Do you have email subscribers to your blog? If so, every time you publish a new blog post, they get a ‘New Post’ email notification.
Here’s a screenshot of an email notification I got from WordPress when blogger Sally Cronin recently published a new blog post.
Notice how only the first part of the post is visible to me.
To read the whole post, I have to click on its title or the ‘read more of this post‘ link (highlighted in the above image). This means I have to visit Sally’s blog to read the post, thus improving the viewing statistics on her blog.
Are there any disadvantages in displaying whole blog posts in email notifications?
Yes. WordPress has a setting available that allow users to either show the whole post or a brief summary of the post in emails. Therefore, unless the setting is changed, readers do not have to visit a blog to read a post.
If you’re an author or sell goods or services on your blog, this means your email subscribers won’t see them unless they visit your blog to leave a comment. This also means they may not be tempted to discover anything else on your blog or see any ‘Pages’ you have (such as your ‘About Me‘ page).
I get lots of email notifications from bloggers where I can read the whole post in the email, so I don’t have to visit their blog. Videos and YouTube videos don’t display in the email, thus making it look uninviting to read. Photos and other images in the email version of a blog post can also be distorted and affect the formatting of text. The result can look messy.
Not visiting the actual post also discourages some readers from leaving comments.
How Do I Change The Email Display Setting On WordPress?
To change the setting so your whole post does not show in the email, follow the guide below.
- On the dashboard of your blog, click on ‘Settings‘ then on ‘Reading.’
- On the ‘Reader Settings‘ page that opens, look for ‘For each post in a feed, include‘ and change the setting from ‘Full Text’ to ‘Excerpt’.
Press the ‘Save Changes‘ button at the bottom of the page.
Your setting is now saved, and your new blog post email notifications will only display a brief summary of every new post you publish. This means readers have to visit your blog to read posts.
Don’t forget that you can also write your own excerpts for your blog posts. My blog post ‘How To Use Excerpts To Get More Visitors To Read Your Blog Posts‘ gives full details.
If you don’t write your own excerpts, WordPress will use the first 55 words of your blog post as the excerpt.
Let’s Wrap It Up
- By default, WordPress automatically shows the entire contents of new blog posts in email notifications.
- Unless the ‘For each post in a feed, include’ setting is changed, email subscribers to your blog don’t need to visit your blog to read your posts.
- By not visiting your blog, readers may be put off from leaving or reading comments.
- If you sell books, services or any goods on your blog, readers won’t see them if they can read blog posts on email notifications.
- Changing the ‘For each post in a feed, include’ setting to ‘Excerpt’, will mean your email notifications will only display a snippet of your new blog posts.
- Changing the setting is easy to do. Follow the guide in this blog post.
Any questions about changing the ’email summary’ setting? Leave them in the comments section.
This is an updated version of a previous post I originally published in 2016. It has been updated to take into account changes on WordPress.
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Hugh's Views & News 
Such a simple strategy that can go a long way to help. Thank you so much, Hugh Roberts
You’re welcome.
Thanks for the great tip. In all these years, I never once noticed that! Now changed.
Best wishes, Pete.
You’re welcome, Pete. I’m sure the change you have made will help boost the visitor stats to your blog.
Great tip! I actually recently went through and did custom excerpts for all my posts, but I hadn’t even considered the role this plays with email subscribers!
Excerpts are so underrated. I’m surprised by the number of writers that do not use them. They can hook a reader straight away rather than allowing the first 55 words of a blog post to try doing the work.
Exactly! I think I still need to work on that “hooking” them in part, but getting there 😁
This is very good to know! I had wondered why I had to click to see the rest of some people’s blogs, but I wasn’t tech savvy enough to figure it out.
I’m glad it has helped. It’s definitely a great way of getting more traffic to a blog.
I was actually thinking about this the other day, why would they visit my blog if it’s all in the email. Great tip, much appreciated!
You’re welcome. I’m glad it has helped.
This is good to know. I once did this on my laptop thinking it was better to have readers read the whole blog via their email. Lol what do I know. But now I know better. Also good to know that the change does not sync to the mobile app.
Thanks a lot for sharing.
You’re welcome. I’m pleased this post (and the comments) and helped so many of those who have read the post.
Yes, it was very helpful to know and so logical. I tried to change the mobile, but my theme doesn’t have the customize theme option. I just recently changed to the theme, too. Pondering still whether to change again. Thanks again.
You’re welcome.
You can use this setting,
Otherwise can also use ‘more block’ while writing your post
(In case someone wants to show 2 or 3 paras from the post in the emails)
Thank you. Personally, I prefer to write my own excerpt for every post, but the ‘more blocks’ option is a great tip for those that do not write their own excerpts.
Informative post!!!!! Keep writing like this🦋👏
Thank you.
Excellent advice!
Many beginners don’t know this. Thank you for your help.
You’re welcome, Meyer.
Thanks for the tip! Very helpful!
You’re welcome, Mark.
Great tip. ty
You’re welcome.
I love this tip, thanks very much!
You’re welcome.
Thank you for all your helpful tips!
You’re welcome.
Another superb tip I will enforce right away. Thank you Hugh xx
Just had an email notification of a new post from you, Ellen. Looks as if you’ve already got this setting in place.
I got the husband to check just in case. X But I some how have the title of any post tucked at the bottom?? I am unsure how to get it back to the top … where all good titles should be. X
How strange that the titles are at the bottom of the post. I just checked, and they are. It’s probably an option available on the theme you use for your blog. Check under Appearances – Theme Options on your blog’s dashboard and see if there is an option to have the title at the top of your posts. If not, you may have to change the theme to get them back there.
Thank you will look now, changing the theme might be a step too far 😳🥺
I always see choosing a new theme as fun. Make it fun, and you can do it.
Thanks for this info. I had no idea folk might not come to the actual blog to read the post. I’ve made the change. Many thanks
You’re welcome, Vienna. I’m glad to have helped.
Very helpful, as usual!
You’re welcome.
Thanks for the tip
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Laughter; After a thousand years still your best entertainment value
You’re welcome.
Hi Hugh, I learned how to do this from a previous post or advice [I can’t remember which] of yours. Thanks for the refresher and for all the help you give to bloggers.
Yes, this is an updated version of one of my older posts from 2016, Robbie. I’ve taken into account all the changes that have happened on WordPress since the original post.
I enjoy passing this information on to all of you.