When you work for a massive state university, you’ll find your inbox full of well-intentioned broadcast emails. Well-intentioned daily broadcast newsletters, of at least 1000, densely-packed, words.
You’ll also get a number of emails pleading for you to “please read” in the subject line.
I don’t know how successful the newsletters are, and I can’t prove that the “please read” emails are implicating the sender’s entire email body of work, but I do get the sense that a lot of information is being emailed and never seen again.
This post at Audacious Fox is right on:
Similarly, Nobody Reads… Bad Copy. If nobody is reading your copy, it means you need to work on the text more so the reader can work less.
Generally, the following attributes contribute to bad copy: too long, filled with jargon, without actionable steps, visually unfriendly.
Content is filler. The emphasis is on filling the space. Checking off the talking-points. Making something that looks very complete and impressive and real and professional to the people that are in charge. It is hardly ever written to communicate.