Several things we love about this email promotion which was sent by PR News, a 60+ year old paid subscription newsletter, to it’s house list of prospects who’ve opted-in at its site for free info over the years:

1. One-to-one voice: It’s from a names human being, written in the first person almost as a note to a colleague. Although it’s a sales pitch, it feels calm and professional rather than hype-y.
2. Multiple links: The email contains links to the landing page in several places throughout, including the all-critical top paragraph.
3. Text-only look: although there is HTML in this message, it’s so unobstrusive as to appear to be a “real” email from one human to another. No logos or other overt graphics.
4. Bundle offer: This is actually a premium offer — you get a gift of a special report with your paid subscription. But we like the term “bundle” as it’s used here because it conveys heft and value. Plus, none of the spam filtering concerns a word like “gift” might have.
5. Quick deadline: The offer has an explicit deadline that’s just three days away. Longer deadlines may work for postal direct mail, but we suspect brief deadlines like this work best for email which has the attention lifespan of a nanosecond.