Creating and sending a promotional email letter that receives the maximum response rate is at the heart of any successful online business. But what is a “responsive email”? How do you compose it? There are a few principles a responsive email letter is based on. If you follow them, you'll never be at disadvantage:

The Subject line. The subject line is a presentation of your message. I would even say that it is the subject line determines whether the recipient will open your message or not. If you send a commercial letter, your main purpose is to have the recipient open your message. So, the subject line must to intrigue and rouse the people's curiosity. Put some “tease” in your subject but do not reveal what your message is about completely. Teases should speak to the offer that the recipient is going to find inside the letter – but not too much – make them open it to find out for sure. A good tease may sound like: “Discover the new technique how to…”, or “The amazing inside secrets…”, or “Download the new improved version of… ” etc.

The salutation. Yes, a personalized message beginning with “Dear John,” is better. It looks more professional and makes a feel that you care about every prospect individually. A personalized message helps build credibility in relationship between you and your prospects. That's why on your opt-in form you should ask your subscribers to provide their first name together with the email address.

The message body. We'll examine two aspects here: content – what your message is about and presentation – in what manner you present the information.

Message content. This is where people often get confused. What to tell to the readers so they would want to buy from you? Tell them about the benefits of your product. Remember that people don't care about you personally or your organization, they do want to know how they can benefit from your offer, how your offer can solve their problems or make their lives easier. That's what they need.

A great idea that always works for your is a free bonus or special offer. You should give them something for free in addition to their purchase.

Typical offers may include:

• Special Reports - you are simply promising them an instant access to some free content after their purchase.

• Software Trials - if you are developing and promoting your own software programs, you could promise a free trial of the new version of your software, or an other software in the form of a download.

• Discounts- you can offer discounts on particular goods when they become available, and the only way to gain access to these discounts is by purchasing your product.

• Email mini-course - you can also offer people an email mini-course that will teach them something specific about their market, and will then allow you continue communicating with them in the future.

• E-books – if you sell an e-book, you could offer it for free to your subscribers who purchase your product.

• Tips and News – similar to the email mini-course. You are just promising to send them regular emails with useful content that helps make their lives easier.

Always end the body of the letter with clear instructions what action you want the reader to take. There must not be any ambiguity. The reader must exactly know what you want him to do now.

But don't stop there. Add a “P.S.” and “P.P.S.” that persuade the reader to buy from you, repeat the offer and call-to-action.

Text presentation. You may have a lot to say about your product benefits and your offer. But the trick is to say it in a way that is easy to read, and clearly lays out the main aspects. People are busy and they don't have much time to spend on one email. Keep in mind that people don't read the message, they scan it. So, you have to structure your letter in a manner that all important information grabs the reader's attention.

Don't write in long sentences. Separate the text in paragraphs with 4-5 sentences in each paragraph. Use bullets to represent your offer benefits. Use underlining, bold and italics as ways to call attention to important elements but do it wisely.

The closing. It should always be done by the most senior person in your organization – preferably someone with a title. This is about credibility.

You should always remember that you can create several email messages and test one email approach versus another. Simply divide your list in two groups, and send the version A to one half, and the version B to the other. Then compare the results. What version is more responsive and what is not. You can then use the more successful version of you email letter for future communication with your prospects.

Take care of these aspects and your email marketing efforts will be rewarded!