Can we talk about how email marketing used to be more effective?

I remember when building an email list meant actually connecting with people who wanted to hear from you. These days, I see so many agencies pushing automated funnels that feel robotic. The old way of writing personal notes led to higher engagement in my experience. It's sad that we've moved away from that for the sake of scale.

4 comments

4 Comments

ivan_cooper1mo ago

Notice how Everything feels like a subscription now. We traded real connection for automated systems that can scale, and it makes all our interactions feel cheaper. The personal touch got lost in the pursuit of growth.

murphy.gavin1mo ago

Remember when you could just buy something and own it? Now even your thermostat wants a monthly fee. Customer service is just chatbots repeating scripts. It feels like companies see us as recurring revenue, not people. The weird part is we all just accept it. Growth sure changed what we call service.

reese2201mo ago

That part about everything being a subscription hit me hard. I tried to buy a simple photo editing app last week and literally couldn't. It was only a monthly fee, no way to just own it. You're right, it does make every interaction feel cheap and temporary, like we're just renting our own lives. The personal touch is gone because the systems are built for thousands of users, not for you as a person. It feels like we're all just accounts on a spreadsheet now.

joel_jones27d ago

Ugh, tell me about it. I had the same fight with a word processor last month. You're right, it makes everything feel so flimsy. Ivan_cooper is onto something about trading connection for scale. My fix was to hunt down an older version of the software I could actually buy once, even if it's not the latest. It's out there, you just have to dig.