Comments on: The Great Unsubscribing (and a request for sources for stories)

By: LMGK

LMGK — Tue, 10 May 2016 13:39:38 +0000

Related: social media unfollowing. I found myself scrolling past a lot of stuff in Facebook and Instagram in particular – accounts I had liked or followed at one point but don’t actually want to see all the time on my way to seeing more personally relevant content. Clearing my feeds of some of this stuff has been very satisfying.

By: Allison

Allison — Tue, 10 May 2016 03:25:58 +0000

I’ve done the unsubscribe binge a few times, and the worst is when the notification says “You are now unsubscribed but you may still receive our emails for 7-10 days.” WHY? I cannot fathom why an unsubscribe request can’t be processed immediately by email servers in 2016.

By: Kim from Philadelphia

Kim from Philadelphia — Tue, 10 May 2016 01:57:36 +0000

Unsubscribe is the way to go. It may take 7-10 days to cease receiving these emails, I try to do the same with catalogues; instead if just dumping them
In the recycling bin, I try to call and have the company remove my name from their list.
Reducing unnecessary clutter, whether electronic or paper, is so very helpful.

By: Jennie Evans

Jennie Evans — Tue, 10 May 2016 01:34:01 +0000

I have the pleasure of working with one of my best friends. Our relationship started slowly, but has built over the past 10 years. Several of my life long friends are work friends. Many have come along because we have children similar in age and through activities have built a relationship. My best friend is childless and keeps me grounded. Because she has no children, she is my life line to my adult personal life. She enjoys stories about my kids, but will quickly remind me that I have other interests and hobbies and so does she and can we talk about that! We got a long at work, then went out to eat a few times, then grocery shopping (it’s wierd, but we not love ethnic grocery stores), and eventually trips.

By: Maggie

Maggie — Mon, 09 May 2016 22:41:39 +0000

This topic (newsletters) is front and centre for me lately. As I work for myself, I have been told many times that I should have a newsletter. But, because I don’t sell a physical product and because I am booked into 2017, I’m not looking for a lot of new business. Plus, as someone who has also unsubscribed from a zillion newsletters, I know that people get way too many and that many go unopened.
So, I’m going old school and mailing (!!!) a newsletter to my network – current and past clients, colleagues, mentors, and some dream clients. Not sure what this looks like yet, but I did commit to completing this by the end of June. It will be interesting to hear what the response is… I’m hoping for anything but radio silence! Truly, I hope that receiving a piece of mail is whimsical enough to make recipients smile (I bought Star Trek stamps!) while also helping my network understand the work I’ve been doing lately, and providing some kind of actionable information gleaned from something I’ve learned or done lately.
Fingers crossed!

By: Lily

Lily — Mon, 09 May 2016 20:16:57 +0000

I unsubscribe to anything I’m not interested in, but I also created a ‘bacn’ folder for all of the newsletters that I do want, but don’t want clogging up my inbox, and I set filters for them to be automatically directed there. I check in when I’m taking a lunch break, and periodically clear the whole folder to get rid of any backlog. The name helps to remind me that reading that stuff is a ‘treat’ and doesn’t actually count as productivity!

By: Joanna

Joanna — Mon, 09 May 2016 19:37:30 +0000

I sign up for a lot and then realize later what a time waster it all is. I’ve been thinking it’s time to trim it all again. But I have almost as hard a time with virtual clutter as I have dealing with real clutter!

I use Google as my backend to my email domain. Being able to use their Inbox client and have lots of automatic filtering really helps the clutter.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Mon, 09 May 2016 18:23:04 +0000

Another vote for unroll.me!! It saved my email inboxes.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Mon, 09 May 2016 17:29:13 +0000

I have a specific (never checked) email that I give out for all online purchases so that all spam goes into one place and I never see it – unless I have to log in to check on an order issue.

By: lauravanderkam

lauravanderkam — Mon, 09 May 2016 16:49:03 +0000

In reply to Ana.

@Ana- the work ones are harder. Since they are “targeted” to a degree, if completely off the mark, it’s not going to have the same easy unsubscribe options. There are a few PR agencies and people who email me multiple times a week with pitches that are not relevant (I have never covered pets, for instance). I probably should email and say just that and redirect them to the topics I do cover but…it seems like extra work and it’s always easier to delete.