I recently saw a blurb on EmailStatCenter.com that usability guru Jakob Nielsen said that readers only allot 51 seconds to e-mail newsletters.

51 seconds?

51 seconds is an eternity.

I write a lot of e-mail copy. And if I thought the reader was going to spend the better part of a minute on my prose, I’d take the luxury of working in long, drawn-out metaphors and look-at-me-I’m-a-writer words like “Dickensian.”

But I suspect that this 51-second estimation has been cut at least in half over the last couple of years. And while it ain’t front page news anymore, the fact that people speed read e-mails and Web pages is a point that should probably be reiterated.

Spit It Out

Maybe I have a problem or drink too much coffee, but I think the Web is slow. Pages load in seconds (yawn) and when they finally do amble their way into my browser window, what I typically do isn’t really “skimming” or “scanning.” It’s more akin to shot gunning a beer. And what really gets in the way of quickly digesting Web content is a thicket of tiny fonts, too many links, and too little direction.

One company that I think gets it right is Plaxo. Plaxo is an online address book and social networking site from Napster co-founder Sean Parker, along with Minh Nguyen, Todd Masonis and Cameron Ring. What I like about this site is that the company’s tag line is also its call to action. And this is displayed prominently, in easy-to-read font, right at the top. Estimated time of digestion: 3 seconds. Check out the site.

“Stay in touch with the people you care about.”

Nothing too fancy—just clear and concise. Plaxo could have easily gone down the dark path of trying to wow us with their technology and how cool their site/network is. But this kind of Web site copy is usually 200 words long and goes waaaaaaaay past our 51 second mark. Let’s see if its recent acquisition by Comcast mucks up their design.

They also use “you” frequently. It’s easy to get away from this simple style of addressing the reader as an individual. It’s obvious that Plaxo is coming from a reader/user-centric standpoint and that they’ve put some common sense into the messaging on their site.

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Many sites lean on brain-busting design, or are just too tricky for their own good. People visit sites to do something—not to be wowed by the Flash or tricky typography. Again, Plaxo has this figured out. Aside from the easy-to-read font and the crystal clear messaging, the site has a few simple ideas rendered in an elegant design.

The more sites like this I see, the better I like them. Both Vimeo and Twitter seem to have adopted this approach, and I feel like it saves eye strain and I get to the information that I want much more quickly.

The Countdown Is On

Whether you’re creating e-mails or Web sites, you have an extremely small and fast-closing window and the reader is just a muscle spasm away from moving on. Don’t get lost in your own clever copy or design—keep that end-user in your sites at all times. They’ll thank you, and, if you’re lucky, they might stick around longer than 51 seconds.