I don't need this kind of negativity. Goodbye, Starbucks, goodbye, Walgreens. #email

I'm not a big fan of points. Offered by retailers and credit cards, they're a way to give you credit towards future purchases in an alternative currency. Earn points! It's fun! It's a game!

While I do love free beverages from Starbucks or free gasoline for buying groceries, what I do not love is expiring points. Or more specifically, emails telling me points are expiring.

When the primary focus of an email is the let a customer know they have expiring points, the sender is hoping that the subscriber will go and spend the points to avoid letting them go to waste, and in the process, spend more real money. They're hoping the Fear of Missing Out (wikipedia) will overshadow the Sunk Cost Fallacy (wikipedia).

We have something of yours and we're taking it away.

But... what the reader is more likely to see is "We have something of yours and we're taking it away." And this in turn may cause them to do exactly the opposite, spend less and perhaps even resent the sender. This is called Reactance (wikipedia).

In other words "I don't need this kind of negativity." So, I'm unsubscribing from these emails. Unsubscribing costs companies money. While it varies from company to company, it's be proven time and again that when you stop appearing in people's inboxes, they stop thinking about you. One website I was looking at said you could do a lazy estimate of $1 per month ongoing for each unsubscribe. Another said each time a subscriber unsubscribed, it was worth $26 to your bottom line. (You should do the math on your own particular list.)

I don't need this kind of negativity. Goodbye.

Take a look at your customer marketing and messaging. Are there any places where you're taking something away that you've previously given to a customer? Do you have to take it away? If so, does your messaging end up ultimately pushing them away?

So, I'm off the Walgreens mailing list. And as such, I'll become less and less mindful of them. And for what? 240 points. Or in US currency, 24 cents.

(Cross-posted to LinkedIn.)