/emails/ads.

(Provided you make it relevant, interesting and entertaining to them – even dealing with genuine prospects you can’t afford to make boring content/emails/ads etc.)

If you were a Stephen King fanatic… and Steven puts out a new 800-page book…

Are you not going to buy it because it’s too long?

Or have you ever weekend-binged an entire season of this new TV show you’ve discovered?

Did you at any point – during your binge-watch – say:

“Oh man, this season is too long, I’m not gonna watch it.”

Of course not!

You DIDN’T CARE how long it is!

And you didn’t care because A) You were a genuine prospect for that TV show, and B) The TV show was of enough interest & entertainment to you…

… that you probably didn’t even notice how fast the time flew by!

What I’m trying to convey here is…

How there’s a BIG difference between long-form content/emails/ads…

And long-winded content/emails/ads…

Just because someone will give you 7-8 seconds of initial attention…

… doesn’t mean they won’t keep giving it – IF your content/emails/ads are relevant, interesting and entertaining enough…

(It only means that’s how much time you’ve got before they conclude that what you’ve got in front of them… isn’t worth their time.)

Take, for example, the email I sent out a few days ago:

(That’s the „A sneaky technique to exile any doubt or skepticism around your supplements…”)

That was a 1500+ word email.

(My emails are usually around the 300-700 word range – so this was also one of the longer emails I’ve ever sent out.)

Yet…

It was my best email – going by engagement metrics – in the entire week.

Why?

Because I worked real hard to make that email super interesting & entertaining.

Yet most email marketers would look at that email… and seethe and say:

‘Who the hell is gonna read this? It’s way too long, keep it to 100 words or less or no one will read it.’

(My 24+ years of experience „mentor“ at a marketing agency – when I used to work there – literally had this exact approach/mindset towards emails. So that’s probably one of the reasons why I decided to abandon ship lol…)

This pisses me off.

Both because it’s not true…

And also because I find this kind of dogmatic thinking extremely repulsive.

There’s a very big difference between being brief…

(i.e. trying to be short and ending up not sending the message you need to send as a result…)

And between being pithy…

(i.e. saying what you have to say in the shortest amount of words possible.)

So what’s the „perfect“ email length?

There isn’t one.

I always abide by that old Winston Churchill quote when thinking of how long my emails should be:

“A good speech [email] should be like a woman’s skirt; long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest.”

If you treat your emails like that?

I’d find it very surprising if you didn’t get your emails opened more… clicked on more… engaged with more… and yes – even bought from more as a consequence.

So if you’re ready to start making your marketing emails long enough to cover the subject… but short enough to create interest…