BJ's: Final flurry - hurry for holiday delivery

Emailing Company:	BJ's Wholesale Club
Subject:	Final flurry -- hurry for holiday delivery
Date Sent:	December 15, 2008

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BIG Problem #1: All Images. Like a lot of commercial emails, BJ's has gone overboard on the "image block". In most versions of Microsoft Outlook, this message's images are "blocked" and come out with the dreaded RED X instead. What you see is a blizzard of missing images and an incomprehensible message.

BIG Problem #2: Construction and Technical. Besides the major problem with images, the message is way too long. If the reader's don't just ignore it, they will quickly unsubcribe or mark as spam.

Summary: Keep it simple, and start with some text at the top. Invite the reader into the message without forcing a click to "accept images". To force me to take action just to see your message is an example of a Really Bad Email.

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Zinio: Winter Sale! Warm up Now with Playboy's Hot Special Editions at up to 50% Off.

Emailing Company:	Zinio
Subject:	Winter Sale! Warm up Now with Playboy's Hot Special Editions at up to 50% Off.
Date Sent:	December 13, 2008

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Problem #1: Topic and Audience. This company seems to think I want soft-core porn sent to me. I subscribed to one of their magazines (Esquire?) -- it was free I believe -- and I think I gave up on their "Reader" program after a few times... too slow, and did weird things to my machine. I would still like to read a digital magazine, but probably from somewhere else.

Now that they have used my personal information for a "real" magazine, they are pushing this garbage to me. It's embarrassing to have this stuff pop up on your screen at work! They abused their "opt in" rights by sending this!

Problem #2: Construction and Technical. The mail was missing their company logo and a number of other key images. I confirmed that the image links were not working by checking the image locations. Luckily (or not!) all the nice little magazine covers showed up. If I really wanted these magazines, however, there are way too many images and the message really goes on for too long IMO.

Summary: They risk losing people quickly. After I hit "unsubscribe" I will ask to be removed forever. If they had asked what I might want to receive (in other words, content I might like???) the idea of sending some magazine offers might be OK. But to be spammed with near-porn is an example of a Really Bad Email.

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