DISCLAIMER - This list is based on my own personal experiences and views, any information I provide is publicly available at the time of entry into the database and whilst in the majority of cases if the company makes it into this list I have no intention of dealing with them ever, some entries may be here just in case. An example would be Axa Health Limited, who have emailed me and are (at the time of writing) clearly using the services of Go Live Data Ltd, BUT I’m pretty sure I have engaged with them in the past so they could have my details… the only fly in that ointment though is the fact they are mailing me on an email address I wouldn’t have used when dealing with them, so make of that what you will.
These tags represent why I won’t do business with them. For the most part the primary reason is going to be because they either send me email marketing I’ve never signed up to receive or they involved in the provision of such services.
I have confronted a number of companies about this and the rhetoric I have received is often ‘It takes time to process your request’. I’m a software engineer, so on this I call bullshit. If I unsubscribe today and you send me an email tomorrow you and/or your systems are simply not complying. If you’re trying to suggest that you have to generate your email list the day before you use it I suggest you invest in alternative solutions. In this day and age there is absolutely zero excuse for making claims like ‘it can take up to 28 days to process your unsubscribe request’ IT’S JUST BULLSHIT!!!
When the only option was to physically send a piece of paper or a catalogue for example, companies had no option but to be very focused when it came to picking the recipients for their marketing junk. Why? Quite simply because of the cost involved. I once engaged in a marketing drive for a product I had created and I spent a considerable amount of time trying to make sure my marketing budget was well spent by picking people and places I thought presented the best chance of a conversion. Cost aside, as time has marched on, more and more people have banged on about the environmental cost of such physical marketing campaigns, despite the fact that much of the paper we use comes from properly managed sources and recycling so the move to electronic marketing was inevitable.
If you have an internet connection the chances are you have access to an email server and you can send millions of emails at practically zero cost, and there in lies the problem. Instead of being very focused, aiming for a high conversion rate, you can send a million emails and aim for a tiny conversion rate (0.01% of a million is still ten thousand conversions, which if you’re talking about business products and services could yield an immense amount of business).
But here’s the real kicker as I see it… it requires electricity for this to work and whether we like it or not an awful lot of electricity is still produced using methods that generate a lot of CO2 (amongst others) emissions. It takes time to process each mail, it takes time for the recipient to deal with it (even if that is simply clicking Delete, but more often than not these days there is some other software involved which adds more time). Then there is the time people might spend unsubscribing, or trying to. This usually requires a visit to some website, that usually requires your browser to allow them to run scripts (I can remember unsubscribe links that simply took you to a page that simply confirmed you’d been unsubscribed and you actually had been) so they can collect feedback about why you’re unsubscribing etc.
The power consumed by the processing of unsolicited electronic communications is potentially huge and yet we’re not talking about it at a time when we’re being put under increasing pressure to consider the environment in everything we do. Quite simply, my view is if you are sending unsolicited email marketing you are contributing directly to global warming. Instead, perhaps you should make your website simple, appealing and easily findable on Google (other search engines are available) so that when people want the services you offer it’s easy for them to find you. This isn’t the 20th century, most people these days start their search for service providers on-line with a search, gone are the days of you having to flick through The Yellow Pages or the Thompson Local Directory, or heaven forbid the good old Phonebook.
I’m also anti because of the human cost of dealing with it… it takes time and can often result in a loss of focus and flow in the individual who is having to deal with it, and here I’m just talking about email from legitimate businesses, the subject of scam spam is an even thornier issue and consumes vastly more time and energy. But please, if you are a legitimate business, think more carefully about targeting… over the years I’ve received lots of emails about things which are simply not relevant to my business and even a cursory glance at the available public records would reveal this… utility switching to help you find a new electricity supplier etc. Fantastic but my company never had an office or a building that required me to buy utilities such as water, gas and electric. And there’s the problem… that targeting costs the sender time and money so they don’t give a dam, and the cost in time and money is pushed onto me, the recipient.