What's With All the Shouting?

Since the infancy of the internet there have been rules called "netequitte". Simply put, these are the do's and don'ts of how to behave online.

According to Wikipedia, One should not use all UPPERCASE letters in an email. Uppercase letters imply shouting and may be considered rude.

Apparently, Overstock.com never got word, because on a regular basis they are screaming about their sales and great deals!



I'm a big fan of Overstock.com. In fact, when our house is full of guests and we are out of space, some lucky duck gets to sleep on a quite comfortable queen sized air mattress I purchased from Overstock.com.

I love a deal and I appreciate the messages I opted-in to receive from Overstock. I frequently peruse their site in search of bargains – you really never know what you what you'll find, but as a consumer and an email marketer, it is beginning to wear thin on my email nerves.

The all caps subject line is reminiscent of the spam messages I receive at my old and much neglected Yahoo! address. The only thing missing are the obligatory multiple exclamation points.

Overstock should revisit their subject line strategy. They are a well-recognized brand that doesn't need to yell at their subscribers.