Writing email ought to be easy...

After all, writing email is part of most of our daily lives. But getting business email right in today's world of spam traps and short attention spans is critical. Now that most households receive more than 180 pieces of direct mail a month, it is essential that communication is meaningful and personal if it hopes to be noticed. So is writing email the answer?

Absolutely. First, people are busy and want to communicate on their own time. Email is open around the clock. It is relatively inexpensive (until you start to assign value to all the hours you've spent writing!). Best of all, email provides virtually instant access to your audience and is measurable. This means you can tell relatively quickly if your marketing message is effective or if you need to make some changes.

Email should inform, educate, entertain, or enable. When writing email, keep these tips in mind:

• In most cases, the whole point of sending an email is to inspire action
• Your call-to-action should compel your readers to do something
• Give readers a sense of excitement and urgency
• Use specific, action-oriented language
• Say it early and repeat often
• But don't drone on and on!