In these days of fancy, sometimes overdesigned Web sites and banner ads, we often forget e-mail's huge potential for marketing. This book aims to remind us and explains how this cheap, easy-to-use tool can be one of your online business's best assets. The authors are keen to point out they're advocating not spam but rather targeted, well-constructed marketing messages. To make effective use of e-mail as a marketing tool, you need a strategy rather than a splatter gun, and the book talks you through the process of crafting one.

You also need to know how to write a good e-mail, and one of the book's key sections takes you through the do's and don'ts, from the wording of the header to signing off. Examples from the real world are included so you can see how the big guns do it. Standard e-mails are not your only option, and the book devotes space to alternatives such as e-newsletters and e-promotions. The first can help people develop an affinity with your Web site, and the second offers something free in return for a site visit--a gift certificate, for example.

The book explores other aspects, too, such as getting mailing lists together and doing market research. Authors Sterne and Priore cover their ground well, write in an easy style, and encourage readers to think for themselves. --Sandra Vogel, Amazon.co.uk