Go Away PayPal
yellloh.com
yellloh.com
For at least two years, they have beens sending me "monthly statements". Which a) don't contain any information, and b) are idiotic, because a monthly statement is an artifact of a paper-based world, not something that Paypal needs. There is no way to get off this mailing list, and if you try replying, it just bounces.
And EVERY TIME I USE PAYPAL they try to get me to sign up for "Bill Me Later TM". I have to say no each time. I've made something like 200 transactions in the last 5 years, and after 200 refusals they're still like, "Hey, how about this new thing called "Bill Me Later TM"!
I'm sure both of these techniques boost some short-term metric, but they guarantee that when I have another option, I use it. And I'm not alone. The other day while watching a user test, the subject spontaneously offered a colorful negative opinion, and said they used PayPal only when there was no other choice.
Building up user resentment like this means that they are very vulnerable to a competitor. One day somebody like Square is going to cross the good-enough threshold and the use-it-when-forced crowd will leave and never, ever return.
Anything where I have a regular bill due every month, I'm going to appreciate a monthly statement -- probably an electronic one of some kind. Right?
You know my favorite monthly statement? Every month I get an SMS message from AT&T "A $XX.yy bill is due. Reply with '1' to pay from credit card ending NNNN." WOOT! THAT's a monthly statement for the modern world.
But really, any business I have an ongoing relationship with them where i periodically need to pay them, I'm going to appreciate a monthly update on what I owe them, sometimes over email. (I'm not going to appreciate a poorly done marketting brochure for things I don't want disguised as a monthly statement)
Monthly bank statements (which I think the parent is specifically talking about) are different from monthly bills in that statements don't require you to take action.
Those are definitely artifacts of the paper age. For the first decade I used PayPal, if I wanted to know what had happened, I just looked at the website and saw recent transactions. Their "statement" is just an email with a link that takes you to the site to look at recent transactions. Its only point is to drive traffic; it adds zero value.
We noticed that in the past you opted not to receive marketing emails from us, but we're contacting you now to confirm whether this is still the case because we'd hate to think you're missing out on the following type of offers when you really wanted to see them...
[Insert unwanted marketing crap here]
Marketing isn't synonymous with jerkiness. Google, for example, had a great touch with marketing for many years. AWS still does. In both cases I mainly heard from them when they had created something new and probably valuable to me personally.
Here, though, PayPal isn't sending these emails because they are creating value for you. They're sending them because they're using you to generate income. You aren't the customer; you're the veal cow, the foie gras goose.
> The production of foie gras (the liver of a duck or a goose that has been specially fattened) involves the controversial force-feeding of birds with more food than they would eat in the wild, and more than they would voluntarily eat domestically. The feed, usually corn boiled with fat (to facilitate ingestion), deposits large amounts of fat in the liver, thereby producing the buttery consistency sought by some gastronomes.
Animal welfare controversy aside, I would imagine this suggests they are prematurely exploiting their user base in a non-sustainable manner. If only the customers (I assume the shareholders are their customers?) would care that this tarnishes the brand in the long run.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
But suppose some customers don't currently care about you doing something manipulative or exploitative to them. Is that a sign you should keep going?
I say no. That not everybody has yet wised up to your exploitation isn't a sign that you're safe. The fundamental basis of commerce is a positive-sum creation of value for both parties. Whenever a company drifts away from that, they're skating on thin ice, and they will eventually fall in.
When Gmail introduced a feature to reduce spam and spam-like email in your Inbox, the people sending that spam will adapt and try to game it. More news at eleven.
Did anyone seriously believe this would be a viable long term solution?
"xelfer, your PayPal balance summary is here plus an extra discount from Virgin Airlines."
Spammy behaviour -> lost customer. If enough people walk with their feet, their analytics should quickly give them the message.
1. Click the unsubscribe link
2. Click the spam button
2.5. Sue them if they're breaking any local anti-spam laws. It's quite obvious that the spirit of the email wasn't to deliver account information if it was otherwise laden with promotional content. Chances are any judge or magistrate would look right through the account update BS to see the true nature of the content.
Australia has the Spam Act 2003 but I don't know anything about it.
Violence can also be confining someone to a jail cell, or confiscating (taking without voluntary consent) some or all of their property (e.g., imposing a fine on a person)
Your modern Australian courts must do this, to compel compliance with their decisions.
If you lose a lawsuit and fail to pay, then they just come and take your money and/or your possessions. If you attack the sheriff's deputies carting off your stuff, or assault the bank manager for having given away "your" money, then yeah, you are in for a world of hurt.
Further, I disagree with the notion that a violent response to a non-violent act is justified simply because you can't think of a non-violent way to get people to do what you want.
Time to unsubscribe / put to spam folder methinks.
Or....
Is this just a ploy to get yet another stupid social media site some visibility traction on HN?
Hmmmmmmm?