AM Inbox: Dick's Sporting Goods leads post-game rally

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

Dick’s Sporting Goods, 4/4 — Congratulations UConn! Get Your Championship Gear Now!
Looking to capitalize on post-game excitement, Dick’s Sporting Goods was the first major retailer to congratulate UConn for their NCAA tourney victory over Butler. Dick’s has a very good track record of sending emails right after championship games end. With more and more people watching TV with a laptop or tablet at their side, this tactic is sure to only become more effective over time.



Target, 4/4 — Important message from Target‏
Walgreens, 4/4 — A Message from Walgreens
Yesterday Target and Walgreens joined AbeBooks, Brookstone and HSN in alerting their current and former subscribers about the data breach at Epsilon, their ESP (see Apr. 4 AM Inbox). While I still think that Brookstone’s notification is the best, Target’s is also quite good, succinctly explaining what has happened and listing some tips to help subscribers. That said, HSN and AbeBooks had the best subject lines. Target and Walgreens, in particular, are too vague. You’d rather subscribers find out news like this from you rather than a friend or a news article, so a standout subject line is important. Another interesting point of divergence among these emails is that AbeBooks, HSN and Target treated these notifications as transactional emails, which means that they didn’t include an unsubscribe link. Considering that these emails are being sent to current and former subscribers, omitting the opt-out link might avoid potential confusion among past subscribers. But it might also be a damage-control tactic. Do you think notifications like this should give subscribers the option to unsubscribe?





SUBJECTIVITY SCANNER: Select noteworthy subject lines
Sam’s Club, 4/4 — Cure Spring Fever with amazing outdoor values‏
Kmart, 4/4 — All patio furniture, décor, grills on sale. Embrace spring.
Toys “R” Us, 4/4 — Spring Cyber Monday Sale! Save up to 20% on VTech, Video Games, LEGO & More‏
Orvis, 4/4 — Live like you're on vacation all year long, with Orvis Surfwashed.
Cabela’s, 4/4 — Enter now for your chance at one of 50 Chevy Trucks!‏
Ann Taylor, 4/4 — TODAY ONLY: "Like" Us On Facebook & Enjoy 30% Off Your Entire Purchase (Before Anyone Else)!
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