Take back your time with “unsubscribe”

By Joan Friedlander · Friday, January 16th, 2009

Did you notice how relatively fewer emails you received during the last 2 weeks of December than you usually receive? I sure did. It became particularly noticeable the first week back to work when every business owner was suddenly reengaged, sending email newsletters and notices I’d apparently subscribed to in a rush to get my attention that week.

By January 7th I’d had it! The sudden surge in the volume of emails unwittingly demanded my attention regardless of what I had planned. I could feel the drag on my forward movement. So, I decided to put a stop to it. I wrote a short list of the kinds of emails I receive, and then noted the ones that I’d want to continue to receive and those that I would not.

Here’s what my list looks like. What about yours?

Yes, I want to receive emails:

From clients
From participants in my programs
From my business partners
From prospects
From people sincerely reaching out to make a connection
From my coach
From a very few organizations and people providing information currently of interest to me.

Here is my list of emails I do not want to receive.

Social networking notifications
Newsletters I never asked to subscribe to – very annoying!
Most newsletters I had, at one time or another, subscribed too (too much noise and not enough actually read)
Notifications and newsletters from organizations I no longer belong to
Email news blasts from people who thought I might be interested in what they have to say

During the last week I have probably unsubscribed from about 20 newsletters. I’ve sent personal emails to people who have put me on a distribution list that didn’t offer an unsubscribe option and asked to be removed. If I unsubscribed from a newsletter published by someone I have a direct relationship with I also sent a personal email to explain my mission to reduce the incoming traffic.

Have I gone too far? I don’t think so. I know the people and organizations I’m interested in. I know how to find them on the Internet if I want to find out what’s going on, or to attend a meeting. I can log onto my LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter accounts if I want to review posts and updates. I can use bookmarks and folders to identify people and companies I want to follow, or check out again. I can probably even create some kind of home page with Yahoo or Google that includes a birds-eye view of what I’m most interested in. I haven’t explored that yet.

Feeling free!

Joan

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