I want to complain about the current unsubscribe process that some email has. About once a month I log on to my GMail account and click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the emails that I don’t care about. During my monthly process I make sure not to click on SPAM links of acknowledge my existence to unknown services.
This week I decided that I was unhappy with some of the emails. Most of the mail I get has a casual and friendly “just click here to unsubscribe” and they don’t even ask for an email address. The internet in 2015 is smart enough that it knows who you are any time you open a webpage or click on an email. I understand this and happily take my part. I know that there are about twenty email addresses that make it into my primary GMail mailbox, and I don’t want the responsibility or work associated with unsubscribing from all my email.
So, to the point. I have recently signed up for the 7-11 rewards program. This program allows me the get a free drink after I purchase 7 of them. (#regards to 7/11 for giving me something after 7 instead of 10 purchases). Anyway, during my unsubscribing process this month I noticed that the 7/11 unsubscribe link acted like a 2008 link. It accepted my request and said (my paraphrasing) “We will make sure that we don’t email you anymore, but this may take up to two weeks”.
I accepted the response and moved on… until I noticed that since that unsubscribe request, I have received 3x more email from them. I mean come on. It has been less than one day, but I have gotten four emails. Clearly you have received my request and then adjusted your email rate. Unfortunately the adjustment went up. 7/11 stop listening to customer requests and then totally reversing what they want.