A - There are a few quick and easy ways to make your emails get noticed, and opened. First, make sure everyone knows the email is from you by using your email address rather than something generic such as “info” or “sales”. Next, make sure your subject line is interesting. “Ellen’s Newsletter – May 2011” is not going to do it. Give it some action. Subject lines with numbers are popular such as “5 Quick Tips for…” or “3 Steps to…” because it should be a quick and easy read. Also, keep your emails short and to the point. Offer information and education through 80% of the content, and only sell using 20% of the content. No one wants to read a big sales pitch and offering useful information will help them decide to open the next message they receive from you.

Lastly, use headlines and keep them justified to the left. Studies have shown that people focus on information from left to right, and will read quick headlines rather than reading the complete text. That doesn’t mean you should not have a few paragraphs of text, but be aware that your headlines will get more attention than your prose, so make them count