So, I just spent the past couple of hours going through my e-mail. Yes, two whole hours. Why? Well, here’s the thing; I like many of us over the past year or so, have spent a good chunk of change online. I get the e-mails and newsletters of every company I’ve bought something from. I’ll be honest, I was getting to the point that I was getting 15 e-mails a day that was just “HEY WE HAVE A SALE!!!! BUY STUFF NOW!!!!” Sometimes these e-mails can be quite helpful because the vendors have sales or a new product that I might want. My real issue is all of the other e-mails that get sent out like, “Hey, you know the sale we told you about an hour ago? HERE WE ARE AGAIN!!!” Suffice it to say that I do have to go through my e-mail every once and a while, and you should too. To cut down on the avalanche of e-mails that can come at you on a daily basis, there are a few things that you can do.
1) Just delete them – I’ll admit, there is a serious satisfaction on hitting that delete button to a bunch of e-mails. Just getting any unwanted e-mails out of your inbox can be a wonderfully cathartic experience. I certainly know that I’ve had days when I’m not feeling generous or kind of grumpy, and going through and crushing my delete button for a few e-mails has undoubtedly made me feel better. The problem is that while it’s satisfying, the satisfaction doesn’t last long. Just deleting the old e-mails doesn’t stop any further communication from senders.
2) Manage your subscription options – Managing how many and how often you receive e-mails from specific vendors is not always an option. Still, if it is available, it is something you may want to consider. I certainly know that I had received e-mails in the past from vendors about everything under the moon that they sell, when in reality, what brought me to their site was only one particular thing. It was vital for me to stay updated on what I wanted and not worry about getting bombarded by everything else that didn’t interest me. Luckily for me, on the site that I was interested in, they had the option to unsubscribe from only specific things to notify me on something that I was interested in knowing about. It’s also possible that the frequency of e-mails you’re getting is making you reach for that Unsubscribe Button. Certainly, for me, I have been subscribed to some vendors who thought it was appropriate to e-mail me about their stuff three or four times a day. A quick look into my subscription settings got that sorted, and now I only get e-mails once a month from them.
3) Just unsubscribe – If there are no options for the type or frequency of e-mail subscription you want, you may want to consider just calling it a day and straight unsubscribing from the e-mail subscription entirely. I certainly know that there have been products that I’ve liked or information that I thought I would want (which is why I signed up in the first place), but I was overloaded with so much other info that what I wanted initially got lost in the mix. Alternatively, I have also had it where I would buy something from an e-store, and the next day I would get an e-mail asking me to buy the exact product. While I recognize that it’s not the companies selling these products doing this, in fact, it’s the sales algorithms; it still bugs me….so I unsubscribe.
E-mail is something that we all have to deal with one way or another. It is such a major form of communication that, of course, salespeople (and their algorithms) would be all over it. What is important for you to remember is that you can trim down how much e-mail you get daily to avoid getting overwhelmed. E-mail isn’t something that you need to be stressed out about, and despite everyone and their dogs trying to get your attention about anything under the sun, you don’t have to pay attention to all of it. You can let in only the things that you want.
While I recognize that my regular sendoff paragraph where I ask you to subscribe to this blog may be a bit counter to the advice, I am giving you…..
