There's an e-mail ad from Amazon.com Inc. in my box. I haven't opened it, but I know what it says. By heart. "Dear Amazon.com customer. As someone who's pur-chased books in the past, you might be interested to learn blah blah blah zzz zzz." I'm bored just thinking about it. And it's not only Amazon. There's a lot of cau-tion going on in e-mail marketing these days. Advertisers, hoping not tornoffend customers who agree to receive their messages, have re-treated to safe online communications: Repetitive scripts. Snooz-er subject lines. Uninspiring offers. Even marketers with offline moxie get shy in e-mail. On TV, Victoria's Secret has a provoca-tive ad showing a scantily clad beauty doing a chair dance. The concurrent online campaign: "Shop now and save on Body by Victoria." My Sunday coupons have more sex appeal.
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