Creative engagement; Simple tips to help you create e-mails that grab recipients' attention.(Net Marketing)

Byline: Karen J. Bannan

You can't judge a book by its cover, but that's exactly what many readers do when deciding whether to open e-marketing messages. There are things marketers can do, however, when it comes to designing and creating e-mail marketing content, that will keep subscribers opening-and, more important, reading-messages, experts say. Here are tips to help keep readers engaged.

* Keep it brief.

When marketers transitioned from writing print ads to online ads, they had some adjusting to do, said Elaine O'Gorman, VP-strategy for e-mail marketing provider Silverpop. "We learned we had to cut the number of words down,'' she said. "We cut copy by about 80%.''

Some marketers fail to realize that translating an online ad to e-mail ad format requires further paring down, she said. "You have to reduce again another 80%.''

Format is also important. Print ads can have multiple paragraphs, but e-mail …