One item purchased, Ten emails

Online shopping is fantastic. A few clicks and you’ve ordered almost anything from anywhere.

But I’ve noticed a huge uptick in the volume of emails relating to an online order which makes it frustrating to order anything.

I recently had a purchase which included the following chain

1. Thanks for your order
2. Create your account
3. We’ve got your order
4. We’ve shipped your order
5. We’re expecting your parcel
6. We’ve got your parcel
7. Your order is scheduled for delivery
8. We’ve delivered your item (Courier)
   8a. We’ve delivered your item (Vendor)
9. How was your delivery
10. Are you happy with your purchase

I’m sure there are a myriad of A/B tests that these businesses have run to optimise the living day lights out of their email campaigns to burn both the brand and the experience as a joyful one in the minds of any consumers. But as Goodhart’s Law teaches us, that when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure – these sorts of email chains are prime examples of that. Created to optimise whoknowswhat, but ultimately resulting in a frustrating experience.

My solution is ultimately to use a simplelogin alias that I turn off immidiately but this feels like a solution to a problem that shouldn’t exist.