AM Inbox: My advertisers are more interesting than I am

The Retail Email Blog monitors the email marketing campaigns of more than 100 top online retailers. Here are highlights from my inbox this morning:

Costco, 7/24 — 3.75% APY - New Online Savings Account
I’ve explained before how much I hate third-party ads in retail emails so I won’t rehash that here (see June 5 AM Inbox). What I will say is: What does it say about the quality of your content when you highlight an ad’s content in your subject line? In this email, Costco is telling subscribers that the most interesting deal in this email is nothing from Costco—it’s the online savings account deal advertised by CapitalOne (and when you clickthrough it takes you to a co-branded page on capitalone.com, not costco.com). That’s a sign that you’ve got your priorities totally backward.



Circuit City, 7/24 — Deals so good we had to share them! Friends & Family discounts inside
Finally a “Christmas in July” email. Last year there were several more—and more Christmas emails during the month overall. We’re off to a slow start this year. So far, several of the emails that have mentioned the holiday season thus far have been about pre-ordering anticipated products.



Buy.com, 7/24 — New GPS = $99.99, DELL Notebook = $379.99, Verbatim 500GB = $79.99, Microsoft Office = $87.99,..
A variation on a video product review, here Buy.com presents some videos where they interview parents with different aged children about their back-to-school purchase plans. For example, here’s Barry’s advice. The videos are less than 2 minutes long and move along pretty quickly. The parents are inarticulate enough to be believably genuine, but not so much that they’re annoying.



HPshopping, 7/24 — HP's Back to School Buying Guide
HP presents computers that are ideal for students in college, high school and grade school. This kind of arrangement gives you a good opportunity to send segmented follow-up emails that target subscribers that clicked on each of the different age groups.



SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Sam’s Club, 7/24 — Introducing the Sam's Club Collegiate Membership
Eddie Bauer, 7/24 — Fall '08 is here & you're invited to see it first.
Barnes & Noble, 7/24 — Save an Extra 5% When You Pre-Order Books Online
Macy’s, 7/24 — Save a total of 40-80% on clearance sitewide + enjoy extra savings on home when you use your Macy's Card!
Norm Thompson, 7/24 — According to our customers...
Spiegel, 7/24 — Save up to 75% OFF Sensational Swim Looks at our Lunchtime Sale!
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