Just once I’d like to buy something on the internet and not have the site send me loads of bloody emails afterwards
When I buy a Mars Bar (admittedly not that often these days) the newsagent doesn’t pester me with weekly phone calls about the other chocolate bars I might be interested in. And when I get off a bus I’m not concerned that the rest of my life will be littered with visits from the driver, asking if I’d like another journey at some point.
But when I buy absolutely anything on the internet I then receive regular emails telling me about new offers and other products from the place I shopped at.
And that would be fine if I had deliberately ticked an opt-in box, expressing my further interest in what these sites have to offer, but that never happens. I know if never happens because I’m always surprised to receive yet another email pointing out that it’s Valentine’s Day, the perfect occasion to buy some Lego.
This morning I voted for a friend’s card design on some site. Of course they asked for my email address and IMMEDIATELY sent me some spam which began with ‘thank you for signing up to our newsletter’. But I didn’t, and now I just feel negatively about the company in question.
Of course it’s an effective marketing tool that probably brings in more money than pissed off customers, but would it be so awful to have the chance to opt in instead of having my email address used as permission for constant bother?
But you must admit, Valentine’s Day *is* the perfect occasion to buy some Lego.
But Ben ‘big data’ is the future of creativity.
Or so the advocates of ‘native advertising’ or whatever the current bollocksy phrase is would tell you.
I think people forget that at the end of all the metrics and data lists are people – just like yourself – who get a bit fed up of the constant ‘always-on’ conversation brands insist on having with their customers.
they all phrase it differently too to fuck you up
“tick the box if you don’t not want to not receive no emails from us”
cunts
It *is* the perfect day to buy Lego, but we all know that already.
I’m not that arsed about it, to be honest.
Hawking wares is the foundation of our economy and way of life.
The more technology advances the shitter our lives get.
I saved a childs life once, while urinating in a pub toliet.
There was this poster, you see, above the urinal asking me to send a £5 text to save the life of a child by buying them a mosquito net.
I did this, finished my piss and was happy to have saved the child’s life.
I was much less happy to recieve a call, pretty much every other day, for this (well-known) charity, asking me to donate further via direct debit. The calls continued for over a month, despite me tearfully begging them to leave me alone.
RE: spam emails. Go into your inbox then search emails for ‘Unsubscribe’. All those junk ones should magically appear so you can carefully and gently unsubscribe from them all.
I then recieved a call a week, every week, for six weeks from the well-known charity asking me if I’d like to further my donation by setting up a direct debit to save more children
It’s a perfect irritant I agree, but it happens and you need to come to terms with it Ben. It’s only as annoying as you let it be.
Very zen George. Good for you.
Personally I’d ring em up and offer to shit down their neck.
George doesn’t let ANYTHING he can’t change annoy him. Ever. Just let it be.
Don’t get emotional about a rational problem.
I have offered to shit down the neck of people selling me PPI insurance. The recorded messages don’t have much of a sense of humour.
Never give out your personal mail address. Instead, make a new one that you’ll use to buy stuff on the internet. That’s how I do it.
good tip, but then I’ll never remember who has the new one and who has the old one.