Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#111

Post by oliwarner » Sat, Nov 07, 2020, 1:08 PM UTC

arielm wrote: post #74

As someone who’s responsible for sending emails, all of the comments about “marking it as spam is easier than unsubscribing” really make me cringe. For several reasons: 1. If you subscribe to a list then please please please take the time to locate the very clearly marked unsubscribe link, or use the one that gmail or your other email client shows. I spend a lot of time making sure it’s suuuper easy to unsubscribe. 2…

Unsolicited, commercial email is spam.

Divorce yourself from this notion that it's sometimes okay to send it. It's not just a newsletter. It don't care that you now offer free delivery. If the recipient didn't explicitly ask you for marketing communications, you're just as bad as the people offering penis enlargement pills. That's why you get treated the same.

If it is something I asked for, I will click the unsubscribe link.

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#112

Post by pyepye » Sat, Nov 07, 2020, 1:11 PM UTC

I created a similar service earlier this year which runs on exactly the same idea (forwarding emails to unsubscribe to them). It's nice to see some validation for the idea on HN.

I've attacked the problem from a different angle though - I've tried to automate the service a lot more. Automatically looking for the unsubscribe button and filling out any HTML forms that appear etc. It doesn't always work but it's been fun trying to work out ways to automate the different steps etc.

If anyone is interested in a similar product with a slightly different way of doing things, different pricing and a web UI, please check out: https://www.stopthat.email/

Hopefully you don't mind the health competition ryanmjacobs.

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#113

Post by oliwarner » Sat, Nov 07, 2020, 1:15 PM UTC

graeme wrote: post #87

Icyphox wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why send this crap in the first place? Do you think people actually care to read your HTML + tracking filled pile of junk? Sorry about the tone, but it really does irk me.

> If you subscribe to a list You missed that key line. It may surprise you because you personally don’t do this, but regular people love signing up for email newsletters. This is very different from email sent unexpectedly when you make an account somewhere. The OP was clearly talking about a list the user has asked to receive. These tend to have fairly clear unsubscribe links in the footer.

IME "asked for" is too often code for "bought something 5 years ago", "didn't read the terms and conditions". Rarely real, informed consent.

The one exception —again, just in my 20 years experience doing this crap— is when you pay them, eg "10% off your first order when you subscribe to our newsletter". This is still more coerced consent than informed, but better than most subscriptions.

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#114

Post by Garlef » Sat, Nov 07, 2020, 1:15 PM UTC

My solutions:

On my google mail account, I automatically forward all emails containing the word "unsubscribe" to a spam folder and mark them as read.

Also: I have two email accounts. One for signups and one for actual communication. Works fine.

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#115

Post by Garlef » Sat, Nov 07, 2020, 1:19 PM UTC

sdfhbdf wrote: post #75

tyingq wrote: post #47

Your pricing model does seem to need some work. Credits would likely be a better match than a monthly service. It would better fit the nature of the problem. But, kudos on offering a manual service in a space where automation can easily fail.

Wow. Your comment is 2 hours old and it seems the model is already changed. Kudos to the author. > Note: After some input, I have decided to change billing to a credit-based system. Each unsubscribe uses 1 Credit. Over time, you should need this service less and less :)

I'm not sure. Growth in users might be slower but growth in revenue might be better with a subscription model. Maybe have both?

Or what about: 5 credits free, 2 free per month, XX additional credits per month through a subscription.

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#116

Post by geekrax » Sat, Nov 07, 2020, 1:26 PM UTC

nullandvoid wrote: post #79

For me fast mail alias for every site I use, and a password manager, mean spam is a problem of the past Feels great having separation on every site

I do the same with my custom domain with a catch all email-address that end up in one gmail inbox where I have setup specific filters and rules. Everything I don't care about (ex: linkedin@mydomain) goes straight to trash. A few things get marked as read and archived automatically (ex: pge@mydomain)

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#117

Post by mtlynch » Sat, Nov 07, 2020, 1:27 PM UTC

faitswulff wrote: post #73

jen729w wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A fine option, which I also endorse. In all seriousness, here’s what I do to combat Insidious Mailing List Spam. It’s kinda simple. 1. Get one email address for friends and family. Never ever post it online. Never use it for any shopping or anything. This is your email address . There is no mailbox anxiety because you get one email a day to this address and it’s from your dad and you love him. 2. Get another one for…

I just set up a wildcard email forwarder on my domain and set up an email address for every domain or website I sign up for (e.g. ycombinator.com@mydomain.net). Keeps everything nicely separated, logins are predictable, and I can track who got my email from where. It makes certain things more complicated, like authenticating against certain services, or if someone sends and invitation to one of your domain emails, bu…

I used to have this problem with Gmail because it was easy to receive mail at a new address, but always a 10-minute process to start sending mail from a new address.

I just switched to Fastmail and was pleasantly surprised with their solution. You can set up wildcard response aliases so that if you receive an email to random.onetime@mydomain.net, when you hit reply, it automatically sends from the random.onetime@mydomain.net.

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#118

Post by nickthemagicman » Sat, Nov 07, 2020, 1:28 PM UTC

oliwarner wrote: post #111

arielm wrote: post #74

As someone who’s responsible for sending emails, all of the comments about “marking it as spam is easier than unsubscribing” really make me cringe. For several reasons: 1. If you subscribe to a list then please please please take the time to locate the very clearly marked unsubscribe link, or use the one that gmail or your other email client shows. I spend a lot of time making sure it’s suuuper easy to unsubscribe. 2…

Unsolicited, commercial email is spam. Divorce yourself from this notion that it's sometimes okay to send it. It's not just a newsletter. It don't care that you now offer free delivery. If the recipient didn't explicitly ask you for marketing communications, you're just as bad as the people offering penis enlargement pills. That's why you get treated the same. If it is something I asked for, I will click the unsubscr…

I would say maybe .001% (or less) of spam mail is mail I want and purposefully requested.

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#119

Post by logifail » Sat, Nov 07, 2020, 1:30 PM UTC

sleavey wrote: post #98

user5994461 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>> please please please take the time to locate the very clearly marked unsubscribe link You mean the one word link in font 6 hidden maybe somewhere at the bottom of the email if it's there at all? I have never seen an easy clearly marked unsubscribe in my life. When at look at my friends and parents who are not as computer savvy and often don't see things put in front of them, there is no way they would ever manage…

What's worse is when the unsubscribe link takes you to a page where you can select the reason why you are unsubscribing, and it doesn't include an option like "I never signed up to this mailing list". I've never in my life checked the box to sign up to any mailing list, so this is always my reason, yet some arrogant marketers believe they always obtain consent when they add emails to their mailing lists and so remove…

> when the unsubscribe link takes you to a page where you can select the reason why you are unsubscribing

It should only take one click on the unsubscribe link in the email for the sender to actually do the unsubscribe. If after processing it the sender is determined to try and stuff a sales and marketing survey on the landing page, I suppose it's hard to stop them, but I won't play "20 questions" just to get the sender to accept that I don't want any more of their emails.

Executive summary: if I can't unsubscribe from your email newsletter with one click, you get the spam filter treatment

Re: Show HN: Please-unsubscribe.com – fwd emails to unsubscribe from marketing

#120

Post by throwawayiionqz » Sat, Nov 07, 2020, 1:32 PM UTC

Search for emails with the word "unsubscribe".

Then select-all and Mark as spam!

Edit: Or go through each result, some email clients will highlight the search term "unsubscribe" after search, making the unsubscribe link easier to find.