Bombarding Subscribers for Christmas: Toys’R’Us et al
Certain companies are absolutely desperate to sell every last possible bit of product during this holiday season. An example: U.S. toy and game retailer Toys’R’Us. Toys’R’Us is currently spamming one of my spamtraps, one that I consider highly likely to be the result of a typoed subscription and so don’t take very seriously. However, that one spamtrap receives from three to five emails per day.
I’m not the best person to judge what constitutes a reasonable amount of email to send to a subscribed customer. I don’t enjoy receiving offers or most advertisements, and so don’t subscribe to them. However, I can’t imagine anybody wanting to receive three to five advertising emails PER DAY from one company, not even during the Christmas season. Apparently other people feel the same way, judging from a recent thread on Twitter that Laura Atkins mentioned on her blog Word to the Wise.
Just in case ESP E-Dialog wants to follow up on this, below is a full sample of one spam that Toys’R’Us sent to this spamtrap today, redacted as usual, and headers for the two other spams. E-Dialog, if you do follow up, in addition to having your customer review their procedures for preventing typos from being enshrined permanently on their list, please emphasize that bombarding actual subscribers (as opposed to spamtraps) is more likely to cause them to unsubscribe than to get them to buy more stuff from you.
Spam Sample #1:
Sending IP: 208.94.22.1
Actual Headers:
Received: from gsitoysrus.outbound.ed10.com (gsitoysrus.outbound.ed10.com [208.94.22.1])
by <xxx> (Postfix) with ESMTP id <xxx>
for <xxx>; Sat, 15 Dec 2012 13:xx:xx +0000 (UTC)
DKIM-Signature: <xxx>
DomainKey-Signature: <xxx>
Received: from [127.0.0.1] ([127.0.0.1:<xxx>])
by <xxx>.e-dialog.com (envelope-from <<xxx>@gsitoysrus.bounce.ed10.net>)
(ecelerity 2.2.2.45 r(34222M)) with ECSTREAM
id <xxx>; Sat, 15 Dec 2012 08:xx:xx -0500
Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2012 08:xx:xx -0500
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="<xxx>"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary
MIME-Version: 1.0
From: "Toys\"R\"Us" <toysrus@em.toysrus.com>
Reply-To: "Toys\"R\"Us" <toysrus.<xxx>@em.toysrus.com>
To: <xxx>
Subject: Hot Toy Alert, Sun. at 7AM! Wii U & NEW Monster High! Plus Price Match!
Message-Id: <<xxx>@e-dialog.com>
X-Mail-From: <xxx>@gsitoysrus.bounce.ed10.net
X-Match: gsitoysrus.bounce.ed10.net
X-RCPT-To: <xxx>
X-Mailer: EDMAIL R6.00.02
Readable Email:
From: Toys’R’Us <toysrus@em.toysrus.com>
To: <spamtrap>
Subject: Hot Toy Alert, Sun. at 7AM! Wii U & NEW Monster High! Plus Price Match!
Reply-To: Toys’R’Us <toysrus.<xxx>@em.toysrus.com>
<removed>
Please add toysrus@em.toysrus.com to your address book to ensure delivery of future sales and special offers.
Unsubscribe
You have been subscribed as <xxx>, if you do not want to receive any more advertising or promotional emails from us (including emails on special savings and news), just click here.
http://link.toysrus.com/r/<xxx>
Please be aware that all unsubscribe requests are processed within 5 business days, and that you may receive additional emails during that time period. CAN-SPAM regulations require a ten-day processing cycle.
Spam Sample #2:
Sending IP: 208.94.21.254
Actual Headers:
Received: from gsitoysrus.outbound.ed10.com (gsitoysrus.outbound.ed10.com [208.94.21.254])
by <xxx> (Postfix) with ESMTP id <xxx>
for <xxx>; Sat, 15 Dec 2012 20:xx:xx +0000 (UTC)
DKIM-Signature: <xxx>
DomainKey-Signature: <xxx>
Received: from [127.0.0.1] ([127.0.0.1:<xxx>])
by <xxx>.e-dialog.com (envelope-from <<xxx>@gsitoysrus.bounce.ed10.net>)
(ecelerity 2.2.2.45 r(34222M)) with ECSTREAM
id <xxx>; Sat, 15 Dec 2012 15:xx:xx -0500
Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2012 15:xx:xx -0500
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="<xxx>"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary
MIME-Version: 1.0
From: "Toys\"R\"Us" <toysrus@em.toysrus.com>
Reply-To: "Toys\"R\"Us" <toysrus.<xxx>@em.toysrus.com>
To: <xxx>
Subject: Time's Running Out! Colossal Sale -- with 35 Huge Deals -- Ends
Tonight!
Message-Id: <<xxx>@e-dialog.com>
X-Mail-From: <xxx>@gsitoysrus.bounce.ed10.net
X-Match: gsitoysrus.bounce.ed10.net
X-RCPT-To: <xxx>
X-Mailer: EDMAIL R6.00.02
Spam Sample #3:
Sending IP: 208.94.22.1
Actual Headers:
Received: from gsitoysrus.outbound.ed10.com (gsitoysrus.outbound.ed10.com [208.94.22.1])
by <xxx> (Postfix) with ESMTP id <xxx>
for <xxx>; Sat, 15 Dec 2012 13:xx:xx +0000 (UTC)
DKIM-Signature: <xxx>
DomainKey-Signature: <xxx>
Received: from [127.0.0.1] ([127.0.0.1:<xxx>])
by <xxx>.e-dialog.com (envelope-from <<xxx>@gsitoysrus.bounce.ed10.net>)
(ecelerity 2.2.2.45 r(34222M)) with ECSTREAM
id <xxx>; Sat, 15 Dec 2012 8:xx:xx -0500
Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2012 8:xx:xx -0500
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="<xxx>"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary
MIME-Version: 1.0
From: "Toys\"R\"Us" <toysrus@em.toysrus.com>
Reply-To: "Toys\"R\"Us" <toysrus.<xxx>@em.toysrus.com>
To: <xxx>
Subject: Don't Miss Out! Save $120 on Power Wheels Escalade, Sat. Only! Plus,
Price Match
Message-Id: <<xxx>@e-dialog.com>
X-Mail-From: <xxx>@gsitoysrus.bounce.ed10.net
X-Match: gsitoysrus.bounce.ed10.net
X-RCPT-To: <xxx>
X-Mailer: EDMAIL R6.00.02
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