I'm so on the fence with the ads. I agree they clutter up the design. We've made the big $0.04 on the ads so far... I'd much rather send well formed and target recommendations with the suggestions.

tl;dr - we'll probably kill them, but thought it would be cool to buy a beer with the proceeds.

I'd have thought you could make more from affiliate links on your recommendations.

I bet we can... that's a great idea, thanks. It'll help us get rid of the ugly.

Definitely kill the AdWords. Those ads, at least for me, are not relevant at all (diabetic socks, huh?).

As others have suggested, you can monetize with the affiliate ads in the emails that relate to what you're suggesting ("Need flowers? Try FTD.com"). Those ads will bring in higher revenues because they are relevant. AdWords feel really cheap here.

DEAD. I hated them as well.

Yes, please kill them. You're trading long term value for a (very) small amount of short term value.

Go long term, all the way.

I like the idea. Would definitely sign up, though would want to see an explicit statement that my email will be safe with you!

Cool, we'll add a privacy statement.