Boo On These Bad Websites and Marketing Emails, Part 2

My first post on this subject, "Boo On These Bad Websites and Marketing Emails", has had over 1000 hits.  Maybe more folks out there than just me are sick and tired of this kind of stuff.

Anthem Blue Cross sent me a particularly duplicitous email today.  Here it is:

This is classic corporate doublespeak, falsehoods masquerading as do-gooding.  I am sick of all the lies that I encounter every day, and this type of corporate lying is insulting.

"We want to make things easier for you, so...we're upgrading  you to paperless communications."  What a fabrication!  This company wants to save money -- that's the only reason they and other companies constantly exhort us customers to go paperless.

Don't agree to this stuff.  I ask for paper copies in every instance possible, and I've taken my business elsewhere when a company refuses to supply paper copies.  I like having my files on the computer as much as anyone else, but when I need to verify a document six years later, having paper files has proven to be essential many, many times.

I went to their website and opted out of paperless communication.  I don't believe that Anthem really has my best interests at heart here, despite what they say. 


Target Stores is pretty bad.  I placed an order on their website a few weeks ago.  I started getting a request to complete a survey, and it is IMPOSSIBLE to unsubscribe.  BAD, Target, BAD!  Even worse, they continue to send requests for customers to complete surveys if they ignore the first notices.  This is enough to convince me never to shop on Target online.

So, one email asking for a survey -- and every time I buy something now, I am asked to complete a survey?  These surveys are ridiculous -- a company should know if it is doing a good job or not.  Then I get a reminder email to complete the f***ing survey again?  I filtered out these emails, which is a task I don't like doing, but otherwise I'd be getting Target's survey requests every day or so.  Terrible.

I checked Target's website to see if there was any way to unsubscribe.  I checked their privacy policy also.  Here's what Target says:

If you do not wish to receive promotional e-mails from us, email guest.relations@target.com or call 800-440-0680 to opt-out. You also have the ability to unsubscribe from promotional e-mails via the unsubscribe link included in each promotional e-mail. You may continue to receive program-specific marketing emails through a program such as, but not limited to, A Bullseye View, or Target Photo. You can unsubscribe from program-specific emails via the unsubscribe link located at the bottom of those program-specific emails.

This opt-out does not apply to operational emails (e.g., surveys, product reviews).

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Hey Target -- surveys and product review emails ARE NOT operational emails!  They are marketing emails.  They do nothing for your or your customers' operations. This is the kind of stuff that ruins email for most people. 

I strive mightily to keep my email inbox clean, using filters and unsubscribing.  I do understand that most people just hit delete and move on.  However, I conduct most of my business via email, so companies that abuse emails waste my time and affect my business dealings negatively.  Time is everyone's most valuable asset -- and with all the electronic gadgets that we carry around these days, most of us have to read and delete multiple copies of every email sent to us, every day.