The simplest approach, and an effective one, is to put name of your newsletter in subject line. That works well if readers find content consistently helpful or interesting. But don’t depend on just name - here are some ideas for other hooks that may increase readership.

Make it descriptive, since many email users quickly scan subject lines and quickly hit Delete button if it doesn’t immediately grab their attention. If that descriptive text hints at a solution to a problem shared by your readers, then you’ve got a winner.

Here’s another subject line tip that may help you increase readership. Several email gurus recommend putting date of issue in subject line, and I’ve tried that myself. In limited testing I’ve done, it seemed to increase number of clicks on embedded ads.

This is how a recent subject line for Abbott’s Communication Letter looked to my subscribers:

“April 27-05 Communication Letter - Communication & Company Size”

Explanations: April 27th is, of course, date. Communication Letter is an abbreviation of name of my newsletter; and Communication & Company Size is title of article that week.

Altogether, whole subject line seems a bit long, but it does cover several bases, so it’s what I’ll use until I’ve had time to do extensive testing.

In summary: Don’t look at header of your email message as something to be finished and forgotten quickly. It can make or break your newsletter.

Generate Leads. An email newsletter containing worthwhile content, or a promotional offer with a high-perceived value can be used as incentives to convince prospects to provide their email addresses. Once you have their addresses, you can initiate dialogue that results in acquiring and retaining right kinds of customers. Profitable customers.

Build Loyalty. In our opinion, building loyalty is most important feature of an email program. Permission-based communication allows you to build customer loyalty, and customer loyalty kicks off a series of positive events including:

* market share increases because acquisition costs are amortized, allowing you to realize lifetime value of a customer

* Some studies show that it costs six times more to acquire a customer as to retain one

* The Harvard Business Review reports that cutting customer defections by just five percent can result in profitability increases of as much as 35 percent

* sustainable growth continues because you have a solid base of customers who will refer others

* attract better employees who in turn deliver better value to customers

You no longer have a good reason for not using permission-based email marketing to unleash power of customer relationships.