One item purchased, ten emails

I documented the 13+ emails I received over the course of trying to buy a wallet: https://jfloren.net/b/2022/12/12/0

Everybody just assumes they're the only thing hitting your inbox, like I don't also have "engagement" messages from 3 other stores I bought shit from two years back, plus PG&E trying to convince me to install a meter that can turn off my A/C remotely, plus Nextdoor trying to update me because somebody thinks they heard a gunshot...

I just ordered a dishwasher from Lowes, and that translated to 16 text messages from them, including asking if my address was correct, asking 3 times if the delivery date worked for me. I appreciated 2 of them: Your delivery window is 9:30-1:30, you are stop 7, the driver just finished the delivery before you and is headed your way.

There's a right number of times to text me about a delivery that is going exactly as planned, and 16 is not that number.

This actually misses some, namely the "your order is out for delivery" email which precedes the "your order is delivered one". And some places might split up the delivery into parts so you get even more despite being delivered together (in some cases in the same box!).

Worse is if they require a phone number then text you each and every step as well as email you. Some places you can "opt out" of texting but then the next order will just repeat the process.

All I want is an order confirmed email, and an order shipped email with the tracking number. I get maybe some people want a "delivered" email but I don't even want that, I'll see it, it can sit there an hour it's ok; if it's something really important I'll be looking at the tracking anyhow.

And while I'm complaining, it sure would be great to get rid of the syrupy language some use: "Get excited!!! Your order is being packed!!!!" Yes, I am glad I will receive a bunch of paper towels, but it is, I can assure you, not exciting.

P.S. edit: I just got two emails a few minutes ago (both for the same single order) stating that my order was on the way and would arrive... in twenty minutes. Which I think is a new one, I don't think I've gotten an "your order is less than half hour away" email before.

In contrast I’m a fan of the overeager messages for actual updates like these presented.

It is just when after said delivery that I then end up on a mailing list where I get sent something seemingly daily from a single vendor that I’m less pleased.

I actually really enjoy getting this sequence of emails but I use Gmail’s auto categorization so it just goes in the “Updates” folder and gets auto-forwarded to my claw-like so it’s not super interrupty. I prefer to have the full trace on my side rather than on the provider side because their site might go down and so on.

I can see why people get annoyed. It’s just the alternative that I really dislike.

This way I can do all analysis on my own side or search for status on my side. I prefer to own the data and have it pushed in a timely manner.

I'll just suggest -- I don't think they have A/B tested the right amount of emails. There was a time when companies optimized this sort of stuff, but the cost of researching that vs. just sending every opportunistic email possible is too great. This doesn't really matter except that we give companies too much credit for stuff like this. They're just kind of...doing stuff, for better or worse.

It's better than it was back in the 90s. Imagine that, but as physical mail. Oh, and they sent a separate copy to your billing contact, which was at the same address, and was also you.

Friend of mine told me they bought some music-related item and they got several emails but also an AI generated video of the CEO or something like that personally thanking them for their purchase. Super weird.

The video said something along the lines of "Hey {name} I am the CEO... I want to personally thank you for your purchase".

I can't remember if they bought whatever it is from Instagram through an ad on there so a super social/ad heavy space anyway.

All I need when I buy something online is the shipping tracking number. That's it. I don't need an invoice. What am I going to do with that, print it out and stare at it? I don't need constant tracking updates. I can get these myself with the tracking number. I don't need to know it was delivered (again, tracking number, and I can also just look on the porch with my eyeballs). I don't need any of the other sales-spam that always seems to accompany these orders. An online merchant shouldn't even need my E-mail address. I should be able to click "buy" and the next page shows me the tracking number. That's the only relationship I want with you!

Assuming the message actually contains information, and not a login link, lots of email updates is great. It means I automatically get a local copy of the message stored, so if I want to look it up, I have it immediately available, regardless of my current network connectivity.

I use Gmail's support for aliases, by putting a '+' symbol after my user name, followed by a alias, so that the messages can be easily filtered. I then add the alias to Gmail's server-side filtering to move the message to an IMAP folder for messages from vendors/distributors.

I make a habit of training the spam filter to catch all the non-important emails produced on a purchase.

Tracking link for shipment? Thank you!

Random email about how to 'best use' my purchase (advertise other products) - instant spam flag.

This has worked quite well, though occasionally the filter gets it wrong.

I'm particularly fond of the senders who know there are nominally laws about spam, so they just label every piece of marketing and customer retention garbage as pertaining to your user account, or they layer some subscription-related language over a promotion al email. I uploaded photos to a printing service over a decade ago and long since unsubscribed from their marketing lists. Two months ago they started sending me bi-weekly "reminders" that my old photos would be purged soon but offering me a discount subscription to their cloud storage. They then sent me at least three weekly reminders. The thing is, none of the links in the email would send me to the page to download old information (which it turns out I had already done years ago, presumably on prompt of some other spam) or information on deleting that content myself.

The other classic of the genre is mailing list software that stores opt-out preferences separate of customer account data such that when they move to a different marketing service or their retention policy tolls out you start getting spam again, exactly 5 years after you opted out.

Poland is always like this, for "good" reasons. The American shopping experience is a breath of fresh air in comparison.

Our workflow is often something like this:

1. "Verify your account" (before you buy).

2. Order has been accepted.

3. [From the payment gateway, we typically don't do credit cards for online transactions]: Payment required.

4. [Your bank, via a push notification]: Please confirm this transaction, typical EU overregulation 3D Secure crap.

5. [Your bank, Push]: Card payment.

6. [Payment gateway, after you're redirected to their site and complete payment] Payment succeeded.

7. [Store]: We have received your payment.

8. [Store, one business day later]: Here's the invoice you requested. Spoiler, no invoice was actually requested.

9. [Store]: Here's the tracking number for your parcel.

10. [Parcel Delivery app, you practically need one to open parcel lockers, our favorite method for getting almost anything, if you don't want to deal with the hassle of SMS]: Your parcel has been registered.

10. [Parcel app]: Your parcel is on the way.

11. [Parcel app] Your parcel is ready for collection.

12. [Store]: Your package has been delivered.

Most of these are no-opt-out.

That list doesn't include any marketing, "how did you like your Order" or "Please review this Seller" emails. If there's another intermediary in the mix, like Allegro (our local Amazon / eBay alternative that most people order from), there can sometimes be a bunch more.

Just wait until you _don't_ buy something...

Throw some items in your cart and enjoy all the emails reminding you to check out, look at similar items, share with your friends, and use discounts before they expire!

Never give out your email. Just hand out proxy addresses. Have a couple in your wallet\phone casing for when you need to give one right away without time to generate it.

No spam. Or if you get some, one click to stop receiving mail from a specific proxy.

Takes some using to, and some work each time you give out an email address. But so does sifting through a ton of spam, because you didn't care enough to only give out a proxy address.

I've internalized the delete shortcut in gmail and configured one of the swipe directions in the app to be delete. For a long time, I archived every email, but there's so much crap like this now to wade through.

I also discovered that a busy local mailing list was sending images as attachments that counted against my quota, so even more incentive to delete instead of archive.

Doordash has become better, but they use to do the same thing with notifications:

Your order has been placed! > Your order is being prepared! > Bob is on route to pick up your order! Bob is waiting for your order! Message from Bob: I'm waiting for your order! > Your order has been picked up! > Message from Bob: I'm on my way! > Your order is approaching! > Your order has arrived! > Your order was dropped off! > Please rate your dasher! > etc etc etc

The only reason I never completely turned off notifications was because there was one I actually needed: my order was dropped off...

Machines write emails, people don't.

So it is just "mark as read" every day or week, and move on skimming mail senders, and rarely any headings, and nearly never message bodies.

Or for such a company, make a filter and clear out the subfolder every half year or when check only there is an issue with an order.

For most of ecom you lose money acquiring a customer, and can only hope to break even by emailing them and going for repeat purchases.

A few ecom folks manage to acquire customers without losing money.

Typically it's via a "welcome kit" that costs $150+ to cover ads.

I pay for Fastmail.com precisely for their unlimited aliases and masked addresses.

Since virtually everything now requires creating an account (thanks marketers, bots, AI agents), I always use throwaway emails + privacy tools.

I gave up on inbox zero a long time ago, so it isn't the emails themselves that bother me as much as the notifications that I get through my phone and smartwatch.

I now run each notification through an LLM and give it instructions on what to filter out. I accidentally disabled it recently and was startled at the flood of notifications--like when you browse the internet without an ad blocker and forget how bad it is.

I highly recommend using an email alias service. The author mentions SimpleLogin. I've been using Firefox Relay for a few years and it's great!

i am no fan of spam. but i am totally fine (and expect, really) to receive email #s 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8 on this 10 point list.

- 1 confirms my order was received, and im not left thinking i ordered something when it wasnt processed.

- 3, 4, 6, 7 are all good for ensuring my order didnt get lost in the process and lets me schedule my day if needed.

- proof of delivery (8) is good for records, disputes, or just knowing that i should pop over to my house on lunch so the item isnt sitting outside all day.

however, i do use my own domain and unique addresses per store (e.g. "walmart@example.com" if i need a walmart account for whatever reason), so that if/when companies start doing the "we miss you", "please rate us", "seriously, please rate us, you havent yet :(" or whatever, i can immediately bin it.

catchall is also super convenient for automatically organizing emails. anything with a "to" address of "walmart@example.com" goes straight into the "walmart" folder.

The trustpilot begging emails are the worst IMO. I didn't agree to TP having my email address, so why are they contacting me...again and again and again???

Apple hide my email was a great solution to this, I feel like we need a proper open source alternative. Basically a relay inbox that is ephemeral and you can discard once you’re done.

This is convenient tracking. Worse is the daily marketing you never opted into.

Just emails? I get all that plus half a dozen text messages.

You'd love AliExpress. There's probably 20-25 emails per order as there are so many tracking steps. But I like it, just automatically move them to a folder.

Is there a technical limitation why these never seem to be grouped into a thread? I generally appreciate the updates on my package, but I also value a tidy inbox.

Only one "are you happy with your purchase?" follow-up email? He should count himself lucky...

pretty soon we won't be reading books or emails. We have have AI filters. Maybe we won't even be reading our friends or partners message either, mostly fluff anyways?

"We've delivered your item" I suspect is required from their point of view due to their annoying proclivity to deliver items on a door step instead of where they meant to which is to a person. CYA

I feel like the author is overly cynical here. You get so many updates because there's so much information available about your delivery, and I for one appreciate having it! I wish there was as standardized format so my e-mail client could just roll it all up into one status box but it's hardly the end of the world.

Actually, four emails, not ten. Author writes as if it’s some conspiracy of sellers and shipping companies to maximise the number of emails. Each sends with any excuse they have. The email is treated as a drop box of transactional notes that business sends to customers inbox so customer can always find that info if they would have a need. It’s not frivolous sending that we need to fix but some standard of “receipt” folders, like Gmail auto folders in half-assed way. So these emails bypass inbox directly to special folder. And it should have a standard name so customer service can say “look in your Receipts folder”.

And Two “We received your order” is unnecessary, as well as “create account”. But if they send those it must be working? Or they send even is only handful of people click on them?

Ugh... same feelings here... looking at you, eBay.

problem that would be solved if clients were a little better at grouping emails

I hate the "Give feedback"/"Review the item you bought ..." emails.

I'm sitting here, fantasizing creating an automation where whenever one of these hits my inbox, I'll have an LLM agent go to the page and give the most negative feedback it can muster.

Hum... Except for the 2 emails asking for feedback, I don't see any problem with that.

Do you get overwhelmed by emails tracking items you brought? You expect stores not to communicate with you about active contracts you've already paid for and have actions pending from their part? Why exactly do you think that's a problem?

Maybe for you it’s a problem, I personally know people that if they don’t get these emails they start calling support services to know where’s the order or what’s the update.

These actually don't bother me so much.

What bothers me is when I give an email at a store for receipt or refund purposes, and they take that as an opt-in to multiple marketing emails per week. And removing myself from the list often takes multiple attempts at "unsubscribe".

If I don't explicitly opt-in to marketing, I should never get marketing. Ahem, Microcenter.

Having proxy addresses is nice. But I can't just kill an alias if I'm using the email for refunds, or if I use the service multiple times. Also don't want to generate and read off alias emails when I'm at a cash register.

Wait until you see the tracking data that led to your purchase.

Another reason for this is for the seller to protect themselves and give themselves proof against scumbag customers who then lie to get the product for free etc...

The more emails and info you can demonstrate that you sent to the customer the more proof you have in case they try to scam you.