So you've been sending out Newsletters for a little while and they've gradually gotten longer and longer as more and more information is included. How can you make the emails more consumable for your readers without removing any information?
Why use a Table of Contents?
By having a table of contents at the top of you're email, your readers are able to jump to the sections they're most interested in and you might find your click rate increase for those sections.
The setup can take a little bit of work (but not that much!) and it makes your emails so much more accessible for your readers and you might think "what's the problem with my readers scrolling?", we find if readers have to scroll for too long then they're more likely to close the email than keep going (especially on mobile), which means they're missing the information at the bottom of the email!
It is worth noting that we cannot track the clicks on the table of contents as the reader never leaves the email.
How to add a table of contents
It is up to you how you'd like your table of contents to appear. In my screenshot above I'm making use of a Menu block as I only have 3 headings to link to, however other effective methods have been to use buttons, if you have more.
Or even with some hyperlinks on text that Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust have been using.
Whatever your preferred design choice, once you've added the block to your email, use the banner on the left hand side to alter the colours to help the contents stand out
Headers and Back to Top
The way we're going to make your Table of Contents work is with Anchor Links and before you can put the link in place you need to add the link destination. At the top of the sections that you want your contents pointing to we recommend adding headers.
In addition to being link destinations, they also help break up the email and make it more visually interesting for the reader.
In my email I have 3 sections I'll be linking to so I've created 3 structures to work as headers that match the visual style of my contents.
You'll also notice on the right hand side at the bottom of each of these structures I've added hyperlinks titled "Back to Top". These links are going to help my readers jump back to the contents, so they can pick a different section to jump to next.
How to set the Anchor Links
Now that we have our Contents and Headers in place its time to link them all together. Select the header you want your first Contents link to jump to and scroll down on the left until you see the option titles "Add an anchor link". Switch this toggle on and give your anchor a name. To make things easier for you, I'd match the name of your header.
Now scroll to the top of your email and select the first link in your Contents. Regardless of whether you're using a menu block, a button, or a hyperlink you'll see a section like the screenshot below. Select the "Site" drop down block.
Scroll to the bottom of the list where your anchor links will be listed. Click the one you've just made for your header.
Once you've done that simply rinse and repeat for your other headers.
Now that you've linked your Contents to their headers don't forget to link all of your "Back to Top" links back to the top as well. Repeat the same process you've just done, this time using the Contents link as the anchor this time.
If you'd like to, you can test all of these links, by sending yourself a proof of the email and trying them out in your inbox.
If you'd like to know more about anchor links, click here, and if you have any questions please reach out to your account manager or email support@newzapp.com