Readability (typographic design)

Better readability helps user select the actions that are personally important. For good typographical design, you’ll need to:

1. Carefully selecting point size, line length, and color to create the appropriate hierarchy
2. Focus on text flow, line breaks, and vertical rhythm
3. Shift between right and left alignment to highlight and subdue elements as required
4. Use typographical cues and elements wherever possible

Personalization

Nothing says SPAM like a non-personalized email, so personalization is essential. Done right, it also helps users select the one or two most personally important elements/actions.

Guidance (contextual and actionable)

Users should always have enough context to know why they should take the actions we’re suggesting. Information and CTAs without context not only aren’t useful, they also don’t inspire action. Context and action together guide the user in the right direction. 

Brevity (email length)

Max 3 sections per email · Max 9–10 actions per email

The above numbers are based on user research. One of the major feedback on email length was that users are fine with long emails as long as the content/actions are of the same type across the email (e.g. Pulse digest). It was further inferred that users faced difficulty in going through an email with diverse content and actions (e.g. NUS digest).

Long emails get clipped by email clients, increase complaints, and most of all, they make it difficult for users to find the information they need. Ideally, emails should keep to the middle of the maximum length constraints, with a couple of key exceptions (Pulse digests, NUS digests).

Tell a story, don’t recite and list

Designs where information is repeated don’t work because they lack a narrative element. By associating a unique context with each element (for example, why each anniversary might mean something to this unique user) you can create a more meaningful and useful email, that’s also more actionable. This increases the users’ chances of interacting with each element, and finding something that resonates with them.

Provide insights

It’s also important to make sense out of insights, which may come in the form of events, for the user. For example, if a connection now has a job at Google, that might mean that the user now has a chance at a job at Google, too. This not only provides value by highlighting what’s important, and guides the user in what to do next. Graphically highlighting an insight makes it easier for users to parse important information quickly.

Aggregating information

Aggregating information helps users to digest, focus, and comprehend large piece of information. For example, if the member has ten profiles views, and we show three, but let them know there’s more, we spark curiosity and encourage users to follow up on LinkedIn. Smaller bits of information can be aggregated into stats, collections, facepiles etc.

Draw a bigger picture

Emails have always worked as a notification system for users to know what’s going on with their profiles. In general, emails can be used to create a cohesive experience on LinkedIn, that connects the user’s entire experience. They also have the potential to continuously communicate with users about how their LinkedIn story is being formed for others. We can also make sure that the messages we want users to receive about LinkedIn appear in some form throughout the email experience, reinforcing our value prop and brand.

Multiple angles on different pieces of information

Every email should have a prominent narrative theme—in our case the value prop we’re trying to get across. For example, in an email about growing your network, each element and insight should be interesting on its own, plus tie back to the theme of growing your network.

Just like in a story, all the information should seamlessly flow together. Tying information back to a theme can and should be done subtly if necessary, so that we don’t sound repetitive. For example, we wouldn’t want to continuously say “now, grow your network,” etc. but find new ways to say it, when we can. Emails about jobs are particularly prone to getting repetitive, so it’s important to look at.