[United857]

I usually opt-out of all marketing emails whenever I can, but my pet peeve is when e.g. my bank tells me about a new feature in their mobile app or something otherwise trivial, and claims it's a "important account-related" email that I can't opt out of.

To me, important is "We saw $5000 charges to your account from Elbonia, can you verify?". "Download our new app with new redesigned UI!" is not.

[rkagerer]

I always send a chastising reply. I know one message may not do much, but I've been surprised to occasionally get a response (usually from smaller vendors) promising to be more judicious in the future.

If enough people bitch at them for wasting eyeball time with trivial matters they might take notice...

[treebornfrog]

Couldn't agree with you more.

I get marketing SMS with pictures from my network provider about the new iPhone etc.

Its terrible.

[qrbLPHiKpiux]

I gave up and accept this as the normal standard. I just delete it and move on. Also gave up on “inbox 0.” That’s an unattainable goal. Better luck putting my self on the moon.

[tomjen3]

Whenever I have an issue with inbox 0, it is because I don't have a procedure in place for how to deal with a given email.

Stupid marketing emails are the easiest to deal with - the entire required procedure is to archive them.

Emails that are complex and require a lot more though, have multiple decisions and/or holders of stakes involved are currently the bane of my existence.

[0xffff2]

>Also gave up on “inbox 0.” That’s an unattainable goal.

As someone who has never had any trouble maintaining inbox 0 I have to ask, why?

[webninja]

34,586 unread emails are too many to click on so I just created a second email for family and friends only and quit checking my primary.

[goatherders]

Same. 0 is easy.

[magashna]

I setup a wildcard for my domain and then use promos.Company@mydomain for anything new I sign up for which makes it manageable. Plenty goes to my promotional wildcard, odd things to the wild wildcard (junked), and only important direct emails go to my actual inbox.

[treebornfrog]

Inbox 0 really triggers me.

Simply put, if you are unable to get to 0 (work related), then you need to take on less.

I run a business and get less than 10 emails per day, what is everyone doing that is filling up their inboxes so much?

[mehrdadn]

I have literally 10 emails just from my own Google Calendar reminding me to do things, 6 from HN replies, some from GitHub, some reminders for financial statements, and lots of miscellaneous notifications and mailing list emails... how in the world do you only get 10 emails per day when running a business?

[dewey]

Delegating?

[driverdan]

That's unacceptable. I'd change providers.

[vkou]

To which one? They all do it.

[dehugger]

I've never received an sms marketing message from GoogleFi in 4 years.

[dwoozle]

You may be in two different countries with two different sets of options available.

[ShorsHammer]

You'd be surprised how much this underlying root cause is the source of so many online arguments over who is "right".

It's amazing how many people seem to think that the words on the screen are someone just down the road living a life virtually similar to theirs and not sitting in a country where holding hands is illegal in public and people get stoned to death in public.

I'm the latter. Hi!

[jermaustin1]

What about notification of an actual account level feature like: "We now support instant transfers between you, and your family/friends!"?

Would you still consider that a marketing email or a notification?

[kerkeslager]

A marketing email.

Just because I am a user of some of your products is not permission to market me your other products.

Your example even reads like a marketing release. You've really somehow determined who my family and friends are, and you now support instant transfers to that specific group of people? If it were true it would be creepy, but it's unlikely. The reality is probably that you support instant transfers to other accounts at the bank, or within a network of banks, which is obviously useful, but you have no idea who might own accounts I would transfer to, and you're citing friends and family because it plays as more social. You know what the feature is, but you didn't describe it accurately--that's not exactly a lie, but it's certainly not honest either. The reason you're not just saying what you mean is because you're trying to sell me something you know I'm not that interested in.

[United857]

It's marketing to me. It's fine if you communicate it via your website or app when I log in. But do not send me email, SMS or push notifications about these things if I don't want it, those should be reserved for "action required" things.

[choward]

That's absolutely a marketing message. It's most likely a feature that I don't care about and benefits the company more than me. I don't need my phone to vibrate. If I received a transfer that's a different story.

[rkagerer]

It might be less intrusive if they queued the news for inclusion at the bottom of my next "You received a transfer" email.

[inetknght]

Banks (and businesses) should absolutely not clutter up actual real important information by including irrelevant useless marketing garbage.

[paulie_a]

It's marketing focused

You might have opted in by joining the service but those are worthless emails no one gives two shit about.

[JohnFen]

That's 100% a marketing message.