Its cheap, easy and fast, so e-mails a marketing tactic few can (or should) resist. But take care: on any given day, you may be competing against dozens or maybe hundreds of other e-mails, plus quick trigger-fingers poised over delete keys. Here are a few ways to increase the likelihood that your e- mail gets opened, read and acted upon.

Write clear, relevant subject lines.
The subject line is the first thing potential readers see as your e-mail is registered in their in-boxes. Anything that smacks of lets-make-a-deal talk with words such as free, special, act now and the like screams spam! and is begging for deletion. Instead, identify yourself to remind recipients of your previously established relationship, and speak to the core message immediately, i.e., Pet HQs winter prep tips for dogs

Use a familiar from address.
People dont like to open doors, or e-mail, from strangers. Its best if your mail is sent from a familiar personality. At the very least, it should be from an address with your server/path, i.e., jsmith@pethq.com.

Make an offer, then make it again. And again.
Plan on including a hyperlink to your offer in at least three places in your mail: between the headline and the body; in the middle of the body; and at the end. The whole point of your e-mail is to get respondents to take action, so give em plenty of opportunity to do so. Example offer link: Schedule your pets check up and get our free winter health guide today.

Move the particulars to your website. People like to skim their e-mail, so whittle your message to its bare-bone essence: your offer and how to get it. Move all the proof points and other elaborations to a page on your website readers can reach via links. Example: For more information about pets and cold weather, see our Seasonal Guidelines.

Dont neglect the opt-out. Let your readers be in control. Always include a reminder that they can link to a page to be automatically unsubscribed from future messages. This simple reassurance can often remove the taint of imposition from your e-mails and dissuade recipients from cutting you off.

Jonathan Kranz

Today, I enjoy the confidence of numerous marketing and advertising agencies, but unlike most independent copywriters, my career didn't begin with them. Instead, I had stints as a follow-spot operator in a regional theater, a park ranger on an allegedly haunted island in Boston Harbor, and as a summarizer of documents in large-scale litigations (think: Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener).

After completing my MFA in Creative Writing in 1995 (and publishing a number of short stories in literary journals such as the Missouri Review and the Green Mountains Review), I leap-frogged agency life and jumped into freelancing with both feet. Since then, I've written a huge stack of advertising, direct marketing, and public relations materials for consumer and B2B clients in financial services, banking, insurance, high-tech, healthcare, education, and other industries. I don't enter award shows myself, but my clients have submitted material, with my copy, that has won a number of honors, including the 2004 New England Direct Marketing Association's Awards for Creative Excellence ?Best of Show? gold medal.

On the side, I've written columns for local newspapers and have been a guest essayist on National Public Radio's All Things Considered. I've taught writing courses at Harvard University Extension School, Emerson College and Northeastern University, and I'm currently president of the Southern New England Chapter of the Society for Industrial Archeology.

I live in Melrose, Massachusetts with my wife, Eileen; two daughters, Rebecca and Anastasia; and a vast collection of LP records.