Once they have opened your email you have two or three seconds to keep them reading it. Don't leave the important parts to the end: state them immediately. 'Tom, thank for joining my newsletter list, and you won't believe what I have got to tell you about today. It might not save you thousands, but it will sure help you to make money you don't have now.'

I've never tried that opening, but something along these lines might be enough to keep Tom interested. Having decided that, you can complete the body of the email. Make sure that you stress the benefits to the reader early. Keep your paragraphs short: no more than two or three lines, and if you have lists, make them bulleted. You cannot bullet plain text, but you can number them.

Finally, use a good signature. Provide your name and your URL, and you should provide your URL in every email that you send. You can also provide an alternative email address if you are sending by autoresponder and want to receive replies on another address. Make sure, however, that the 'from;' field does not use the terms 'no-reply' or 'mailingservice' or your email will likely remain unopened.

If the recipient thinks for a moment that the message cannot be replied to, you are lost. If you follow the above advice with your emails, you should increase your chances to have them read, and to get your message across. Writing emails is not as easy as most people believe, which is why there are winners and losers in the email stakes. Make yourself a winner.