[davidjgraph]

I love when you get things like "unsubscribing costs U.S. retailers about $5.8 billion per year.

So if you stopped people unsubscribing $5.8 billion more would be spent on retail? No, people have, roughly, a fixed amount to spend, stopping them unsubscribing isn't going to give them more money.

If that figure were true, 5.8 bil less would be spent in other areas. But let's face it, this figure is pulled from someone's arse.

OK, there's a bubble of apps claiming to do this at the moment, but the marketing just gets more and more cheesy. And if we find it cheesy, are we going to trust these folks with our marketing?

[aes256]

> So if you stopped people unsubscribing $5.8 billion more would be spent on retail? No, people have, roughly, a fixed amount to spend, stopping them unsubscribing isn't going to give them more money.

Yep. One retailer's loss is another retailer's gain.

[davidjgraph]

The silly thing is here, having looked at their app, it's looks reasonably good, given its age.

The presentation tells us "First impressions matter."

Looks like decent tech, let by some awful marketing. Now if only that had been done on purpose to prove a point...

[squarecat]

You mean the awful marketing that led you to the product? That awful marketing? Is that the awful marketing you're referring to?

I just want to clarify that the awful marketing you are speaking of is the one that caused you to look at the product...

[kstenerud]

Yes. The awful marketing that throws around obviously bogus numbers, leading me to wonder what else they'd do in a slipshod manner.

So yeah, I looked at the page. Congrats and all that.

[pospischil]

OP here -- the numbers are in no way bogus, all sourcing information and methodologies are listed on the page itself (see the bottom left * on each 'slide').

Would love to understand what gave you that impression, as we work hard to build content like this, and hate to see it shrugged off.

[mattmanser]

unsubscribing costs U.S. retailers about $5.8 billion per year

Utter nonsense.

/end thread

[pacaro]

The telling part is that they say...

"Custora's research shows that stores on average lose roughly 1.75% of revenue every year due to unsubscribes."

This is remarkably similar (in amount) to loss through shrinkage at bricks and mortar stores, which is estimated at 1.7% (according to one source I bothered to find) [1] - but while retailers take steps to reduce shrinkage, there is a cost/benefit balance in play and a certain amount is inevitable, maybe the same is true of unsubscribe

I'm more curious about how that 1.75% compares from other sources of lost revenue; how does it compare to the cost of processing returns, or fraud, or just basic transaction costs, &c?

Maybe it's significant, maybe it's noise, but without anything to compare it to, who knows

[1] http://www.jrrobertssecurity.com/security-news/security-crim...

[squarecat]

Hopefully, the hyperbole communicated the intent of a good-natured ribbing...

[001sky]

all publicity is good publicity

..except for when its not.

[rhizome]

The cheesiness is a sing of (impending) market saturation. The race to the bottom is a facet of competition.

[3825]

guys, don't be confused. that `sing` is supposed to be `sign`

[rhizome]

whoops, thanks!

[tlrobinson]

Sounds a bit like how Hollywood/recording industry equates piracy with theft.