Greeting
Choose your greeting carefully. It is crucial to winning "eye" share. Eye share refers to how powerfully e-mail captures your customer's attention and how you draw the recipient into a message text. The greeting can be formal (Dear Mr. Smith) or casual (Hi Kay). Using a last name relates very effectively to new prospects. Most regular web customers would simply pass it by for lack of warmth and familiarity. Starting off on a first name basis invites the reader into a more relaxed message. Your choice sets the tone and the relationship. There is no right or wrong approach. Weigh the mood, feel, audience and impact of each message.

Subject
Subject lines open or close the door. Keep your subject short and direct - no longer than 35 characters at most. Focus on benefits and avoid being overly promotional. Edit out obvious marketing words like "free" and "cash". Stay away from text in ALL CAPITALS and extreme exclamations !!!!!!!!!!

Body
The e-mail body holds the meat of your message. Users scan, rather than read, content online. Short blocks of text and bullets make scanning easy. Three to four line paragraphs work well, with double spacing between paragraphs. Readers enjoy the "direct approach". Tell your customer or prospect the exact reason for your e-mail in your opening lines. Then outline the benefits and incentives of your product or service clearly and briefly.

Call to Action
Create your last paragraph as a call to action. Condense it into one or two magnetic lines. By this strategy, you can leverage the scanning process. The reader naturally scans the eyes toward the last few lines to check if something needs to be done. Tell the reader precisely what your offer is, what action must be taken and what incentive is available.

Close
How you close the e-mail exerts a subtle influence on your reader. You have a range of options from very informal to business formal. When you know your reader well, you can be casual, even to the point of simply signing off with your name. Standard closes such as "Regards" and "Yours truly" will vary with the type of client relationship.

Post Script
The Post Script (PS) is one of the most important elements of a dynamic direct mail letter. The PS is the second most read line of the e-mail letter, ranking only after the opening line in marketing weight. Use the PS to note something crucial, to offer a special incentive, or to build an enduring personal relationship.

Signature File
The final component of a successful e-mail is the signature file. A "sig" file should have your name, your contact information (telephone, e-mail, fax, website and mailing address). Providing this file invites the reader to call or respond now. As a note of caution, all e-mails must include the company physical address and a way for users to opt out easily of future e-mail marketing, in order to comply with the CAN SPAM act.

View e-mail marketing examples by Catherine Eujon. Scan great articles on e-mail marketing in the Business- Know How Newsletter.