5 ms·

Yeah, that's how I feel too. When I get an email such as: > Hey {{ first_name }}, "Hey" isn't a salutation I want as a customer. We aren't friends. > We miss

Yeah, that's how I feel too. When I get an email such as: > Hey {{ first_name }}, "Hey" isn't a salutation I want as a customer. We aren't friends. > We miss you. Bullshit. This is an auto-generated email. Computers don't "miss" people. > It's been a while since we've seen you. We know you get busy ... Yes, and now you're interrupting my busy day > ... but we'd love to see you again soon. In fact, come back and visit us in the next 5 days and take 15% off your order. If you did a good job with my last purchase, I'll come back when I need something. 50/50 chance at this point that I hit the spam flag.

AznHisoka 9y ago
"I'm sorry for interrupting your day..." No you're not. You wouldn't have interrupted me if you were sorry!
- Ntrails 9y ago
  That shit winds me up so much. But then broadly speaking so does every other auto-bot spam emial
- taf2 9y ago
  It’s just like “sorry are you busy, I just have a quick question”
- drchiu 9y ago
  My other pet peeve is how some marketers use the words “crushing it” in an effort to make me believe something. I must be getting old, because crushing it doesn’t resonate with me.
sametmax 9y ago
I'm so with you on this. But we need to understand the regular end user, the average joe, doesn't even know what a spam filter is. His inbox fills in until he is too afraid to read mails from it, and just looks for emails with particular addresses once a month, then otherwise uses facebook. Very few click "unsubscribe". Or even notice the checkbox at registration for accepting to received the newsletter. They use computers very passively. Like an interactive TV with more channels. I've been workon on porn website and video streaming website long enough to learn how little tech saavy the it gets on the other side of the cable.
- gotrythis 9y ago
  I've read studies that say that the average user hits spam when the legitimately signed up and just want to unsubscribe. It's easier than clicking the unsub link.
CaptSpify 9y ago
50/50? 100% for me. If they don't do double-opt in, then they are spamming me.
- paulie_a 9y ago
  Also if you use light grey text for the unsubscribe, it is also spam
developer2 9y ago
>> come back and visit us in the next 5 days and take 15% off your order Ugh, I hate this tactic. I understand why it's done - a customer is expensive to acquire, and it's cheaper to give a discount to an inactive customer than to acquire a new one. Yet it effectively rewards non-loyal customers, while loyal customers who provide a steady stream of repeat business are taken for granted. How many businesses who use this strategy also email their best customers with "Thank you for your loyalty - here's 15% off your next order within [some reasonable, non-manipulative, number of days]"?
QasimK 9y ago
Seriously, hit spam. You think it’s spam; I think it’s spam; is there anyone who thinks it’s not spam?
jaccarmac 9y ago
Most places are pretty good about sending unsubscribe links these days. However, I ran into a truly awful exception late last year with TaskEasy. For those who don't know, TaskEasy coordinates lawn care and similar services using independent contractors. I was happy with the service I received, and didn't even have to sign up for an account to order it. Then marketing emails started showing up. The unsubscribe link takes you to a login page, but since I never registered this means I have to create an account purely to opt out of spam emails. It's a really dark UI pattern and I'm disappointed in TaskEasy for implementing it.
- xivzgrev 9y ago
  Yea that sounds like it runs afoul of CAN-SPAM. It's supposed to be one-click away, where you can unsubscribe from all promotional emails.
  - jaccarmac 9y ago
    Yep and I reported them to the FTC. Which as I found out is really easy!
- antonkm 9y ago
  As a dev, I implemented something similar. And I can't speak for TaskEasy but mine wasn't on purpose. Really complex process made simple: 1. Start out with an email transaction that follows up purchases done in the MVP to registered users. All that receive the emails have accounts since the MVP required it. It's not hard to setup automatic emails through code... It's hard to think of edge cases though. 2. Change in spec: more people buy if we change the UX and cut the registration. 3. Send an email to the customer. Oops - no account to unregister. 4. (This is the step that was missing) Change the code that handles emails so everyone can unsubscribe. Sometimes it's important to get something out quick and things aren't always dark UI / UX on purpose. Users are often blaming us devs for our dark evil powers when all we did was shake out some code on a too tight deadline.
  - jaccarmac 9y ago

AznHisoka 9y ago

"I'm sorry for interrupting your day..." No you're not. You wouldn't have interrupted me if you were sorry!

Ntrails 9y ago
That shit winds me up so much. But then broadly speaking so does every other auto-bot spam emial
taf2 9y ago
It’s just like “sorry are you busy, I just have a quick question”
drchiu 9y ago
My other pet peeve is how some marketers use the words “crushing it” in an effort to make me believe something. I must be getting old, because crushing it doesn’t resonate with me.

sametmax 9y ago

I'm so with you on this. But we need to understand the regular end user, the average joe, doesn't even know what a spam filter is. His inbox fills in until he is too afraid to read mails from it, and just looks for emails with particular addresses once a month, then otherwise uses facebook. Very few click "unsubscribe". Or even notice the checkbox at registration for accepting to received the newsletter. They use computers very passively. Like an interactive TV with more channels. I've been workon on porn website and video streaming website long enough to learn how little tech saavy the it gets on the other side of the cable.

gotrythis 9y ago
I've read studies that say that the average user hits spam when the legitimately signed up and just want to unsubscribe. It's easier than clicking the unsub link.

CaptSpify 9y ago

50/50? 100% for me. If they don't do double-opt in, then they are spamming me.

paulie_a 9y ago
Also if you use light grey text for the unsubscribe, it is also spam

developer2 9y ago

>> come back and visit us in the next 5 days and take 15% off your order Ugh, I hate this tactic. I understand why it's done - a customer is expensive to acquire, and it's cheaper to give a discount to an inactive customer than to acquire a new one. Yet it effectively rewards non-loyal customers, while loyal customers who provide a steady stream of repeat business are taken for granted. How many businesses who use this strategy also email their best customers with "Thank you for your loyalty - here's 15% off your next order within [some reasonable, non-manipulative, number of days]"?

QasimK 9y ago

Seriously, hit spam. You think it’s spam; I think it’s spam; is there anyone who thinks it’s not spam?

jaccarmac 9y ago

Most places are pretty good about sending unsubscribe links these days. However, I ran into a truly awful exception late last year with TaskEasy. For those who don't know, TaskEasy coordinates lawn care and similar services using independent contractors. I was happy with the service I received, and didn't even have to sign up for an account to order it. Then marketing emails started showing up. The unsubscribe link takes you to a login page, but since I never registered this means I have to create an account purely to opt out of spam emails. It's a really dark UI pattern and I'm disappointed in TaskEasy for implementing it.

xivzgrev 9y ago
Yea that sounds like it runs afoul of CAN-SPAM. It's supposed to be one-click away, where you can unsubscribe from all promotional emails.
- jaccarmac 9y ago
  Yep and I reported them to the FTC. Which as I found out is really easy!
antonkm 9y ago
As a dev, I implemented something similar. And I can't speak for TaskEasy but mine wasn't on purpose. Really complex process made simple: 1. Start out with an email transaction that follows up purchases done in the MVP to registered users. All that receive the emails have accounts since the MVP required it. It's not hard to setup automatic emails through code... It's hard to think of edge cases though. 2. Change in spec: more people buy if we change the UX and cut the registration. 3. Send an email to the customer. Oops - no account to unregister. 4. (This is the step that was missing) Change the code that handles emails so everyone can unsubscribe. Sometimes it's important to get something out quick and things aren't always dark UI / UX on purpose. Users are often blaming us devs for our dark evil powers when all we did was shake out some code on a too tight deadline.
- jaccarmac 9y ago