Poll: COVID-19 and "Unsolicited" Commercial Email
5Recently I’ve begun receiving regular email offers from businesses I haven’t done business with (or received emails from) in half a decade or more. I’m thinking the pandemic has had such a profoundly negative economic impact that some businesses are leaving no stone unturned in terms of marketing to try to make some money.
Have you recently begun receiving commercial email from businesses you haven’t heard from in years?
A - Yes
B - No
C - I always pick C
D - I don’t know
E - Other
/giphy unsolicited commercial email
- 14 comments, 22 replies
- Comment
B
@tinamarie1974
E.
The answer is 42.
ps… no emails…
@daveinwarsh
A. Mostly to “inform” me, as a valued customer, of all the resources and special accomodations that are available to me during the pandemic.
My guess is that these resources are now available using the savings from laying off so many staff.
It’s nice knowing I’ve been given a courtesy extension on my billing for an extra 90 days. From a company I haven’t done business with in over a decade. How considerate.
@mike808
The key was years. So no, not really.
An abundance of emails from places I do do business with that were / are getting nagging and repetitive.
But not too hideous compared to some
/giphy nagging
@Cerridwyn
B.
But I did get a slew of emails in June from a lot of businesses assuring me that they are DEEPLY, deeply concerned with social justice.
@Kyeh
@Kyeh same here and some of the companies I voluntarily get emails from where the emails used to be weekly or once or twice a month - a few are flooding out my inbox with daily emails instead of weekly, biweekly or monthly.
@Kidsandliz
A, though I can’t say it’s a huge deal
@DoctorOW
F)
Frequent
Unsolicited
Covid
Knowledge &
Eclectic
Detritus
@mehcuda67
You get two for creativity
@earlyre
I recognize that area code!
A. Yup. Got a text last week from a lawn care company that I haven’t used in 6+ years in a state I haven’t lived in since 2015.
Upside, my unsubscribe game is strong.
@bakeyoural
A
@ChompyGator
I believe A is accurate, though it’s more of an uptick than a deluge. There is an increase in commercial email in general though for sure. It’s easy to send emails from home, I guess.
@djslack
B. Maybe I just haven’t formed a lot of the kinds of business relationships that are that kind of renewable.
@InnocuousFarmer
An extraordinary number of companies think I really really want extended warranties for various autos not owned by me for some years.
The autos referred to each went to Le Junkyard quite a number of years ago. Perhaps Le Junkyard owners never bothered registering the title change. I don’t really care. Those vehicles aren’t going anywhere ever again under their own power.
@f00l
@f00l I’ve been getting automated calls like that on both my personal and work phones. My work phone has an out of state number, and it’s never been associated with my car or anything else personal. The only calls I should get on it are from my supervisor and coworkers.
A. Especially during the earliest peak of the Coronapocalypse. Almost daily emails keeping me informed of their concern for employees and customers and outlining the safety measures they are taking. From companies I have not had any interaction with for many years, as well as current relationships.
Sales and special offers from companies I haven’t ordered from for years. And companies which had tolerable levels of marketing email before are now flooding my inbox with multiple daily messages. Rakuten has always been horrible about this, but Morningsave, Newegg, Lenovo and Home Depot are among the worst offenders with three or more per day. I have been systematically unsubscribing from these hoping to cull the herd a bit.
@ruouttaurmind
@ruouttaurmind
I haven’t gotten any from Morningsave, but I’ve never ordered anything from them. I did get a few emails from them awhile back, but I unsubscribed and haven’t heard anything since.
@ruouttaurmind Yeah morningsave is becoming really obnoxious with the number of emails they are sending. Home Depot is about daily too as is Lowes.
@eonfifty Oh, and eBay. I forgot to mention eBay. The volume of junk email from them has increased to rival even Rakuten. I don’t dare click on an item listing just from curiosity or eBay will be hounding me for weeks. “Are you still interested in Universal Left Handed Pfitzer Valve - New Old Stock?” The volume from them has increased dramatically through Q2 and Q3.
@Kidsandliz @ruouttaurmind you can just hit unsubscribe at the bottom of the email. Just saying
@ruouttaurmind @unksol Well yes you can unsub, but if you want emails, just not infinity million of them, then unsubbing isn’t the answer.